A HISTORICAL-ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENTATION OF ABORTION AND ADOPTION INMARRIAGE AND FAMILY TEXTBOOKS - 1950-1987

This paper is a content analysis of the depiction of abortion and adop tion in 62 marriage and family textbooks published from 1951 through 1 987. Findings document that the differential constructions of abortion and adoption are long-standing features of textbooks: Books devote mo re attention to abortion than to adoption, and cast abortion as a macr o, societal issue while depicting adoption as a micro issue. Thematic analysis suggests the influence of societal events, such as legalizati on of abortion, and of a legacy of a structural-functional theoretical orientation in family studies. Implications for teaching as well as f or future research are discussed.