Marriages, Families, Intimate Relationships: A Practical Introduction

This book provides timely, practical, and high-interest information about marriages, families, and intimate relationships, in an engaging format that is easy-to-use and learn from. Feature such as “Popular Culture and the Media,” “Practical Action,” and “Numbers that Matter” help grab and keep readers’ attention.

The new edition has been updated to include coverage of important issues, topics, and research from the past few years. Examples of new topics covered include: state abortion law updates, abstinence education controversy, adultolescents, children and the effects of TV watching, foster children, LGBT, living apart together (LAT) couples, post-adoption blues, safe-haven laws pro and con, Web 2.0, and more. 

BRIAN K. WILLIAMS is married to Stacey Sawyer and they live near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and share an avid interest in seeing college students become well-educated. Over the past two decades, they have individually or together authored more than 25 books,in such subjects as health, college success, and computers and information technology.  

He has been Managing Editor for college textbook publisher Harper & Row/Canfield Press in San Francisco; Editor in Chief for trade book publisher J. P. Tarcher in Los Angeles; Publications & Communications Manager for the University of California, Systemwide Administration, in Berkeley; and an independent writer and book producer based in the San Francisco and Lake Tahoe areas. He has a B.A. in English and M.A. in Communication from Stanford University.

STACEY C. SAWYER, formerly Director of Founder’s Clinic, a women’s reproductive health and family planning clinic in Columbus, Ohio, is an independent writer and book producer who has been based in the San Francisco and Lake Tahoe areas.

She has taught at Ohio State University and been a manager for Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. in Monterey, California. She has a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan and the University of Freiburg, Germany, and an M.A. from Middlebury College and the University of Mainz, Germany.

She is coauthor of Computers, Communications, & Information, a college textbook in print for 15 years. She and husband Brian Williams also cowrote Using Information Technology, now in its 7th edition. 

CARL M. WAHLSTROM is Professor of Intermediate Studies and Sociology at Genesee Community College, Batavia, New York, and is also an Adjunct Lecturer in Sociology at the State University of New York at Geneseo. He has taught courses in marriage and the family, human development, learning strategies, sociology, psychology, human relations, and college success.

He has been the recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creativity, the National Freshman Advocate Award, and several other teaching honors. He has a B.S. in Sociology and an M.S. Ed. in Counselor Education from SUNY Brockport and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Bridgeport. He is an active presenter and educational consultant.

With Brian Williams he is coauthor of Learning Success, The Practical Student,The Urban Student, The Commuter Student, The Successful Distance Learning Student,and College to Career.He lives with his wife, Nancy, an employee benefits consultant, in the Finger Lakes area of New York.