Parenting In A Contemporary Society

Parenting through the lifespan

This inclusive, research-based text on parenting through the lifespan helps students work with parents as professionals, as well as develop life skills.

Parenting in Contemporary Society, Fifth Edition provides in-depth information about parenting through the lifespan and in diverse family types. It includes all types of parents and family situations, examines similarities and differences among parents in four major minority groups, and examines the various risks, challenges, and alternatives available to parents.

Learning Goals

Upon completing this book, readers should be able to:

• Recognize the changing nature of parenting throughout the life cycle, from infancy through old age, including the reciprocal nature of the parent-child relationships
• Understand parenting differences in diverse cultures and families
• Identify parenting strategies in high-risk families with teenage parents, abusive parents, and homeless families, and families with exceptional children
• Recognize alternatives to biological parenthood: adoptive parenthood, parenting through assisted reproduction (artificial insemination by donor, in vitro fertilization, surrogate mothers, etc.), and foster parenthood
• Understand timely issues in child care and early education including types of programs, differences in infant care and self care, the importance of quality care, the effects of child care on children, and other preschool programs

Note: MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit: www.mysearchlab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MySearchLab with Pearson eText (at no additional cost). ValuePack ISBN-10: 0205863736 / ValuePack ISBN-13: 9780205863730

Pauline Turner earned her Ph.D at The University of Texas at Austin in 1974 in Early Childhood Education (Curriculum & Instruction) and Child Development. She taught at both The University of Texas and Texas State University in San Marcos before spending the bulk of her career at the University of New Mexico. She has taught courses in Parent Child Interactions both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition to teaching, Dr. Turner was co-founder and director of the Center for Family and Community Partnerships at the University of New Mexico. She retired in 2004.

Kelly Shea Welch teaches in the School of Family Studies and Human Services at Kansas State University. A native of Kansas, she received her Ph.D. in Family Studies at Kansas State University after working for many years as a doula, a professional birth attendant who provides emotional, physical, and informational support to the childbearing woman and her partner. Still today her research interests marry women’s health issues with family studies. Over the past 10 years, she has taught the large, introductory human growth and development course which enrolls a little more than 1,000 students per semester. The author of the interactive learning CD Roms, Development: Journey of a Lifetime, and Development: Journey through Childhood and Adolescence, she recognizes and emphasizes the value of active and learner-centered pedagogy that allows students to organize, integrate, and generate knowledge. In addition to teaching the human growth and development course, she also teaches the Family Relationships class that enrolls approximately 300 students each semester. She is a recipient of numerous teaching awards, including the Presidential Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching, and nominations for the United States Professor of the Year and the United States Distance Educator of the Year. These teaching awards and nominations recognize her distinct, innovative, and energetic teaching style–students consistently indicate that this unique teaching style puts them “on the edge” of their seats and holds their attention.