The Ties That Bindwas organized to review and assess the scientific evidence about the causes of trends in marriage and other forms of intimate unions. The contributors address these two questions: What do we know about the factors that influence the formation of marriages and other intimate unions, the timing of union formation, and the forms that unions take? What factors explain the dramatic changes in union formation we have observed over recent decades? Edited by Linda J. Waite. Co-edited by Christine Bachrach, Michelle Hindin, Elizabeth Thomson, and Arland Thornton.