This is the eagerly-awaited new edition of The Changing Family Life Cycle. Betty Carter and Monica McGoldrick are two of the best-known family therapists in the U.S. The authors have been particularly known for the introduction of feminist theory to family therapy. The new title, The Expanded Family Life Cycle, represents some of the sweeping changes in the text. The new edition proposes "a new and more comprehensive way to think about human development and the life cycle." It reflects changes in society away from orientation toward the nuclear family, toward a more diverse and inclusive definition of "family."

This expanded view of the family includes the impact of issues at multiple levels of the human system: the individual, family households, the extended family, the community, the cultural group, and the larger society. This edition features a ground-breaking integration of individual male and female development in systemic context; our increasing racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity; the emergence of men's movements and issues; the growing visibility of lesbian and gay families; and the neglected area of social class. Significantly changed or expanded, new chapters include individual development (Ch. 2); a clinical method based on Bowen's coaching of individuals (Ch. 26); women's and men's issues throughout the life cycle (Chs. 6 and 7); cultural issues (Chs. 4, 8, 10, and 19); social class (Ch. 5); lesbian and gay families (Ch. 20); single adults (Ch. 21); siblings (Ch 9); and violence (Ch 28).