Marriage

the emotional & legal commitment between two people to share emotional and physical intimacy, various tasks, and economic resources

Family 

Two or more people who are committed to each other and who share intimacy, resources, decision-making responsibilities and values; people who love and care for each other

Step-family

the family created when one or both partners in a marriage or a child or children from a previous marriage

Social Environment

all the factors, both positive and negative, in society that impacts individuals and their relationships, such as mass media, the Internet, changing gender roles, and growing urban crowding.

Stress

Body's reaction to the demands of life

Ethnic group

a set of people who are embedded within a larger cultural group or society and who share beliefs, behaviors, values, and norms that are transmitted from generation to generation

Minority Group

A social group that differs from the rest of the population some ways and that often experiences discrimination and prejudice

Race

A group of people with similar and distinctive physical characteristics

Kinship

The relatedness of certain individuals within a group.  Cultures have norms and expectations that structure and govern kin behavior.

 Polygamy

 A marriage in which a man or a woman has more than one mate; a plural marriage

Polyandry

A plural marriage in which a woman has more than one husband

Monogamy

A relationship in which a man or woman has only one mate

Family cohesion

the togetherness or closeness of a family

family flexibility

a family's ability to change and adapt in the face of stress or crisis

social system

one of the four major components of the sociocultural context in which families live; encompasses the influence of the community, laws, economic resources, educational opportunities, and other external factors on the family

Nuclear Family

A kinship group in which a husband, a wife, and their children live together in one household; also called a conjugal family system

Conjugal family system

a family consisting of a husband, a wife, and children; also called a nuclear family.

Consanguineal family system

a family system that emphasizes blood ties more than marital ties

extended family

a nuclear family and those related to its members by blood, such as aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents

assimilation 

adopting the cultural traits and values of a dominant culture

Acculturation

The intermeshing of cultural traits and values with those of a dominant culture

Segregation

isolation of an ethnic group within the dominant culture

Stereotype

a standardized, oversimplified, often foolish and mean-spirited view of someone or something

Prejudice

Negative judgment or opinion having no or limited basis in fact; hostility to a person or a group based on physical characteristics

Racism

Discrimination or prejudice based on the belief that people's physical characteristics determine their human capacities and behaviors and that groups of people with certain characteristics are inferior to others.

Multiracial Marriage

marriage between people from two different cultural or ethnic groups

Stressor

an external event that causes an emotional and/ or physical response and that can precipitate a crisis

Distress

feelings of discomfort caused by high levels of stress

Family coping

a family's ability to manage stressful events or situations as a unit with minimal or no detrimental effects on any individual members

Boundary ambiguity

 lack of clarity about whether a person is either in or out of the family system; related to family stress levels.  The concept includes two variables: physical and psychological presence or absence.  High ambiguity (conflicting variables) produces high levels of stress

Managing Stress

Pauline Boss's alternative to the phrase coping with stress; individual family member's use of their own resources to help their family deal with a stressor or work through a crisis

Learned Helplessness

1    a theory that a learned passivity develops from giving power over oneself to another; that passivity increases helplessness, reduces problem-solving abilities, and limits options.

Emotional divorce

One of Bohannan’s six different but overlapping experiences of divorce; involves the deterioration of the marriage and the breakdown of bonding and communication, which are replaced by feelings of alienation

Legal Divorce

1.     One of Bohannan’s six different but overlapping experiences of divorce; involves the dissolution of the marriage by the legal system and the courts.

Economic Divorce

Involves the division of money and property and the establishment of two separate economic units

     Co parental divorce

involves decisions about custody of the children, single parenting, and visitation rights for the noncustodial parent

Community Divorce

Involves changes in friendships and community relationships

    Psychological divorce

involves the regaining of individual autonomy

Binuclear family

A postdivorce family in which both parents participate in the raising of their children despite living in separate households; the children generally reside with one of the parents.

Sole Custody

a child custody arrangement following a divorce in which only one parent has legal and physical custody of the child or children; the other parent generally has visitation rights.

Joint Custody

1.     A legal child custody arrangement following a divorce in which children divide their time between the homes of both parents, with both homes having equal importance: “one child, two homes.”

Split Custody

   A legal child custody arrangement following a divorce in which each parent has sole custody of one or more of the children.

Remarriage

A marriage in which one or both partners marry following divorce or the death of a spouse; in this book, remarriage refers to couples who have never been married to each other before

Blended Family

  a term used to describe a stepfamily. Some researchers object to the term because it creates unrealistic expectations that the new family will quickly and easily “blend” together harmoniously and because it assumes a homogeneous unit, one without a previous history or background.

Plural Marriage

A marriage in which a man has more than one wife (polygyny) or a woman has more than one husband (polyandry).

Polygyny

A plural marriage in which a man has more than one wife