Covering contemporary Third World as well as Western families, this teaching text addresses topics essential for developing a multicultural perspective on the family. It is an ideal text for comparative family courses and includes exercises (as well as exercise guidelines for instructors) developed to challenge students' existing viewpoints and offer new ways of looking at the world's families. It is an important resource for anyone interested in understanding and appreciating the diversity of family forms, processes, and experiences. The book explores the diversity of the world's families and family issues in the following chapters: (1) "Family Theory and Multicultural Family Studies" (Suzanna Smith); (2) "The Family in Western History" (Bron B. Ingoldsby); (3) "Comparative Research Methodology" (Gary R. Lee); (4) "Family Origin and Universality" (Bron B. Ingoldsby); (5) "Patterns of Kinship and Residence" (Max E. Stanton); (6) "Marital Structure" (Bron B. Ingoldsby); (7) "Mate Selection and Marriage" (Bron B. Ingoldsby); (8) "Parents' Socialization of Children" (D. Terri Heath); (9) "Divorce: A Comparative Perspective" (Patrick C. McKenry and Sharon J. Price); (10) "Chinese Families in Later Life" (William H. Meredith and Douglas A. Abbot); (11) "Women and Households in the Third World" (Suzanna Smith); (12) "Household Division of Labor in Industrial Societies" (Linda L. Haas); (13) "Gender Relations and Marital Power" (Jack O. Balswick and Judith K. Balswick); (14) "Looking Back, Looking Forward: African American Families in Sociohistorical Perspective" (Norma J. Burgess); (15) "Poverty and Patriarchy in Latin America" (Bron B. Ingoldsby); (16) "Public Policy and Poverty: A Framework for Analysis" (Rosalie Huisinga Norem and Suzanna Smith). Each chapter contains references. (AA)