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The historical background for the struggle over same-sex marriage includes marriage in the Western world being a privileged status imbued with a spirit of reverence - being a sacrament in Catholicism and a covenant with God in much of Protestantism. The struggle over same-sex marriage also involves long-standing social forms being challenged by the principles of freedom and equality - a point illustrated in the picture on the cover of Pinello's book showing a same-sex marriage rally demanding free and equal access to marriage.

This article examines adolescent sexuality within the context of a life course developmental model and considers the causal interrelationships of sexual behavior with dating, courtship, and planning for marriage. Data from a sample of 18-year-old men and women document the importance of dating and courtship development on the initiation of intimate heterosexual relations. Young people who begin to date at an early age also tend to develop steady relationships relatively early and continue to date more frequently. Both the timing of the initiation of dating and the development of steady dating relationships have substantial implications for the development of sexual relations. Young women and men who begin dating early and who develop steady relations early are more likely to be sexually experienced, to have had sexual relations with more partners, to be more sexually active during their late teenage years, and to have more permissive attitudes concerning premarital sex. Among those who experience sexual intercourse, those who had their first experience at a relatively young age had the most partners and had intercourse more frequently when they were 18.

Using data from a national survey of urban Turks, we examine whether people report an understanding and acceptance of developmental idealism (DI) messages about the relationship between development and family characteristics. We examine two different aspects of DI, which the recent literature distinguish as original DI versus new DI. An important contribution of our paper is its focus on a detailed conceptualization and measurement of DI. We constructed six different scales that crosscut the original-versus-new distinction and the dimensions of correlation, causation, and expectations. We find that the vast majority of Turks endorse most DI beliefs, with variations in responses between the original and new aspects. Our analyses also suggest that region of residence, ethnicity, education, marriage and fertility, age, gender, and secularism are substantially, in some cases unexpectedly, related to DI beliefs. More educated people generally endorse DI less than those with less education, and the effects of marital and fertility status are also in a direction different from our theoretical predictions. Furthermore, the estimated effects of the explanatory variables on DI vary across the six scales, providing evidence that understanding and acceptance of DI beliefs vary by the original-versus-new distinction and across the three dimensions. Thus, this work provides evidence that DI is not a unified package of ideas but a network of schemas related to each other with varying strength.

In this introduction, we offer an overview of developmental idealism (DI) theory and the contributions of this special issue. DI is a collection of values and beliefs about socioeconomic development and its causal links to other elements of societies. Within DI, some societal elements are identified as "modern," inherently good, and helpful to development, while others are identified as "traditional," undesirable, and unhelpful to development. DI theory posits that these schemas spread from Northwest European elites to ordinary people. In turn, people are motivated to adopt "modern" behaviors because they are seen as the means of achieving a good life and socioeconomic development. The articles in this special issue contribute to the empirical investigation of DI theory in a variety of ways. This issue enriches the DI methodological toolkit, demonstrating, for example, that DI measures are valid and reliable and that internet search queries can be used to examine DI. The articles also make strides in assessing the prevalence and nature of DI thinking, from the internet to far-flung geographic locations, including Albania, Kenya, Nepal, and Vietnam. Finally, this issue contributes to identifying pathways for the spread of DI, pointing to national elites, monetary incentives, and television.

In this paper we use data from a nationally representative survey conducted in Albania in 2005 to study the spread of the worldviews, values, and beliefs of developmental idealism in the country. We find that Albanians have adopted developmental idealism, with ideas about development and developmental hierarchies that are similar to those of international elites. A substantial majority of Albanians also endorse the developmental idealist belief of an association between socioeconomic development and family matters. Many perceive development as both a cause and an effect of family change, but with more seeing it as a cause than as an effect. Albanians also perceive development as more closely related to fertility and gender equality than to age at marriage. But despite believing that development and family change are related, most Albanians continue to endorse lifetime marriage and strong intergenerational relations. This unique perception of development and demographic behavior reflects Albania's unique history with regard to economic, political and social change. We conclude that despite living in one of the most radical state socialist regimes in the world, which tried to keep its population sealed off from the outside world for many years, Albanians endorse many of the elements of developmental idealism.

This paper examines the intersection of developmental idealism with China. It discusses how developmental idealism has been widely disseminated within China and has had enormous effects on public policy and programs, on social institutions, and on the lives of individuals and their families. This dissemination of developmental idealism to China began in the 19th century, when China met with several military defeats that led many in the country to question the place of China in the world. By the beginning of the 20th century, substantial numbers of Chinese had reacted to the country's defeats by exploring developmental idealism as a route to independence, international respect, and prosperity. Then, with important but brief aberrations, the country began to implement many of the elements of developmental idealism, a movement that became especially important following the assumption of power by the Communist Party of China in 1949. This movement has played a substantial role in politics, in the economy, and in family life. The beliefs and values of developmental idealism have also been directly disseminated to the grassroots in China, where substantial majorities of Chinese citizens have assimilated them. These ideas are both known and endorsed by very large numbers in China today.