Marriages and Families, Census Update, 7e offers students a comprehensive introduction to many issues facing families in the twenty-first century.

The text’s major theme, “Changes, Choices, and Constraints,” explores: contemporary changes in families and their structure, impacts on the choices available to family members, and constraints that often limit our choices. Through this approach, students are better able to understand what the research and statistics mean for themselves. 

Marriages and Families, Census Update balances theoretical and empirical discussions with practical examples and applications. It highlights important contemporary changes in society and the family. This text is written from a sociological perspective and incorporates material from other disciplines: history, economics, social work, psychology, law, biology, medicine, family studies, women's studies, and anthropology.

The Census Update program incorporates 2010 Census data into a course—simply and easily. The components of the Census Update Program include an updated census edition with all charts and graphs—to reflect the results of the 2010 Census.

• Improve Critical Thinking — Feature questions encourage students to reflect on chapter studies and relate them to personal experience.
• Engage Students — Current research relates to the students’ own lives.
• Explore Theory — Written from a sociological perspective and incorporates material from other disciplines.