I
Introduction
1 Beeing
Single on Noah's Ark
Singles
in the World of the Married
A Comparative Study of Singles and Marrieds
II
American Singles Through the Century
2 The
Increase in Singles: 1960 - 1979
The Fall
and Rise of Singles
Are the Never Married Really Not-Yet Married?
Many Are Divorced, but There Are Not Many Divorced
The Waning of Widowhood
Demography or Mores?
3 Changes
in Awareness: 1900 - 1975
Goodbye
to "Spinsters"
Increasing Interest in Singles
Mate Finding in America
Making the Best of Being Single
Daily Life Among American Singles
4 Behind
the Titles: A Thematic Review
Fourteen
Themes
Singles in the Seventies
The Fifties: Singles Were Second Best
A Spinster in the Thirties
An Old Maid During World War I
How the Themes Have Changed
Were the Seventies Different?
III
Single and Married Lifestyles
5 Singles
and Their Parents
Stringers
and Swingers
Remembrance of Things Past
Current Relations with Relatives
No Strings Attached
Profile: Family Background
6 The Use
of Leisure Time
Who Has
Time for a Nice Time?
Where Shall We Go?
What Shapes the Choices?
Work, Education, and Income
Work and Leisure
Profile: The Roamers
7 Sex in
the Single's World
No Matter
What, It's Wrong
Swing Your Partner
Several Times a Week
Love and Satisfaction
The Swinger Image
Profile: The Sexually Satisfied
IV Single
and Married Outlooks
8
Loneliness: The Great Bugaboo
Are
Singles Deviant?
Lonely Acts
Being Alone
Sharing
The Loneliness of the Divorced
Profile: The Lonely Person
9 In
Sickness and in Health
Is
Singlehood Dangerous to Your Health?
Physical Symptoms
Mental Health
The Use of Drugs
Death and the Single
10 Is
Marriage Good for Men, Bad for Women?
Stress
for All
Divorced Men and Women
Profile: Sickness and Health
11 The
Pursuit of Happiness
What Is
Important?
The Extent of Happiness
Who Is Happier?
Profile: The Happy Person
12 Five
Years from Now
Visions
of Future Marriage
I'll Still Be Single
Is Marriage Natural?
Marriage: Past and Future
V
Assessments and Projections
13 Myths
and Realities
Myths
Realities
14 Where
Do We Go from Here?
What Next?
What Now?
Stimmen zum Buch
"The biggest problem with the book is the
categories. »Singles« and »marrieds« are subdivided into two
categories each, Singles includes the never-married and the
divorced; marrieds includes the once-married and the
remaried. It becomes impossible for the authors to talk
about »singles« vs. »marrieds,« since almost invariably
there are differences not only between the two major
categories but among all four subcategories as well. In
addition, the confounding variables of age, sex, levels of
education and income, and having or not having children
result in even greater chaos."
(Lucile Duberman in Journal of Marriage and
the Family vom Februar 1983)