This book presents a unique way of looking at and understanding marriage behaviour, based on detailed examination, by interview, of the joint lives of a small sample of married couples. People seek various types of aim in marriage, and the intention of this study is to examine two such possible aims, namely the search for a sense of personal identity and for a sense of stability or security. These particular aims are chosen because, although the seem to be commonly sought, the conditions necessary for the achievement of one appear to conflict with those necessary for the achievement of the...

Originally published in 1975, this was the first empirical study to investigate the nature of the links between family size and the social and economic condition of those in lower social classes. The largest families are often found among those who seem to be least able to afford many children. Why is this so? By comparing a sample of Aberdeen couples in an unskilled manual occupational group who had large families with those in the same and other manual occupational groups who had smaller families, Miss Askham attempted to show why differences in family size occur. Her findings indicated...