NCJ Number
122248
Journal
Sociological Inquiry Volume: 58 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall 1988) Pages: 337-343
Date Published
1988
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Ruth Shonle Cavan will be best remembered for her writings, particularly her influential textbooks, in the areas of family, criminology, and delinquency.
Abstract
Her early studies dealt primarily with the family and resulted in several research monographs, most notably "The Adolescent in the Family" (1934), in which she reported that families broken by a parent's death rallied together to face the disaster, but that families broken by divorce disturbed the social psychological development of their children. She also published "The Family and the Depression" (1938), in which she concluded that families already enjoying closeness reacted to the stress of the Depression with even greater solidarity, but that troubled families were further undermined by the Depression. She wrote a textbook on the family, which went through four editions and was in print for 30 years under two different titles. She did a textbook on criminology in 1947 and wrote a scholarly and readable summary of the delinquency field in 1962. Her academic career has spanned 60 years; she has written 8 scholarly books and has co-authored or co-edited 10 others. At the age of 91, she continues to study and write on a variety of sociological issues. 24 references.