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Family Relations in Adulthood

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Abstract

Until recently, the family of procreation, not the family of origin, was the focus of research on the family. Increasingly, scholarly attention has shifted from relations with one’s spouse and dependent children to relations with adult siblings, aging parents, grown children, and other kin. Because members of recent cohorts have married later and later (if at all), the principal family relations of early and middle adulthood are very frequently with parents and siblings. The development of a life-course perspective on the family has contributed to the appreciation that relationships begun in childhood also have a place in adulthood.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, 92697, USA

    Judith Treas

  2. TechSociety Research, 2342 Shattuck Avenue, #362, Berkeley, California, 94704, USA

    Leora Lawton

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  1. Judith Treas
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  2. Leora Lawton
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Union Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Marvin B. Sussman

  2. Department of Sociology, Indiana University — Purdue University at Indianapolis, 46236, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

    Suzanne K. Steinmetz

  3. Department of Sociology, Arizona State University, 85287-2502, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    Gary W. Peterson

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Treas, J., Lawton, L. (1999). Family Relations in Adulthood. In: Sussman, M.B., Steinmetz, S.K., Peterson, G.W. (eds) Handbook of Marriage and the Family. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5367-7_16

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