Sage Publications Handbook of Families and Poverty

′′The Brigham Young University Family Studies Center sponsored a three-day research conference on Families and Poverty in March of 2004. The conference covered a broad range of topics including parenting, health care for poor families, how family processes influence families experiencing economic hardship, consequences of welfare reform in the United States, economic status of ethnically diverse elderly, and microentrepreneurship in developing countries. This handbook was built out of the papers presented at this conference.′′ ′′According to the U.S. Census Bureau, ôIn 2004, 37 million people [in the U.S.] were in poverty, up 1.1 million from 2003.ö · ThatÆs a 12.5% increase in one year. Worse yet - the rate has increased over the last four consecutive years. A major goal of this handbook will be to highlight the common issues and concerns related to how this is affecting families. Disciplines represented will include: business, child development, family studies, marriage and family therapy, nursing, political science, population studies, psychology, public policy, social work, and sociology. ′Written by respected scholars from a variety of relevant disciplines, this handbook will cover hotly debated issues associated with public policy and funded research as they relate to families and poverty. Contributors, bringing multiple perspectives to bear, will aim to show alternatives to welfare in subgroups facing specific challenges that are currently not adequately addressed by the welfare system. (Several works have focused on welfare reform and poverty, but few have included as extensive a discussion.) Readers wil lalso appreciate the insightful summaries of research involving poverty and its relationship to couple, marital, and family dynamics. 2004 is the most recent year for which this sort of census information is available. Review "Edited by two well-known family researchers at Brigham Young University, this meticulously researched compendium is a trove of useful information on areas where poverty and family issues intersect.  This volume should be the first stop for anyone beginning research on poverty and families." -- D.J. Conger ― CHOICE - May 2008 Vol.45 No.09 Published On: 2008-03-26 About the Author Dr. Crane is a Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. He has written one sole author text, Fundamentals of Marital Therapy (1996) published by Taylor Francis (Brunner/Mazel), co-edited another Handbook of Families and Health: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Sage, 2006), and over fifty referred journal articles and book chapters. His work has as appeared in leading scholarly journals including J ournal of Marital and Family Therapy, Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Family Issues, Family Relations, American Journal of Family Therapy, Family Process, Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Families, Systems and Health, Contemporary Family Therapy and Family Therapy. He has recently completed a six year term (2000-2006) as the Director of the Families Studies Center and Associate Director for Research in the School of Family life at Brigham Young University. In addition, he has completed a six year term (2000-2006; 2006 as Chair) as a member of the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Dr. Heaton is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Associate Director of the Family Studies Center at Brigham Young University. His major research focuses on the relationship between family characteristics on children’s health in Latin America. In addition to analysis of the extensive data provided by the demographic and health surveys, he has helped collect data on mothers with children under age 5 in Bolivia and Colombia. He also continues to be interested in family demographics. Current work focuses on the divorce generation―the cohort