Marriages, Families, and Relationships:: Making Choices in a Diverse Society

Susan D. Stewart is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at Iowa State University. Her professional areas of interest are gender, family and demography -- specifically how complex living arrangements affect the physical and emotional health of adults and children. Her research has been supported by grants from the NICHD, USDA, Joint Center for Poverty Research and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The author of BRAVE NEW STEPFAMILIES and CO-SLEEPING IN FAMILIES, Dr. Stewart has published papers on a diverse range of topics, including child and adolescent obesity, eating habits, nutrition, fertility intentions and behavior, child support and visitation, stepchild adoption and women's financial literacy. She received her doctorate in sociology from Bowling Green State University.Mary Ann Lamanna is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Her research and teaching interests include family, reproduction, and gender and law. Other research has concerned the sociology of literature -- specifically novels of terrorism -- and a sociological analysis of Marcel Proust's novel IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME. In addition to numerous articles in law, sociology and medical humanities journals, Dr. Lamanna is the author of EMILE DURKHEIM ON THE FAMILY (Sage, 2002) and co-author of a book on Vietnamese refugees. She received her bachelor's degree Phi Beta Kappa from Washington University (St. Louis) in political science, her master's degree in sociology (minor in psychology) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and her doctorate in sociology from the University of Notre Dame.Agnes Riedmann is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Stanislaus. Her professional areas of interest are theory, family and the sociology of body image. Dr. Riedmann spent the 2008-09 academic year as a Fulbright Professor at the Graduate School for Social Research, affiliated with the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, where she taught courses in family, social policy and globalization. She is author of SCIENCE THAT COLONIZES: A CRITIQUE OF FERTILITY STUDIES IN AFRICA (Temple University Press, 1993). Dr. Riedmann attended Clarke College, Dubuque, received her bachelor's degree from Creighton University and earned her doctorate from the University of Nebraska.