This article discusses how kinship is construed and enacted in diverse forms of the family that are now part of the culturally pluralistic family system of Western societies. Background: This study is the second in a pair documenting changes over the past century in the meaning and practice of kinship in the family system of Western societies with industrialized economies. While the first paper reviewed the history of kinship studies, this companion piece shifts the focus to research explorations of kinship in alternative family forms, those that depart from the standard nuclear family structure.

This study investigates why cohabitation is so common even among those most committed to marriage. To understand the variety of meanings to co-residence, this study interviewed each member of 23 heterosexual, middle-class couples, totaling 46 interviews. Research categorizes cohabitations as extensions of dating, alternatives to marriage, or trial marriages, but interviews highlight the prevalence and importance of a fourth, under-researched category, cohabitation as a precursor to marriage. Before cohabitation, these couples expressed marriage intentions and viewed cohabitation as a promise to marry in the future. Why do couples committed to marriage still decide to cohabit? The data show that cohabitation as a precursor to marriage is explicitly connected to increasing marriage requirements in that couples cohabit instead of marry to meet the rising bar to marriage. While research has shown financial security and stability impact low-income couples, this study illustrates how these barriers have similar effects for middle-class couples.

This study investigates how family care responsibilities impact older single adults' approach to and experience on the dating market. Background: There is a growing population of single older adults, but very little understanding of their experiencing seeking romantic partners. Prior dating and marriage research has focused primarily on younger adults or single parents seeking remarriage. There is evidence of parenthood negatively impacting the search for a partner, but it is unclear how caregiving responsibilities impact this process for older adults. Method: Here, 100 older adults, 50 men and 50 women ages 60-83, were recruited from online dating websites and interviewed about their experiences seeking romantic partners. Results: Many men and women postponed dating until carework was complete. Additionally, men found women with care responsibilities less desirable, but women preferred men who were close to their families. Men were only less desirable when women believed the men would increase a woman's carework responsibilities. Conclusion: This study reveals how family caregiving responsibilities have a noticeable and gendered impacted on older adults' experiences with repartnering. This study extends marriage market and marital search theories by highlighting the complicated and influential role of family, particularly family carework responsibilities, in older adults' opportunities and status on the dating and marriage market.

ObjectiveThis research explores online advice to parents for managing children's Internet and social media use to understand what courses of action are recommended for parents.BackgroundParents often play a protectionist role in parenting, including trying to limit their children's Internet use to reduce harms. However, little is known about the advice parents are provided about how to make these decisions.MethodsWe conducted a content analysis of 73 websites offering advice to parents on guiding their children's Internet use. These websites are sponsored by professional associations as well as magazines, blogs, and others.ResultsPrivacy, monitoring, limiting use, parent–child communication, and safety were the most common topic areas. We find that sites emphasize the risks of being online roughly twice as often as the opportunities. Only approximately two fifths of the websites addressed the permanence of online sharing or how this may impact future college admissions or employment opportunities.ConclusionAdvice given to parents focuses on protecting children (privacy, safety, monitoring) much more than teaching children how to navigate social media platforms for their benefit.ImplicationsGiven the proliferation of social media and the Internet and how online behavior affects opportunities, it is increasingly important to understand what guidance parents are provided to teach children how to develop digital cultural capital in a technologically advanced world.