This note discusses a class activity that was developed for first-year bachelor students in sociology to understand homogamy theory. Taught in a "classical" deductive way, this theory proved to be difficult to remember and describe on the examination. Starting from inductive learning, and more specifically, (structured) inquiry-guided…

This chapter develops three points of elaboration and theoretical expansion upon Cohler's (1982) treatise on personal narrative and life course. First, we highlight Cohler's emphasis on an interpretive, idiographic approach to the study of lives and reveal the radicalism of this approach, particularly in its ability to interrogate the…

Over the past five years, marriage equality and charter schools have emerged at the forefront of political conversations about equality and rights. Some argue that these policies extend access to certain benefits and opportunities to historically oppressed communities, thus furthering liberalism and egalitarianism. In this article, I engage these…

The authors elaborate on the role of playfulness as a preferred characteristic in potential long-term partners recently espoused by Garry Chick and others. They aim to replicate the findings of such research by studying a different culture (that of German-speaking countries) and to develop them further by taking into account the participants'…

Scholars have called for discussions of same-sex marriage in schools as one way of ending the curricular silence around lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) people. Yet, concerns about how students might talk about LGBTQ people can contribute to teachers' reluctance to initiate such discussions. Queer theory suggests that…

Research has extensively examined matching on race and other characteristics in cohabitation and marriage, but it has generally disregarded sexual and romantic relationships. Using data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examine the tempo of key transitions in the recent…

Citizenship education programs promote political participation by young people. These programs risk misrepresenting politics to students by encouraging them to believe that there are universally accepted principles which govern the definition of citizenship and who is entitled to participate in its various dimensions. The article argues that…

"The talk" is culturally understood to mean a discussion whereby both partners in a relationship reveal their feelings about each other and their commitment to a future together. Typically, one partner feels a greater need to clarity the future and instigates "the talk." This study reports the analysis of a 15 item…

This article reviews the research literature and theory concerned with accuracy of judgments in romantic relationships. We initially propose a model of cognition in (romantic) relationships that distinguishes between 2 forms of accuracy: mean-level bias and tracking accuracy. We then report the results of meta-analyses of research on heterosexual,…

Despite much research into mate selection, non-heterosexual populations are often only included for comparison purposes, while trans people and their partners are overlooked. This study attempts to address this using qualitative methodology to explore the mate selection of the partners of trans people. Six participants were recruited from online…

This paper explores Indian women's views on arranged marriages in the United Kingdom. It is based on research carried out with 32 Indian women studying at a university in the South East of England, UK. The article draws on Wenger's social theory of learning to explore how Indian women's participation in communities of practice in higher education…

Social cohesion theory is tested using data on ethnic intermarriage in former Yugoslavia. Before the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the proportion of marriages outside the own ethnic group was generally low, but in this respect large differences among the groups existed. The proportion of mixed marriages with a Serbian partner was much higher among…

Using longitudinal data from the National Survey of Families and Households and both wife- and husband-reported data (N = 4,574 couples), this study examined how financial well-being, financial disagreements, and perceptions of financial inequity were associated with the likelihood of divorce. When financial disagreements were in the model,…

Comments on the article by G. M. Herek, "Legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the United States." There are many arguable contentions Herek made in his defense of same-sex marriage. We have chosen to focus on only one in this commentary: What is the active ingredient in marriage that serves the socially advantageous goal of civilizing…

Prior research found that lower sexual frequency and satisfaction were associated with higher rates of divorce, but little research had examined the role of sexual activity in the dissolution of cohabiting unions. We drew upon social exchange theory to hypothesize why sexual frequency is more important in cohabitation: (a) cohabitors' lower costs…