Trends in African American family formation : a theoretical and statistical overview / M. Belinda Tucker and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan -- Black family structure in colonial and antebellum Virginia : amending the revisionist perspective / Brenda E. Stevenson -- The effect of employment on marriage among Black males in inner-city Chicago / Mark Testa and Marilyn Krogh. Commentary / Sheldon Danziger -- The widening gap between Black and white marriage rates : context and implications / Robert Schoen. Commentary / David M. Heer -- Mate availability and marriage among African Americans : aggregate- and individual-level analyses / K. Jill Kiecolt and Mark A. Fossett. Commentary / A. Wade Smith -- Marital behavior and expectations : ethnic comparisons of attitudinal and structural correlates / M. Belinda Tucker and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan. Commentary / James S. Jackson -- Marital instability among Black and white couples in early marriage / Shirley Hatchett, Joseph Veroff, and Elizabeth Douvan -- Commentary / Hector F. Myers -- Unemployment and imbalanced sex ratios : race-specific consequences for family structure and crime / Robert J. Sampson. Commentary / Melvin L. Oliver -- Family structure and the marginalization of Black men : policy implications / William A. Darity, Jr., and Samuel L. Myers, Jr. Commentary / Philip J. Bowman -- Policy implications of a decline in marriage among African Americans / Lynn C. Burbridge -- African American marital trends in context : toward a synthesis / M. Belinda Tucker and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan.