I am a young professor of sociology teaching classes on gender, marriage and social change -- and I have never read Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique." Like many women of my generation, I thought I had. I must have, I told myself. Perhaps in college? No. And it...

There's a widening gap between the haves and have-nots in America -- and this time the fault-line is marriage. Educated young adults are marrying and thriving in their unions, while those with less education are more likely to cohabit, less likely to ever marry and more likely to divorce if...

Mothers and daughters of all ages are in increasingly complex relationships, warns gender studies author Susan Shapiro Barash -- and we use shopping as a misguided panacea.

That warning nagged in my mind this past weekend as my mom and I went shopping and had lunch in...

Think you're too busy to read a good book, have a quiet hour with your spouse or go to the gym five days a week? You're not, you just choose to spend too much of your time on unimportant and less rewarding activities, argues Laura Vanderkam in her...

Think you're living a pretty happy life? The good folks at Gallup would like you to know that there's room for improvement. According to a comprehensive global study of wellbeing, only seven percent of us are thriving in all areas of our lives.

In Wellbeing: The Five...

This week, Nitin Nohria, 48, was named dean of the Harvard Business School. At a time where MBA has come to stand for "masters of the business apocalypse" this is an important show of support for an ethics-focused approach to capitalism. Nohria, a professor of business...

Ladies, here's a pop quiz.

• My boyfriend and I have spent the last three holidays together.
• We live together
• His parents and I talk on the phone.
• I often wonder "Where is this going?"
• I don't think...

In a report on the "new economics of marriage" released yesterday, the good folks at the Pew Research Center have a much-needed message for college-educated married men: Say thank you to your wives, you lucky bastards.

In the last four decades, "the economic gains associated with...

The Great Recession has taken a toll on American families, but new research suggests that there may be a silver lining: Understanding the relationship between money and marriage can encourage us to make better choices this holiday season.

This week The National Marriage Project at the University of...

Feel festive, cheerful and blessed around the holidays--but then slide into the doldrums in the first weeks of the New Year? Financially illiterate and then suddenly started blogging about how the ups and downs of the stock market impacted you emotionally? Felt patriotic--or depressed--when Obama was elected?

Oh yes,...

In the weeks since the tragedies at the James Ray self-help retreat in Sedona, Arizona, I've written pieces for The Washington Post and The Huffington Post documenting the social psychology of the self-improvement industry. It's criminal how a motivational leader so misled people seeking personal transformation.

I admit it: I have a friend that I'm afraid to totally ditch for fear she'll do something nasty to me.

OK, now your turn: You have toxic friendships, I know you do. It's time to admit it--and figure out why.

Maybe you have a friend who only wants...

Two people are dead and dozens more were hospitalized Thursday after collapsing from the heat of a sweat lodge at a James Ray spiritual retreat in Sedona, Arizona.

The sweat lodge experience was the culmination of a five-day nearly $10,000 “Spiritual Warrior Event” advertised as a retreat...

This morning I appeared LIVE on "The Early Show" on CBS talking about dating in the economic downturn. It was a short segment - watch it here - so here are some of the tidbits of advice I would have shared if there had been more time.

Here are...

Calling all HuffPo readers: Remember that adorable priest Maureen Dowd featured in her column? The one who charmed us on the Today show last summer? He was full of dating and marriage advice -- and now he's writing a book. Want to be a part of it? Read on...

The...

'Tis the season for family, faith, fellowship -- and fat.

As families gather around buffet tables smothered with food on Thanksgiving, religious diet groups caution us God might not approve of that second piece of pie. Yes, that's right. The omnipresent world of wonder diets and slim-down regimes now has...

College classes are back in session, and with any luck, my students will learn basics of sociology, be sparked with a lifelong academic curiosity and not vomit in my 8:30 Friday morning lecture.

This year the University of Iowa is encouraging departments to offer early-morning Friday...

Need something to give to the husband or father who has everything, likes to read a few pages of something silly in the bathroom and is secretly obsessed with Nostradamus specials on The History Channel? Apocalypse How: Turn the End-Times into the Best Times should be your pick for...

For three months I lied to my husband. I snuck around behind his back and I emailed and talked on the phone with first one -- and then up to a dozen -- different men. I had more than 200 emails secreted away in a folder. When my husband would...

Weather is serious business in the Midwest. Talking about below-zero temperatures, flooding, tornados or the upcoming blizzard isn't empty small-talk: It's a life-or-death struggle against the elements out here--or at least the last four months of dire "urgent alerts" from the National Weather Service has me convinced that's true.

My...