types of families essay

11 Types of Family in Sociology (Family Structure Examples)

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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A family is a group of people related to one another by kinship. More precisely, kinship is a set of socially recognized ties between persons that exist because of their connection by birth or marriage (Firth et al., 1970/2006, p. 3).

Sociologists generally identify the following types of families:

• Nuclear or conjugal (a wife, a husband, and their children),
• matrifocal (a mother and her children),
• patrifocal (a father and his children), and
• extended families (parents, grandparents, children, aunts, uncles, and so on).

In addition to these, there are also:

• patriarchal (male-led),
• matriarchal (female-led),
• blended (mixed parent),
• egalitarian (equal),
• compound (three or more spouses and their children),
• joint families.

This article will focus on the eight most common types of families. These are the nuclear, extended, blended compound, patriarchal, matriarchal, egalitarian , and single-parent families.

Family Structures in Sociology

Historically, most human societies are built around family structures, which are believed to be the building blocks of a society.

One of the most important studies of the sociology of the family, Family: Socialization, and Interaction Process (Bales & Parsons, 1955/2014), claims that a sociological approach to families should construe them not simply as natural entities but as social systems.

In sociology and anthropology , it is common to classify family organizations into different categories.

8 Types of Family in Sociology

1. nuclear family.

A conjugal or nuclear family is one of the most common in society. It comprises a married heterosexual couple and their young children living by themselves.

Some sociologists, such as George P. Murdock, consider this type of structure a universal one (Murdock, 1949). He attributes this to the efficiency of the nuclear family. According to Murdock, such families are very good at regulating sexual relationships, reproducing, and socializing children.

The advantages of a nuclear family structure might be mobility and economic independence. Some have even claimed that nuclear families are becoming more and more egalitarian.

This thesis is often rejected by feminist authors who claim that the main disadvantage of such a structure is its oppressive nature (Barthel, 1994, p. 174).

A famous example of a nuclear family would be the pastor’s family from Michael Haneke’s 2009 movie The White Ribbon . The family consists of a father, a mother, and their children.

2. Extended Family

Extended families consist of parents, children, and other relatives such as grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and so on.

This was the most widespread family structure in preindustrial societies and continues to be as common in contemporary ones (Murdock & White, 1969). Particular forms of an extended family include stem and joint families.

A greater sense of security and belonging might be the main advantage of an extended family. Extended family members tend to gather for family events and provide support for each other. The main disadvantage of such a structure is that membership entails greater responsibilities toward a larger number of people.

A famous example of an extended family would be the fictional Compson family from William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury . The family consists of grandparents, parents, children, and their children.

3. Reconstituted (Blended) Family

A reconstructed or blended family, also known as a stepfamily, is a family where at least one parent has children that are not biologically related to the other parent.

Both parents can also have children from previous relationships. These types of families, therefore, can be further divided into two types:

• Simple reconstituted families and
• Complex reconstituted families.

Families in which only one parent has a prior child or children belong to the former category, while those in which both parents have prior children belong to the latter category.

Such families involve some serious challenges. Parents who constantly fight their ex-spouse tend to put mental and emotional stress on their children, while parents who do not tend to make their current spouse insecure and anxious (DeAngelis, 2005).

A famous example of a blended or reconstructed family would be the family from Wes Anderson’s 2001 movie The Royal Tenenbaums .

4. Compound Family

A compound family is a type of structure that consists of three or more spouses and their children. It is, of course, characteristic of polygamous societies, but it can also arise in monogamous ones through a second marriage.

In the latter case, a compound family is a form of a reconstituted or a blended family and can be either simple or complex.

A famous example of a compound family is the one from the 2009 movie A Serious Man by the Cohen brothers. The family consists of a husband, a wife, their children, and the wife’s soon-to-be new husband.

5. Patriarchal Family

A patriarchal family is one in which the father or a male has absolute authority over the family.

Patriarchal societies and families have historically been very common, but contemporary anthropologists and sociologists believe that it is not the cultural universal as it was once thought to be (Britannica, 2022).

Shulamith Firestone, for example, believed that the family contained within itself all the antagonisms that later develop on a wider scale in society, which is why she believed that patriarchal family structures should be uprooted (Firestone, 1970).

A famous example of a patriarchal family in a contemporary setting is the family from Terrence Malick’s 2011 movie The Tree of Life .

6. Matriarchal Family

A matriarchal family is one in which the mother or a female has absolute authority over the family.

These kinds of structures are rarer than patriarchal ones, but they have existed across history and continue to exist today. Others classify some egalitarian families as matriarchal (Lepowsky, 1993).

A famous example of a matriarchal family is the family from Federico García Lorca’s 1936 play The House of Bernarda Alba . The family consists of a matriarchal widow and her five children.

7. Egalitarian Family

Although it is debatable whether or not strictly egalitarian families exist, they are defined as those families in which fathers and mothers share authority equally.

They are more typical of post-industrial Western societies, but relatively egalitarian families exist outside of those countries as well. This type of family structure is becoming more and more common across the globe.

An example of a relatively egalitarian family might be the family from the 2021 TV series Scenes from a Marriage .

8. Single Parent Family

Single-parent or one-parent families differ from nuclear families in that they consist only of one parent and their child or children.

Rising divorce rates contribute to the growth of this type of family structure, but single-parent families have been quite common throughout most of human history (Murdock & White, 1969).

A famous example of a single-parent family is the one from the 2001 movie I Am Sam. In the movie, a man has to raise his daughter alone.

The Role of Families in Society

The role that family structures play in society can hardly be overstated. Émile Durkheim, one of the most important theorists concerning the sociology of the family and sociology in general, thought that family structures served several vital functions in societies (Durkheim, 1888/2002).

Functionalists stress how the family as a social institution sustains societies (Turner, 2006, pp. 189-195). These functions include the socialization of children, regulation of sexual activity, provision of social identities, provision of support, and intergenerational reproduction of cultural values .

A family is one of the most fundamental structures in society. Some form of the family has existed in virtually every society we know about (Starbuck, 2010).

Nevertheless, not all families are alike. Many different types of families have existed and continue to exist today. All types of families can more or less successfully fulfill their functions. In this article, we began with a general definition and then discussed the eight most common types of family structures.

Bales, R. F., & Parsons, T. (2014). Family: Socialization and Interaction Process . Routledge. (Original work published 1955)

Barthel, D. L. (1994). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Sociology . Oxford University Press.

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2022, September 7). patriarchy. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/patriarchy

DeAngelis, T. (2005, December 1). Stepfamily success depends on ingredients. Monitor on Psychology , 36 (11). https://www.apa.org/monitor/dec05/stepfamily

Durkheim, É. (2002). Introduction à la sociologie de la famille: Fonctions sociales et institutions . J.-M. Tremblay. (Original work published 1888)

Firestone, S. (1970). The Dialectic of Sex . Quill.

Firth, H., Forge, A., & Hubert, J. (2006). Families and their Relatives . Routledge. (Original work published 1970)

Lepowsky, M. A. (1993). Fruit of the Motherland: Gender in an Egalitarian Society . Columbia University Press.

Murdock, G. P. (1949). Social Structure . Macmillan Company.

Murdock, G. P., & White, D. R. (1969). Standard cross-cultural sample. Ethnology, 8 , 329–369.

Starbuck, G. H. (2010). Families in context (2nd ed.). Paradigm.

Turner, B. S. (2006). The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology . Cambridge University Press.

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3 thoughts on “11 Types of Family in Sociology (Family Structure Examples)”

Hey Chris! Don’t forget adoption in your family definition. Sociologists define family as people related by biology, marriage, or adoption.

Agreed. Thanks for the contribution Laura.

This information was helpful to me, and not only that, it is well analized and detailed in a way that anyone can easily understand the content of the work.

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620 Family Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Explore a wide variety of topics about family members, love, values, and more.

👨‍👩‍👦 Family Essay Structure

🏆 best family topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on family.

• 🎓 Simple & Easy Family Essay Titles

📌 Family Writing Prompts

• ⭐ Interesting Topics to Write about Family
• 🥇 Most Interesting Family Topics to Write about

❓ Essay Questions About Family

As a student, you are likely to get an assignment to write about the importance of relationships. That’s why you can be in need of a good friends and family topic. In this case, you’ve found the right page. Our experts have prepared a list of ideas related to the subject.

Writing a family essay is an easy way to boost your grade and explore the things that matter to you. However, to get a high grade on this assignment, it is essential to structure your paper well. Essays that are organized logically will help you to stand out from the crowd and earn your tutor’s appreciation. Here are some tips on structuring family essays:

1⃣ Narrow down the topic

If your professor didn’t provide a set of topics to choose from, you would need to decide on the focus of your essay. The concept of family is too general, and failing to narrow it down might cost you marks. Think about your interests and experience. Do you want to write about what family means to you? Or would you rather write an essay on family problems? Whatever your interests are, choose a subject that can be explored in-depth within the specified page limit.

2⃣ Check samples online

This is an excellent way to prepare for writing your essay because you can examine how other people structured their work. Luckily, there are many family essay examples and sample papers online that you could use. While reading those, note the key points and how they follow one another in a sequence. Consider how the structure of each paper can be improved to make it more coherent. Did the writer miss some points? Did they provide examples in support of each argument? Write out your notes to keep them in mind while working on your essay.

3⃣ Start by writing one to three titles at the top of the page

Family essay titles tend to be very generic, so you need to choose one that suits the intended content of the paper. Examine each title to see if it is precise and can catch the reader’s attention immediately. For example, if you would like to write about a family relationship, you could use a quote about the importance of family as a title.

4⃣ Create an outline based on your key points

There are typically three parts in an essay: introduction, main body, and conclusion. The first part should contain the most basic information about the topic, as well as your purpose or thesis statement. A family essay body is where you present the main ideas and arguments in a logical sequence. The conclusion should be the last part you write, so you don’t need to plan it along with the other two components. After writing the outline, go through each point again to see if they link together nicely. If not, see if you could move some points around to make them fall into a logical sequence.

5⃣ Add evidence to support each point

Once you’ve completed the outline, add more details to each section. You could use the evidence gathered as part of secondary research, as well as your thoughts and personal experience. For instance, if you have a section about what a happy family means, think whether you know any families that fit the description or explore statistics on happiness among married couples with children.

Following the tips above will help you to create a backbone for your paper, making writing a hundred times easier! If you need any more assistance with your essay, search our website for family essay topics, writing advice, and more!

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• Social Issues of Families in Poverty With the tightened budget, parents of the families living in poverty struggle to make ends meet, and in the course of their struggles, they experience many stresses and depressions.
• Nuclear Family vs. Single Parenting Effects on Child The family is the main environment that contributes to the behavior of a person. The family environment in which these individuals are is the key contributor to the character and behavior of individuals.
• Structural and Experiential Family Therapists Differences A structural family therapist could view the problem of the child by understanding relationships within the family of the child. For example, a structural family therapist could focus on deciphering how the child interacts with […]
• How the Glass Menagerie Illustrates the Breakup of Family Structures Debusscher, in this respect states that, the mention of “a double life,” could be the mask that Tom Wingfield wears to meet the world, in particular the “world of his mother and that of the […]
• Marriage and Alternative Family Arrangements In the selection of the marriage partners, individuals are required to adhere to the rules of endogamy as well as the rules of exogamy.
• Marriage and Family: Life Experience When we got married, a man was perceived to be the head of the family, and in his absence the wife was expected to guide the family.
• The Huxtable Family from the Cosby Show His wife, Clair Huxtable, is the matriarch of the family and a lawyer. For her, the main challenge in the family is to balance being a wife, a mother, and a professional.
• Minuchin Family Therapy of Eating Disorders It is for this reason that the family-based treatment was conceived and implemented to involve the family in the recovery of adolescents.
• Defining Extended Family as a Phenomenon It is the role of early teachers to be aware of who constitutes a child’s family and not to define the child’s family for them.
• The Family from a Sociological Approach The family is the simplest form of social interaction; it forms the base of a society. The case above of dominance and unconscious division of power is seen as social stratification in the family.
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• “Public and Private Families” by Andrew J. Cherlin One advantage of the observational method is its ability to form the basis for further scientific inquiry, but its biggest drawback is the interference of too many external factors in the observation.
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• Modern Families: Intimate and Personal Relationships Since Queen’s family lived in the United States and my family resided in England, this paper presents an integrated comparison of household aspects in the two countries.
• Family Theories in Advanced Nursing Practice At the developmental level, the model allows for evaluating the lifecycle of the family and the level of its development as a whole, and if each member is separately.
• The Concept of Strategic Family Therapy SFT approach rests upon the notion that families possess enduring power to change teenagers. The approach normally targets families with children possessing antisocial behaviors.
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🎓 Simple Topics about Family

• Family and Child Development Milestones Peter is the decision-maker and plays the role of the primary breadwinner. Cathy is the person who looks after the health of the children and family members.
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• Social Constructionism in Couple and Family Therapy The next part of the article presents the history of the development of social constructionism and indicates its various trends. The central premise of social constructionism is that the institutions, customs, labels, laws, and division […]
• The Modern Perception of Family Despite the fact that the notion of family has always been one of the major assets of human life, the scope of the term’s definition has been gradually evolving over the years.
• Family Communication Overview This presentation aims to discuss the impact of family relations on the process of children’s and parents’ socialization and methods of improving family communication.I.
• Counseling Interview in Family and Relationship Therapy My choice of questions for the interviewees on matters related to life, relationship and family will be designed as linear and systematic questions to aid in formulating an assessment.
• African American Family Cultural Background They have a unique culture that is characterized by a unique parenting style, structure of the family, the role of gender in the family, and their views on marriage.
• Family Systems Theory and Psychosocial Assessment The focus is therefore on family members and not the individuals in a given family. In this case, therefore, the theory is used to study a particular system which is the family.
• Nuclear Family and British Social Breakdown A brief description of nuclear family is that it be defined as a family that is composed of two sets of family members, parents and children, living together in the same home.
• Planning a Family Vacation A first date must also be conscious of the likes and dislikes of their partners. The steering wheel must also be used in straightening of tires.
• Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy Finally, a comprehensive review of the self of the therapists, empirical support, and the intricacies of the therapeutic alliance will end the discourse on CBFT.
• Family and Culture: Major Problems Facing Families Around the World Many of these family changes have come because of the result of globalization, which has occurred mainly due to the sophisticated technology available in the current world.
• Family Planning: Hospital Birth or Home Birth? Analyzing such a question, one might remember the films on television and the novels of the old times, and come to the conclusion that the modern families have the alternatives to choose from, a luxury […]
• Marital and Parental Subsystems in Family In a conventional family system, these members include the husband and wife, the siblings, and the relatives who make up the extended family.
• Elements of Strong Family In addition to the element of attention, there are other important parts to be considered in a strong and healthy family, like respect and discipline.
• Patricia and Her Family Maybe, it is high time to help Patricia to demonstrate that her past mistakes should be forgiven, and relatives are one of the first people, who have to give this forgiveness.
• Social Media and the Family In their research, House, McGinty, and Heim investigate the influence of social networking services on the level of satisfaction in long-distance relationships.
• Bowen Family Systems Theory – Psychology In this context, the theory is relevant in demonstrating that the level of stress prevalent in the family due to alcoholism and irresponsible behavior of the family head is directly responsible for the development of […]
• The Family as the Basic Social Unit Furthermore, liberals, such as Archard, argue that the family is characterized by the roles and responsibilities that are evident in family privacy and the protection of intimacy.
• The Couple and Family Map and Its Main Concepts Therefore, closeness and flexibility are important concepts in the map and can describe the relationship between Rick and Louann. Moreover, the family is described as flexible because they have a good balance of stability and […]
• A Choice of a Family Vacation Destination This essay aims to assess which one of the two locations presents a better choice for a family who seeks a diverse assortment of engaging activities for all ages and has the potential for a […]
• Extended Family System There is no wonder one reconsiders and feels nostalgia for the age-old traditional family structure of the extended family system.”The basic concept of the joint family system is that more than one family come together […]
• How Does Addiction Affect Families The sober fact is that the health of all members of the family is a key aspect of the improvement of relations between all individuals belonging to it and the evolution of this institution.
• Painting: Ludovico il Moro and His Family Kneeling Before the Virgin The altarpiece was a religious painting work that symbolized the Virgin and child with four physicians of the temple and the entire family of Ludovico il Moro which comprised of Ludovico, his wife and daughter.
• Marriage and Family Counselling In the case of addiction counselling, the clientele is comprised of people suffering from the ravages of a certain factor in their life and the counsellor is their main hope in overcoming such a problem.
• The Ecology of the Family The article “The Ecology of the Family” discusses the development of a child in relation to its psychology and social orientation.
• The Family is God’s Tool of Revealing Himself to the World God intends the family to be one of the fundamental units of society, with Adam the first man, being the symbolic father of the family of humanity.
• Representation of Family in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” According to Bandy, the selfish nature of the grandmother and her disregard to her family is evidenced when she seems to care the safety of the other family members.
• Family Influences on the Development of a Child’s Behavior Objectives of the study: The general aim of the study is to determine how the organization of the family has a direct effect on the development of the child’s behavior.
• Children of Heaven: Family Values and Norms While credit to the quality of the piece of work has been noted to embed the scriptural work and the high performance of the characters who interpreted the story, it has been argued that the […]
• Genogram in Couple and Family Therapy In addition, the patient had a close relationship with her grandmother, and her death was a traumatic event that could negatively affect Marie’s psychological state.
• Role of Family in Reducing Juvenile Delinquency Players in the criminal justice system recognize the contribution of family and familial factors to the development of criminal and delinquent tendencies and their potential to minimize minors’ engagement in illegal and socially unacceptable behaviors.
• Family Health: Three-Generation Genogram Analysis Judy’s maternal grandfather died from a Heart Attack at 60 years and older and had a Stroke at 60 years and older.
• Consumerism: Affecting Families Living in Poverty in the United States Hence, leading to the arising of consumerism protection acts and policies designed to protect consumers from dishonest sellers and producers, which indicates the high degree of consumer’s ignorance, and hence failure to make decisions of […]
• A Beautiful Mind: Understanding Schizophrenia and Its Impact on the Individual and the Family The psychological disorder presented in the movie refer to one of the most common of schizophrenia paranoia. The disorder, however, is still subjected to experimental treatments by means of medications and psychotherapy.
• A Typical Household Family A nuclear family is understood to mean a unit consisting of the father, mother and the children, while an extended family is comprised of the nuclear family together with the rest of the family members, […]
• Traditional Family Roles’ Impact on Haitian Teens in New Jersey For instance, it is the role of the women in the family to honor their husbands and be submissive as part of Haiti’s traditional culture.
• Home Visits and Families Empowerment The purpose of home visits is to give a more detailed assessment of the family structure, the natural or home environment, and behavior in the home environment”.
• Workplace Discrimination: Impact of Family-Friendly Policies There is a reduction in the number of compulsory working hours, allowing employees more time to spend with their families and children.
• Inter Families’ Football Competition Event Based on my analysis, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the inter families football competition, the most important and interesting event in my community.
• Sexual Functioning and Family Life-Cycle Stages During this stage, the primary concern with sexual behavior becomes lack of time and intimacy in the relationships due to the changing roles of the couple, increased stress, postpartum health problems, and sleep disturbances.
• The Life Model Helping Immigrant Families According to Piedra and Engstrom, this model explains that the problem sources refer to the environment, maladaptive interpersonal processes, and stress.
• Family Nursing and Stress Theory The first era in the development of the family stress theory started with the studies in the 1920s and ended in the development of the assumption in the mid-1940s.
• Family Concept in “The Story of Us” Movie Overall, the film appears to be a great piece of film-making art representing the themes of love and affection along with a number of difficulties marriages may face after years of coupledom.”The Story of Us” […]
• Chicago School Theory and Family Studies In order to understand the nature of crime and the concept of social disorganization, one needs to perform a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon and study it from different angles.
• Autism. Child and Family Assessment The other common disorder associated with autism is that of mutism whereby it also lies under the category of speech disorder and in many cases it is difficult to be diagnosed and at the same […]
• Family Types, Relationships and Dynamics In the case of a consanguine family, the relationship with the family is more absolute in that expenses, food, and other aspects related to living within the same “roof” are shared.
• Interpersonal Communication Skills: Closeness in Families Given that, I highly value my relationship with my mother and the level of comfort we have talking to each other is one of the reasons why.
• Race, Ethnicity, Family and Religion Religion on the other hand, is important as it forms the basis of ideologies that a given people would ascribe to family. This occurrence shows how religion is dear and important to the lives of […]
• Psychoanalytic Approach to Family Counselling Williams adds that in the second phase of the therapy, a client is assessed based on the relationship so far existent with the therapist to determine reaction against the prevailing conditions on the influence of […]
• Marriage & Family Therapy He used his family as a case study in explaining the theory in relation to development and function of a family.
• The Nature of Aristocratic Marriage and Family in the Mid-Heian Period The poorly defined Heian marriage system denied the women the ability to react and advocate for their human rights, Seidensticker Edward.
• Divorce and its Impacts on Family Members The effects of divorce are experienced by each and every member of the family regardless of who was at fault.”The effects of divorce can change virtually every aspect of a person’s life including where a […]
• The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler Book He believes that the government is not doing much to address the issue of the working poor. Although there are laws set up to protect the working poor, the process of implementing them is very […]
• Dual-Earner Families and Issues Within Them Husbands should help their wives in childrearing and chores to avoid the overburden of the latter and that they have sufficient time for educational or work purposes.
• The Stages of the Family Cycle The young person has not only to expand his budget but also has to have a bigger heart that can accommodate his fiancee’s behavior and also his in-laws’ interference with the running of his home.
• Definition of the Family For me, a family can be simply defined as the people whom I come home to when I need to feel loved and wanted. Who is to say what the real definition of a family […]
• Family Aggresion and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory In this paper, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory will be used to analyze the problem of family aggression and evaluate the relationships between each system and the chosen issue.
• Family Assessment in Payne’s Film “The Descendants” The present work is devoted to the case study of the family that is depicted in the film The Descendants. The case is summarized with particular attention paid to the structure and beliefs and values […]
• Family Conflicts Assessment Regarding role playing, the mother is longer a house wife in the sense that she is expected to undertake the affairs of the home while the father provides for the family.
• The XYZ Family W, who doubles as the head of the family, is a local merchant and has a relatively small food kiosk within the Saddle Lake town.
• Money or Family Values First? Which Way to Go As such, family values becomes the epicenter of shaping individual behavior and actions towards the attainment of a certain good, while money assumes the position of facilitating the attainment of a certain good such as […]
• Family Relationship Analysis with Use of Genogram When we look at John and Mary’s relationship, we see that they have a close and stable relationship, which may have influenced their children’s and grandchildren’s communication patterns.
• Dharker’s Postcards From God Book and Carter’s Family Photograph Human poverty might have many colors, and the worth of the chosen non-literary work is in the possibility of conveying the struggle in the face of inevitability.
• School Family Community Partnership and Its Benefits The most exciting aspect of the School Family Community Partnership is that it has a fairly large academic base behind it.
• Family Stratification Overview This is due to the objective processes of marriage and family relations in all economically developed countries in the system of systems, which entails a decrease in the birth rate, an increase in the number […]
• Challenging the “Standard North American Family” In a family, as seen by the proponents of structural functionalism, each member of the family tries to contribute to the development of their household by following some rules and ensuring the acceptance of the […]
• Cultural Differences Among Families in the “Hotel Rwanda” Film Arguably, the existence of cultural differences between families across the lifespan is the most significant problem affecting the family of Rusesabagina as he attempts to play the role of a corporate manager and a family […]
• Crime and Family Background Correlation The first half of the 20th century saw the crime rate increase moderately in a few areas; mostly in burglaries and muggings, but less in murders and drunkenness.
• Family Health Assessment: Health Promotion Strategy This system is referred to as the Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns and it’s a very comprehensive approach of collecting information from a patient so that nurses and doctors can use the information for diagnosis of […]
• The Twinning Process: Biological and Family Aspects This is not because they are worse parents but because they simply find it too tasking to fully give the same attention to each child regardless of them being twins or not.
• “Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family’s Triumph Over Autism” by Catherine Maurice The book was published in 1994, and it was a success as parents of autistic children were waiting for someone to prove that autism was not an incurable disorder.
• Genograms in Family Assessment The other son, Philip Simons who is the second born in the family is married to Luisa Mendes, but they are forced to live together due to a court injunction in that their marriage is […]
• Malay Muslim Traditions and Cultural Identity First I clearly expected that it if the parents and close family members who convey the identity to their children stayed together, then the conflict between mainstream expectations in the American way of life and […]
• The American Family: Current Problems It seems that the American families are under strain because there is a lack of a normative structure that would provide the parents with the necessary tools to orient their families.
• Family Assessment in a Problem Oriented Record According to the available information the power relations in the family is on his side and the bulk of family responsibilities are reserved for Naomi.
• Family Assessment and Care Plan Some of the family members become victims of family, domestic, or sexual violence, which forces them to leave the household and live in the streets. In short, the child and family health nurse is to […]
• Family Crisis Issues and Solving Them The husband becomes the only person to work and feed the family. The death of a family member is also an unpredictable source of stress and crisis within the family.

⭐ Engaging Titles about Family to Write about

• Gender Roles and Family Systems in Hispanic Culture
• Child Neglect Index for a Boy and His Family
• The Modern Family Concept
• Family Conflict in Unigwe’s, Kwa’s, Gebbie’s Stories
• Living with Down Syndrome: A Case Study from the UAE
• Family Therapy and Teacher as Counselor
• Family Relationships: Psychological Inquiry
• Wang Group Company: Family Business Changes
• Genograms Role in Family and Marriage
• Organizational Behavior: Family/Work Conflict
• The Effect of Family Conflict Resolution on Children’s Classroom Behavior
• Family Trend Change and Disease Factor
• Growing Up in a Broken Family: “Found Objects” by Jennifer Egan
• Gender Stratification in Education, Work, and Family
• Roles of Education & Family in Frankenstein
• Future of Japanese Families
• Anthropological Historical Account of Family Lineage
• Kinship of Family
• The Human Family Tree Development
• Managing Interpersonal Relationships in Family
• The Ethical Dimension of Family Therapy
• The Family Institution and Impact of Polygamy
• Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies”: The Issues Surrounding Families Today
• Relationship: Communication Between Family Members
• The Future of Families: Four Discoveries That Change Everything
• Impact of Chronic Illness on Families
• Food Work in the Family and Gender Aspects of Food Choice
• Family Health History. Nursing Practice
• Family History Project
• Self-Health Assessment With Reference to Family Genogram
• “Oresteia” by Aeschylus and “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles: Family Tragedies
• Home-Start Family Supporting Program: Supporting Program for Children and Their Families
• Family Interaction: Description of a Dysfunctional Family
• Marriage and Family Problems as Social Issues
• Family Stress and Crisis: We Got Through It
• Family Traditions and Values in the United States
• Cultural Influences on Family Values and Habits
• The Modern Day Family
• Family Communication, Its Role and Advancement
• Small Family Bakery Entrepreneurship Idea
• Surrogacy and How It Affects Families
• Barack Obama’s Family History
• Changing Notion of Nuclear Family as Portrayed in Television Shows
• Non-Traditional Families and Child Behaviorism Affects
• Beyond the Nuclear Family
• “Eat Drink Man Woman”: Confucian Ethics and Traditional Chinese Family Life
• Analysis of Alice Walker’s Essay “Everyday Use” in Reference to the Idea of Power and Responsibility Within Family
• The Roles of Families in Virtual Learning
• Families and Social Class: Chapter 4 of “The Family” by Philip N. Cohen
• Origins of the American Family
• Stay-At-Home Mother’s Contribution to the Family Economy
• Pornography and Its Influence on Families
• Family Communication: A Professional Journal Article
• The Family From a Social Institution Perspective
• Chapter 3 of “The Family” Book by Philip N. Cohen
• Leadership, Family, and Community Collaboration Project
• Navigating the Ambiguity of Family
• Narrative Family Therapy: Adolescent Mental Health
• Family Health Assessment: Child Poverty, Toxic Stress
• Families from a Sociological Perspective
• Mental Health Nurse’s Communication With Patients and Families
• The Shared Table as a Family Tradition
• Family Communication in the Captain Fantastic Film
• Newark Emergency Services for Families’ Marketing Plan
• Challenges and Approaches to Family Counseling
• Unforgiveness in Marriages and Families
• The Role of Family in American Poems and Short Stories
• Home, Work, and Relationships in Modern Families
• Developmental Psychology of an Immigrant Family
• Exploring the Interplay of Family, Philosophy, and Politics
• Understanding and Addressing Family Stress: Parental Responses and Impact on Children
• Mental Disorder: Treating a Family Member
• The Early Learning Child Care Act: Family Impact Analysis
• Family Counseling: Resolving Conflict and Promoting Wellness
• The Role of Nurses in Family-Based Interventions
• A Family-Centered Cesarean Birth: Experience and Bonding
• A Mexican Family Health Assessment
• Family-Centered Health Assessment and Promotion
• Diversity and Its Impact on Family Form and Function
• The Family-Centered Care Principles
• Conference: Family System and Support
• Counseling for Family Conflicts Resolution
• Feminist Perspective on Family Counselling
• College Education and Family Foundation
• Family Business Succession in Asian Countries
• Non-Traditional Family Case Study
• Family Hui Hawaii: A Non-Profit Supporting Families
• LGBTQ+ Families: Discrimination and Challenges
• How Marginalization Affects the Health Care of Women and Families with Children
• Health Intervention among Patients and the Families
• Family Behavioral Therapy: Case Analysis
• Second-Grade Class Family and Community Engagement Plan
• Analysis of Family Hui Hawaii
• Biomedical Technologies and Natural Family Planning
• Engaging Mobile Apps in Family Planning
• Paid Family Leave Policy Analysis
• The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act’s Role
• Healthcare and Family Diversity
• The Contemporary Racist Realities in American Families
• Family Education for Valuing the Elderly
• South African-American Family Cultural Assessment
• Changing Gender Roles in Families Over Time
• Schools and Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Social Determinates of Health of a Family
• Discussion of Family Education Aspects
• The Effect of Gentrification on Low-Income Families
• Family Diversities and Demographics in the USA
• Case Study: A Multi-Problem Appalachian Family
• Modern Day Families and Homesickness
• Lobo Family: The Case of Migration
• Classroom Strategies and Family Involvement
• Holidays, Schools, and Family: Family Language Policy on Holiday
• Initiative on Protecting Child and Family Well-Being
• The Healthcare Cost Interview with a Family Member
• Challenges of Families with Down Syndrome Children
• Stable Radicals Families: Synthesis and Properties
• Family Behaviors, Inequality, and Outside Childbearing Marriage
• How Understanding of Family Influenced Assessment
• How the Pandemic Has Stressed Families
• Paid Family Medical Leave in America
• Hayman-Woodward’s Paid Family Medical Leave
• Modern Parenthood and Family Instability
• Resource Availability for Low-Income Families in New York
• Therapeutic Intervention in Families
• The Family Voices Organization’s Mission & Services
• Communities Supporting Families
• Social Mobility and Family Occupation Tree
• The Stress of Working with Families
• Obesity Risk Factors: Impact of Family Background
• Family Relationship: Life-Span Development
• Conservatism and Liberalism: Discussion of the Decline of Nuclear Families
• Delivering Care to Culturally Diverse Families
• Family in America and Its Most Common Types
• Sociology of the Family: Gender Roles
• “Family Relationships in What It Means to Say Phoenix Arizona” by S. Alexie
• Family Ties and Obligations as the Driver of Antigone’s Actions in Sophocles’ Play
• Stress as a Result of Combining Work and Family
• Determining the Applicable Law on Family Matter
• Sociology of the Family: Love and Relationships
• Beowulf Defeats Grendel: Relationships With Family, Women, and His Own Gender
• Aspects of Marriage and Family Life
• Family Development Center Program’s Improvement
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Families’ Issues
• Gender Theory and the Division of Labor in Families
• Consequences of Pandemic COVID-19: The Psychological Climate in the Family
• Parenting Models in Modern Family Unit of Emigrants in the USA
• Families, Gender Relations and Social Change in Brazil
• Family Unit Structures Comparison
• Explaining of Theories of Family Science
• Navigating the System For Families Experiencing Homelessness
• Research on Families and Inequality
• Ambiguous Loss: Immigration and Separation of Families
• Infidelity as the Main Cause of Family Divorce
• Family and Work Patterns in Contemporary British Society
• Family-Centered Health and School Age and Adolescent Development
• Family-Centered Health and Development: Pediatric Nurses’ Role
• Theories of Family Science Overview
• Families Recovery From Substance Abuse
• Comparing the Level of Comfort of Registered Nurses Related to Family Presence During Resuscitation
• Asian Americans and Latino Families: Race and Ethnicity
• The Blucare Family Organization’s Interventions
• Clayton County Division of Family and Children Services
• New York’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
• Why the Theories Matter in Child and Family Health Practice
• Impactful Policy for Child and Family Health Practitioners
• Programs in Family Sleep Institute
• The Family’s Health Status: The Social Determinants of Health
• Federal Guidelines on Procedural Safeguards of Special Needs’ Children and Families
• Family Literacy Night
• The Implementation of Family-Based Therapy to Manage Anxiety Disorder in Adolescents
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Nation’s Health
• Vulnerable Families: Problems With Access to Healthcare
• Family Support and Family Psychoeducational Models
• Family Planning Individual Case Critique
• A Loss of a Family Member and Counseling
• Telehealth Communication Between Family and Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Social Policy and Family Resilience
• Developing an App for Building a Financial System for a Family
• Children’s Corner: Family and Community Engagement Plan
• Family Health Promotion Strategies
• “How Home Hospice Care Facilitates Patient and Family Engagement”: Article Analysis
• Two Families Social Comparison
• Analysis of How Australian Families Spend Their Time
• The Concept of Family Health
• Child Development and Family Resources
• “Three Years After Family Separation…” by Dickerson
• The Topic of Complex Family Relations
• How Family Affects Criminal Behavior: Hatred Murders
• Families With a Chronically Ill Child: Issues and Techniques
• Researching of Family Demographics
• Disaster Planning for Families: Is Your Family Prepared?
• Psychic Effects of Detached Family and Social Relations
• Genogram and Genomap: Family Group Analysis
• Future of the Family Business in World
• Family Mediation: Advantages and Disadvantages
• Diversity Analysis in Families
• Family Relationship in the Thappad Film
• Resiliency: Community, Family, and Individual Needs
• Family Style Meals in the Childcare Setting
• Psychometric Evaluation of the Family-Centered Care Scale
• Palliative Care: What Constitutes the Best Technique for Technicians Communication With Patients and Families?
• Family/Patient-Centered Care: A Letter
• Different Cases on Family Law
• Family Law: Presumptions
• Reasoned Decision-Making in a Family Business
• Family Intervention Strategies at a National and Local Level
• The Importance of a Family Facilitator During Resuscitation
• Family-Cultural Assessment
• Providing Holistic Care to the Family Members: Palliative Care
• Family Relationship, Childhood Delinquency, Criminality
• Analysis of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
• Genetic Family Historical Analysis
• Conger’s Stress and Family With Children
• Defining the US Family
• Debate on Effect of the Environment on Family

🥇 Most Interesting Family Essay Topics

• Family Health Assessment by Gordon
• Family Plan For Specific Hazards and Risks
• The Effectiveness of ICU Nurses in Reducing Stress among Family Members
• Family Law: Succession and Probate Practice
• Patients Lawsuits and Their Families Against Hospitals
• Family Law and Matrimonial Practices
• Critical Appraisal on the Impact of Autism Spectrum Disorders on the Family: A Qualitative Study of Mothers’ Perspectives
• Should Family-Witnessed Resuscitation Be Allowed in the Emergency Department?
• Gender Bias in Family Court
• Modality of Family Faith and Meanings and Relationships in Family Life
• Family Health Care: The Morrison Family
• Cultural Aspects While Assessing the Family
• Definitions and Discussions of the Family Leave Act
• Family Values in Nursing
• Evaluation of the Sound Families Initiative
• “Family Law Fifth Edition” by William P. Statsky
• Family and Community Violence Exposure Among Youth
• Family Theory Use With Dementia
• Evolution of the Caregiving Experience in the Initial 2 Years Following Stroke
• Family Health Assessment Proforma
• Nursing Care of a Family With a Stillborn
• The Issues Influencing Contemporary Australian Families
• The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• The Williams’ Family Story
• Family Violence in “Story of a Girl” by Zarr
• Family Professional Collaboration
• Homeless Families Analysis
• Celebrating Easter in the Family During the Covid-19 Pandemic
• Feasibility of Developing a Family Business
• A Phenomenological Study of Families With Drug-Using Children
• The Essence of Family Nursing Theories
• No Respect Given to Military Family
• The MacMaster Model Family: The Williams Assessment
• “Gender Differences in Work-Family Guilt in Parents of Young Children”: Quantitative Research Critique
• Social Distancing: Communication With Patients Families
• Family Factors and Youth Suicide
• Family and Domestic Violence: Enhancing Protective Factors
• Tuareg Community Family Life
• Family Systems Theory: Parenting and Family Diversity Issues
• The Role of Family in Treating Juvenile Offenders
• Family Issues and Adolescence in Crazy/Beautiful
• Same‐Sex Couples, Families, and Marriage
• PSDM Model Usage in Solving Family Conflicts
• Who Does Protect Poor Families Living in the Districts of Street Gangs?
• Family Medical Leave Act and it’s Effect on Organisational Policies
• Family Model: Stephanie Coontz’s “What We Really Miss About the 1950s”
• Gender, Family, and Unemployment in Ontario’s Great Depression
• How Did the Movie “Life as We Know It” Demonstrate the Conflict in a Family Institution?
• Features of Marital and Family Therapy
• Family Structure, Family Process and Father Involvement
• Religion, Family and Culture
• Sticking Together: Family Relations Analysis
• Choices and Theories: Theoretical Perspectives of the Family and Mate Selection
• Competing in Preposterousness: Analyzing Barbara Bergman’s Feedback to Gary Becker’s Theory of Family
• Developmental Psychology: The Impact of Family-Of-Origin on Adulthood
• Women, Men, Work, and Family: An Expansionist Theory
• Obesity as a Family Issue in the Community
• “Family Partnerships” by Jobeth Allen
• A Family Anticipating: Young Children
• “The Military Family” by James Martin
• Communication Amongst Military Families
• The Impact of Incarceration in the African American Family
• Marriage and Family Systems: Western Society and Kadara of Nigeria
• First Language Acquisition in a Multilingual Family
• Postpartum Psychosis: Impact on Family
• Jewish Family Cultural Perspective
• “The Essentials of Family Therapy” by Nichols
• Family Relationships in Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
• Family Tutoring Program Design
• In What Ways Did the Movie “American Beauty” Portray the Typical Family Values?
• American Family: Where We Are Today
• Human Communication and Conflict Management in Family
• Family Interaction: Psychology Reactions
• Family Life as a Stage in the Preparation of a Genogram
• Psychology and Sociology in Families
• Family Therapy for Treating Major Depression
• Universal Concept of Family: Future Perspectives
• Recovering From a Traumatic Brain Injury: Cognitive Rehabilitation
• The Concepts and Methods of Family Therapy
• Jewish Family’s Experiences During the Holocaust
• Family and Medical Leave Act in the Workplace
• Family Concept in “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams
• Health, Social Behavior and the Study of the Family
• Family Therapy With Cultural Groups
• Cohabitation: Family Environment and Life
• “Decline of the Family” by Janet Z. Giele Review
• What Makes a Step Family a Real Family?
• Marriage and Family: Women as Love Experts and Victims
• Trends in Nursing of Families
• Romanian Families: Comparison to Canadian Ones
• Television Families: What Do They Tell Us About Race Relations?
• Domestic Violence in Marriage and Family
• Foster Care Crisis in Georgia: Children in Substitute Families
• Psychology: Child Couple Family Therapy
• Dysfunctional Behavior Within a Family
• Genogram: Family History and System Theory
• Federal Welfare Policy: Assistance for Needy Families
• Feelings of Families Regarding Drug Dependence: In the Light of Comprehensive Sociology
• Stepfamily Relationships: The Blended Family Interview
• Step-Grandparents from Family Counselor’s Perspective
• Family Law in South Africa and Saudi Arabia
• Single Mother Families in Changing Economic Times
• Family Business, Its Philosophy and Strategy
• Blended Families and Crises
• Children’s Psychological Issues: Abusive Behavior in Families
• Family Violence in History and Nowadays
• Family, Marriage, and Parenting Concepts Nowadays
• Pregnancy, Parentage and Family Development
• Ways of Families Construction
• Family and Work Politics
• Adapting Family Network Issue
• Major Trends in the Paradigm of Family Life
• Sociology of Family: Control and Violence in Relationships
• Substance Abuse and Family in “The Corner” Series
• Family Role Switching: Pros and Cons
• Teacher’s Communication With Families
• Family Business: R&S Electronic Service Company
• Family Life Cycle: The Institution of Marriage
• Child, Youth and Family Intervention
• Family Issues: Divorce and Family Mediation Process
• Families in the Media Portrayal
• Family Studies and Research Approaches
• Asian Women and Families Today and 50 Years Ago
• Disaster Planning for Families
• Family and Consumer Education Methodologies
• Traditional Family, Its Definition and Future
• Family Law: Spousal Support After Divorce in Canada
• Psychoanalytic, Existential, and Family Therapies
• Sunshine Laws and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
• Family System in “The Kids Are All Right” by Lisa Cholodenko
• Early Childhood in Family Environment
• Family Unit and Gender Roles in Society and Market
• The Politics of Theorizing African American Families
• Family and Its Sociological Perspective
• Family Issues in the United States of the XXI Century
• Family as a Social Institution
• Child Clinical Interviewing and Family Involvement
• Grandparents as Parental Figures in Modern Families
• Family Welfare and Divorce Policies
• Counseling and Therapy for Couples: Family Resilience
• Telehealth Tools to Support Family Caregivers
• Feminist Theory of Family Therapy
• Family Systems and Relationship Development
• Wellness and Counseling in Family Systems Therapy
• Family-School Partnerships in the United Arab Emirates
• Ethical Responsibilities and Families Support
• Family and Relationships: New Tendencies
• The Graham Family and the Washington Post Company
• Long Deployment for Military Families
• Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods
• Family Versus Societal Needs Priority
• Family Food and Meals Traditions in Dubai History
• Family Business: Success or Challenge?
• Individualized Family Service Plan vs. Education Program
• Family Relationships Role in the Business
• Work and Family: Institutional Logic
• Family Relationships in Media and Theories
• Parental Care and Its Role in Poor Families
• Presence of Family Members during Resuscitation
• Complementary Conflict Patterns in Families
• Family Planning in “Letters to Catherine” Blog
• Disney’s Representation of Couples and Families
• Black Families’ Issues in the “Soul Food” Series
• Family Reaction to a Child Loss and Intervention
• Fresh Food Provision for Low-Income Families
• Strengthening Families Program and Its Benefits
• Chronic Disease Impact on Patient’s Family
• Child Abuse and Neglect and Family Practice Model
• Communicating and Collaborating With Families
• The Family Systems Theory: Mahaley’s Case
• Family Involvement in a Child’s Learning Process
• Households and Family Decision-Making
• Alcoholism as a Social Issue and Its Effect on Families
• Family Values Comparison: The Aeneid and the Holy Bible
• Military Deployment Effects on Family Members
• Family-Community Partnerships Creation
• Family Consumer Science’s Impact on Test Scores
• Family Engagement in Children’s Learning Process
• Social Work and Addiction in Family Settings
• Marriage and Family Class Ideas
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
• Family Studies: Various Approaches
• Children’s Gender Identity in Same-Sex Families
• “Justice, Gender and Family” by Susan Okin
• Teacher Career: Family’s Involvement in Education
• Gambling and Its Effect on Families
• TV Shows’ Influence on Families
• Household Management Audit: Mr. Smith Family Case
• Canadian Families Understanding: Intersectional Approach
• ISO 9000 Family of Standards and its Effects on Business
• Women’s Family and Social Responsibilities and Rights
• Challenges for Educators: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Families
• Nuestra Family’s Organizational Structure
• Mills Trading: Governance Issues in a Family Business
• Does Family Promote or Limit Mobility?
• Family Life Education and Management
• Family Law Act 1996 in Human Services
• The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
• Second Child Effects on the Family
• Women’s Employment and Time Scarcity: Economic Impacts
• “Motherhood” in American Families
• Industrial Revolution’s Effects in American Family Life
• Women in Qatar: Education, Politics, Family, Law
• Cultural Revolution and Its Effects on the Family Cohesiveness
• Family Life: Events Leading to Its Beginning
• Feminist Theories in Relation to Family Functions
• Family Formation and Child Development
• Asian Studies in The True Story of Ah Q by Lu Hsun and Family by Pa Chin
• How to Establish a New Family Business?
• Is the U.S. Family in a Moral Decline?
• Definition of the Term “Family”
• Egalitarian Family in the Western Culture
• American Family’ Changes since the 20th Century
• The Effect of the Divorce on Families’ Financial Status
• Social Issues: Hollywood Effects on Suburban Families
• What Impact Does Family Size Have On Conformity?
• What Makes Family Values From Regular Values?
• What Makes Friends Different From Family?
• What Role Does Family Play in Children’s Education?
• What Role Does Love Play in Family Relationships?
• Are Traditional Family Games a Thing of the Past?
• Balancing Work and Family: Be a Working Mother or a Housewife?
• Can Family Caregiving Substitute for Nursing Home Care?
• Can Old Family Structures Meet New Economic Challenges?
• Can Parental Time Commitment and Family Economic Status Influence Child?
• Are Family Members More Important Than Friends?
• Is Family the Most Important Agent of Socialisation?
• Are Single Parent Homes a Dysfunctional Model of Family?
• Did the Industrial Revolution Disrupt the American Family?
• Does Changing Gender Role Affect Family Relationship?
• Does Custody Law Affect Family Behavior in and Out of Marriage?
• Does Family Composition Affect Social Networking?
• Does Family Planning Help the Employment of Women?
• Does Gay Marriage Threaten the Family?
• Does Publicly Provided Home Care Substitute for Family Care?
• Does Taxation Affect Marriage and Family Planning Decisions?
• Does Technology Ruin Family Life?
• Does the American Family Have a History?
• Does the Student-Loan Burden Weigh Into the Decision to Start a Family?
• Does the Welfare State Destroy the Family?
• Does Work-Time Flexibility Improve the Reconciliation of Family and Work?
• Family Dinners Cause Well Behave Children?
• Are Social Network Sites Affecting the Family?
• How Does Family Size Directly Affect Family Relationships?
• How Does Family Status Affect Education?
• Parenting Research Topics
• Childbirth Titles
• Divorce Research Ideas
• Conflict Management Ideas
• Dependency Theory Research Ideas
• Domestic Violence Paper Topics
• Family Businesses Questions
• Emotional Development Questions
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Bibliography

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Module 10: Marriage and Family

Defining family, learning outcomes.

• Describe family as a social institution

Family is a key social institution in all societies, which makes it a cultural universal. Similarly, values and norms surrounding marriage are found all over the world in every culture, so marriage and family are both cultural universals. Statuses (i.e., wife, husband, partner, mom, dad, brother, sister, etc.) are created and sanctioned by societies. While marriage and family have historically been closely linked in U.S. culture, with marriages creating new families, their connection is becoming more complex, as illustrated by the opening vignette and in the subsequent data on cohabitation.

Sociologists are interested in the relationship between the institution of marriage and the institution of family because families are the most basic social unit upon which society is built, but also because marriage and family are linked to other social institutions such as the economy, government, and religion. So what is a family?  F amily  is a socially recognized group (usually joined by blood, marriage, cohabitation, or adoption) that forms an emotional connection among its members and that serves as an economic unit of society. Sociologists identify different types of families based on how one enters into them. A family of orientation refers to the family into which a person is born. A family of procreation describes one that is formed through marriage. These distinctions have cultural significance related to issues of lineage.

Marriage  is a legally recognized social contract between two people, traditionally based on a sexual relationship and implying a permanence of the union. Marriage is a cultural universal, and like family, it takes many forms.  Who  gets married,  what  the marriage means to the couple and to the society, why  people get married (i.e., economic reasons, political reasons, or for love), and  how  it occurs (i.e., wedding or other ceremony) vary widely within and between societies. In practicing cultural relativism, we should also consider variations, such as whether a legal union is required (think of “common law” marriage and its equivalents), or whether more than two people can be involved (consider poly gamy). Other variations on the definition of marriage might include whether spouses are of opposite sexes or the same sex, and how one of the traditional expectations of marriage–that children will be produced–is understood today.

Figure 1.  The modern concept of family is far more encompassing than in past decades, which is evidenced in both laws (formal norms) and social control (both formal and informal). (Photo (a) courtesy Gareth Williams/flickr; photo (b) courtesy Guillaume Paumier/ Wikimedia Commons)

The sociological understanding of what constitutes a family can be explained by the paradigms of symbolic interactionism and functionalism. These two theories indicate that families are groups in which participants view themselves as family members and act accordingly. In other words, families are arrangements in which people come together to form a strong primary group connection and to maintain emotional ties with one another. Such families may include groups of close friends or teammates.

Figure 2. Family dynamics have shifted significantly in the past sixty years, with fewer children living in two-parent households.

In addition, the functionalist perspective views families as groups that perform vital roles for society—both internally (for the family itself) and externally (for society as a whole). Families provide for one another’s physical, emotional, and social well-being. Parents care for and socialize children. Later in life, adult children often care for elderly parents. While interactionism helps us understand the symbolic, subjective experience and meaning of belonging to a “family,” functionalism illuminates the many purposes of families and their roles in the maintenance of a balanced society (Parsons and Bales 1956).

Diverse Family Units

Irrespective of what form a family takes, it constitutes a basic social unit upon which societies are based, and can reflect other societal changes. For example, the bar graph shows how much the family structure has changed in a relatively short period of time. What trends do you see in the bar graph? What variables might help explain the increase in single parents between 1960 and 1980 and 2014? What variables might help explain the decrease in children living in two parent/first marriage families? Which theoretical perspectives can help explain this phenomenon?

People in the United States as a whole are somewhat divided when it comes to determining what does and what does not constitute a family. In a 2010 survey conducted by professors at the University of Indiana, nearly all participants (99.8 percent) agreed that a husband, wife, and children constitute a family. Ninety-two percent stated that a husband and a wife without children still constitute a family. The numbers drop for less traditional structures: unmarried couples with children (83 percent), unmarried couples without children (39.6 percent), gay male couples with children (64 percent), and gay male couples without children (33 percent) (Powell et al. 2010). This survey revealed that children tend to be the key indicator in establishing “family” status: the percentage of individuals who agreed that unmarried couples and gay couples constitute a family nearly doubled when children were added.

The study also revealed that 60 percent of U.S. respondents agreed that if you consider yourself a family, you are a family (a concept that reinforces an interactionist perspective) (Powell 2010). The government, however, is not so flexible in its definition of “family.” The U.S. Census Bureau defines a family as “a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together” (U.S. Census Bureau 2010). While this structured definition can be used as a means to consistently track family-related patterns over several years, it excludes individuals such as cohabitating unmarried couples. Legality aside, sociologists would argue that the general concept of family is more diverse and less structured than in years past. Society has given more leeway to the design of a family making room for what works for its members (Jayson 2010).

Family is, indeed, a subjective concept, but it is a fairly objective fact that family (whatever one’s concept of it may be) is very important to people in the United States. In a 2010 survey by Pew Research Center in Washington, DC, 76 percent of adults surveyed stated that family is “the most important” element of their life—just one percent said it was “not important” (Pew Research Center 2010). It is also very important to society. President Ronald Reagan notably stated, “The family has always been the cornerstone of American society. Our families nurture, preserve, and pass on to each succeeding generation the values we share and cherish, values that are the foundation of our freedoms” (Lee 2009). While the design of the family may have changed in recent years, the fundamentals of emotional closeness and support are still present. Most responders to the Pew survey stated that their family today is at least as close (45 percent) or closer (40 percent) than the family with which they grew up (Pew Research Center 2010).

As you may have seen in the chapter on Aging and the Elderly, different generations have varying living situations and views on aging. The same goes for living situations with family. The Pew Research Center analyzed living situation of 40-year-olds from different generations. At that age, Millennials indicated that 45 percent of them were not living in a family of their own. In contrast, when Gen Xers and Baby Boomers were about 40 years old (around 2003 and 1987, respectively), an average of 33 percent of them lived outside of a family (Barroso 2020). The dynamic of nearly a 50-50 split between family/non-family for Millennials is very different from a two-third/one third split of Boomers and Gen X.

The data also show that women are having children later in life and that men are much less likely to live in a household with their own children. In 2019, 32 percent of Millennial men were living in a household with their children, compared to 41 percent of Gen X men in 2003 and 44 percent of Boomer men in 1987 (Barroso 2020). Again, the significant drop off in parenting roles likely has an impact on attitudes toward family.

First Families

Figure 2. First families. (a) President Trump with his wife, Melania, and five kids. (b) President Obama with his wife, Michelle, and kids Malia and Sasha.

When a political candidate runs for office in the United States, there is a lot of attention paid to the candidate’s family because this is thought to be a reflection of the candidate and the candidate’s values.

When former U.S. President Barack Obama ran for office, many questioned his Kenyan lineage through his father’s side, as well as his upbringing in Hawaii and  Indonesia, where his mother was doing anthropological work. His parents separated when he was young, and he was raised by his white mother. Michelle Obama, originally from the south side of Chicago, was educated at Princeton and Harvard, then held a prestigious position at the University of Chicago, which she left once her husband was elected. The former first couple married in 1992 and have two children who were born in 1998 and 2001.

President Donald Trump grew up in New York City (in Queens) to Fred, a real estate developer, and Mary Anne Trump. He was married and divorced twice, and had four children (three with Ivana Trump and one with Marla Maples) before marrying current First Lady Melania Trump, with whom he has a fifth child, Barron Trump. Both Ivana and Melania were models and were both born in Eastern Europe (Czechoslovakia and Slovenia respectively). Three marriages and five children make the First Family quite unique in U.S. Presidential history.

Think It Over

• Think about family composition (i.e., makeup) from 1960 to 2014 using the bar graph above. Can you predict what the family structure will be like in 2030? What variables might influence family structure going forward?
• According to research, what are people’s general thoughts on family in the United States? How do they view nontraditional family structures? How do you think these views might change in twenty years?
• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Authored by : Sarah Hoiland for Lumen Learning. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Trump Family. Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trump_Family_Hand_Up.jpg . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• What is Marriage? What is a family?. Authored by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:_C0iCApg@6/What-Is-Marriage-What-Is-a-Family . License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]
• Obama Family. Authored by : Pete Souza. Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Barack_Obama#/media/File:Barack_Obama_family_portrait_2011.jpg . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• What is Marriage? What is a Family?. Provided by : OpenStax. Located at : https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/14-1-what-is-marriage-what-is-a-family . Project : Sociology 3e. License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/14-1-what-is-marriage-what-is-a-family
• Graphic of the two-parent household in decline. Provided by : Pew Research Center. Located at : https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/parenting-in-america/st_2015-12-17_parenting-12/ . License : All Rights Reserved

Types Of Families Essays

Variations in types of families considered acceptable by society, popular essay topics.

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• Introduction

Socioeconomic aspects of the family

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• Table Of Contents

family , a group of persons united by the ties of marriage , blood, or adoption , constituting a single household and interacting with each other in their respective social positions, usually those of spouses, parents , children , and siblings. The family group should be distinguished from a household, which may include boarders and roomers sharing a common residence . It should also be differentiated from a kindred (which also concerns blood lines), because a kindred may be divided into several households. Frequently the family is not differentiated from the marriage pair, but the essence of the family group is the parent-child relationship, which may be absent from many marriage pairs.

At its most basic, then, a family consists of an adult and his or her offspring. Most commonly, it consists of two married adults, usually a man and a woman (almost always from different lineages and not related by blood) along with their offspring, usually living in a private and separate dwelling. This type of unit, more specifically known as a nuclear family , is believed to be the oldest of the various types of families in existence. Sometimes the family includes not only the parents and their unmarried children living at home but also children that have married, their spouses, and their offspring, and possibly elderly dependents as well; such an arrangement is called an extended family .

At its best, the family performs various valuable functions for its members. Perhaps most important of all, it provides for emotional and psychological security , particularly through the warmth, love , and companionship that living together generates between spouses and in turn between them and their children. The family also provides a valuable social and political function by institutionalizing procreation and by providing guidelines for the regulation of sexual conduct. The family additionally provides such other socially beneficial functions as the rearing and socialization of children, along with such humanitarian activities as caring for its members when they are sick or disabled. On the economic side, the family provides food, shelter, clothing, and physical security for its members, some of whom may be too young or too old to provide for the basic necessities of life themselves. Finally, on the social side, the family may serve to promote order and stability within society as a whole.

Historically, in most cultures , the family was patriarchal , or male-dominated. Perhaps the most striking example of the male-dominated family is the description of the family given in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament), where the male heads of the clans were allowed to have several wives as well as concubines. As a general rule, women had a rather low status. In Roman times the family was still patriarchal, but polygamy was not practiced, and in general the status of women was somewhat improved over that suggested in the Hebrew Bible, although they still were not allowed to manage their own affairs. The Roman family was an extended one. The family as it existed in medieval Europe was male-dominated and extended.

In the West, industrialization and the accompanying urbanization spawned—and continue to spawn—many changes in family structure by causing a sharp change in life and occupational styles. Many people, particularly unmarried youths, left farms and went to urban centres to become industrial workers. This process led to the dissolution of many extended families.

The modern family that emerged after the Industrial Revolution is different from the earlier model. For instance, patriarchal rule began to give way to greater equality between the sexes. Similarly, family roles once considered exclusively male or female broke down. Caring for the home and children, once the exclusive duty of the female, is often a shared activity, as, increasingly, is the earning of wages and the pursuit of public life, once the exclusive domain of the male. The structure of the family is also changing in that some couples choose not to marry legally and instead elect to have their children out of wedlock; many of these informal relationships tend to be of short duration, and this—as well as the rise in levels of divorce—has led to a rapid increase in the number of one-parent households.

Especially in Western cultures, the modern family is today more of a consuming as opposed to a producing unit, and the members of the family work away from home rather than at home. Public authorities, primarily governmental ones, have assumed many of the functions that the family used to provide, such as caring for the aged and the sick, educating the young, and providing for recreation. Technological advancements have made it possible for couples to decide if and when they want to have children.

Family law varies from culture to culture , but in its broadest application it defines the legal relationships among family members as well as the relationships between families and society at large. Some of the important questions dealt with in family law include the terms and parameters of marriage, the status of children, and the succession of property from one generation to the next. In nearly every case, family law represents a delicate balance between the interests of society and the protection of individual rights.

The general rule in marriages until modern times was the legal transfer of dependency, that of the bride, from father to groom. Not only did the groom assume guardianship, he usually assumed control over all of his wife’s affairs. Often, the woman lost any legal identity through marriage, as was the case in English common law . There have been exceptions to this practice. Muslim women, for instance, had considerable control over their own personal property. The use of dowries , an amount of money or property given to the husband with the bride in compensation for her dependency, has long been practiced in many countries, but it has tended to disappear in many industrial societies.

In general, modern marriage is best-described as a voluntary union, usually between a man and a woman (although there are still vestiges of the arranged marriage that once flourished in eastern Europe and Asia). The emancipation of women in the 19th and 20th centuries changed marriage dramatically, particularly in connection with property and economic status. By the mid-20th century, most Western countries had enacted legislation establishing equality between spouses. Similarly changed is the concept of economic maintenance, which traditionally fell on the shoulders of the husband. Though many laws still lean toward this view, there was increasing recognition of a woman’s potential to contribute to the support of the family. At the beginning of the 21st century, family law and the notion of family itself was further complicated by calls for acceptance of same-sex marriages and nontraditional families.

Dissolution of marriages is one of the areas in which laws must try to balance private and public interest, since realistically it is the couple itself that can best decide whether its marriage is viable. In many older systems—e.g., Roman, Muslim, Jewish, Chinese, and Japanese—some form of unilateral divorce was possible, requiring only one party to give notice of the intention, usually the male. Most modern systems recognize a mutual request for divorce, though many require an attempt to reconcile before granting divorce. Extreme circumstances, in which blatant neglect, abuse, misbehaviour, or incapacity can be demonstrated, find resolution in civil court. Many systems favour special family courts that attempt to deal more fairly with sensitive issues such as custody of children.

The issue of children poses special problems for family law. In nearly every culture, the welfare of children was formerly left to the parents entirely, and this usually meant the father. Most societies have come to recognize the general benefit of protecting children’s rights and of prescribing certain standards of rearing. Thus, more than in any other area, family law intervenes in private lives with regard to children. Compulsory education is an example of the law superseding parental authority . In the case of single-parent homes, the law will frequently provide some form of support. Legislation on child labour and child abuse also asserts society’s responsibility for a child’s best interests.

The succession of family interests upon the death of its members can be considered a part of family law. Most legal systems have some means of dealing with division of property left by a deceased family member. The will , or testament, specifies the decedent’s wishes as to such distribution, but a surviving spouse or offspring may contest what appear to be unreasonable or inequitable provisions. There are also laws that recognize family claims in the event that property is left intestate (i.e., with no will to determine its distribution).

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15.1 The Family in Cross-Cultural and Historical Perspectives

Learning objectives.

• Describe the different family arrangements that have existed throughout history.
• Understand how the family has changed in the United States since the colonial period.
• Describe why the typical family in the United States during the 1950s was historically atypical.

A family is a group of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or a mutual commitment and who care for one another. Defined in this way, the family is universal or nearly universal: some form of the family has existed in every society, or nearly every society, that we know about (Starbuck, 2010). Yet it is also true that many types of families have existed, and the cross-cultural and historical record indicates that these different forms of the family can all “work”: they provide practical and emotional support for their members and they socialize their children.

Types of Families and Family Arrangements

It is important to keep this last statement in mind, because Americans until recently thought of only one type of family when they thought of the family at all, and that is the nuclear family : a married heterosexual couple and their young children living by themselves under one roof. The nuclear family has existed in most societies with which scholars are familiar, and several of the other family types we will discuss stem from a nuclear family. Extended families , for example, which consist of parents, their children, and other relatives, have a nuclear family at their core and were quite common in the preindustrial societies studied by George Murdock (Murdock & White, 1969) that make up the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (see Figure 15.1 “Types of Families in Preindustrial Societies” ).

Figure 15.1 Types of Families in Preindustrial Societies

The nuclear family that was so popular on television shows during the 1950s remains common today but is certainly less common than during that decade.

Source: Data from Standard Cross-Cultural Sample.

Similarly, many one-parent families begin as (two-parent) nuclear families that dissolve upon divorce/separation or, more rarely, the death of one of the parents. In recent decades, one-parent families have become more common in the United States because of divorce and births out of wedlock, but they were actually very common throughout most of human history because many spouses died early in life and because many babies were born out of wedlock. We return to this theme shortly.

When Americans think of the family, they also think of a monogamous family. Monogamy refers to a marriage in which one man and one woman are married only to each other. That is certainly the most common type of marriage in the United States and other Western societies, but in some societies polygamy —the marriage of one person to two or more people at a time—is more common. In the societies where polygamy has prevailed, it has been much more common for one man to have many wives ( polygyny ) than for one woman to have many husbands ( polyandry ).

The selection of spouses also differs across societies but also to some degree within societies. The United States and many other societies primarily practice endogamy , in which marriage occurs within one’s own social category or social group: people marry others of the same race, same religion, same social class, and so forth. Endogamy helps reinforce the social status of the two people marrying and to pass it on to any children they may have. Consciously or not, people tend to select spouses and mates (boyfriends or girlfriends) who resemble them not only in race, social class, and other aspects of their social backgrounds but also in appearance. As Chapter 1 “Sociology and the Sociological Perspective” pointed out, attractive people marry attractive people, ordinary-looking people marry ordinary-looking people, and those of us in between marry other in-betweeners. This tendency to choose and marry mates who resemble us in all of these ways is called homogamy .

Some societies and individuals within societies practice exogamy , in which marriage occurs across social categories or social groups. Historically exogamy has helped strengthen alliances among villages or even whole nations, when we think of the royalty of Europe, but it can also lead to difficulties. Sometimes these difficulties are humorous, and some of filmdom’s best romantic comedies involve romances between people of very different backgrounds. As Shakespeare’s great tragedy Romeo and Juliet reminds us, however, sometimes exogamous romances and marriages can provoke hostility among friends and relatives of the couple and even among complete strangers. Racial intermarriages, for example, are exogamous marriages, and in the United States they often continue to evoke strong feelings and were even illegal in some states until a 1967 Supreme Court decision ( Loving v. Virginia , 388 U.S. 1) overturned laws prohibiting them.

Families also differ in how they trace their descent and in how children inherit wealth from their parents. Bilateral descent prevails in the United States and many other Western societies: we consider ourselves related to people on both parents’ sides of the family, and our parents pass along their wealth, meager or ample, to their children. In some societies, though, descent and inheritance are patrilineal (children are thought to be related only to their father’s relatives, and wealth is passed down only to sons), while in others they are matrilineal (children are thought to be related only to their mother’s relatives, and wealth is passed down only to daughters).

Another way in which families differ is in their patterns of authority. In patriarchal families , fathers are the major authority figure in the family (just as in patriarchal societies men have power over women; see Chapter 11 “Gender and Gender Inequality” ). Patriarchal families and societies have been very common. In matriarchal families , mothers are the family’s major authority figure. Although this type of family exists on an individual basis, no known society has had matriarchal families as its primary family type. In egalitarian families , fathers and mothers share authority equally. Although this type of family has become more common in the United States and other Western societies, patriarchal families are still more common.

The Family Before Industrialization

Now that we are familiar with the basic types of family structures and patterns, let’s take a quick look at the cross-cultural and historical development of the family. We will start with the family in preindustrial times, drawing on research by anthropologists and other scholars, and then move on to the development of the family in Western societies.

People in hunting-and-gathering societies probably lived in small groups composed of two or three nuclear families. These groupings helped ensure that enough food would be found for everyone to eat. While men tended to hunt and women tended to gather food and take care of the children, both sexes’ activities were considered fairly equally important for a family’s survival. In horticultural and pastoral societies, food was more abundant, and families’ wealth depended on the size of their herds. Because men were more involved than women in herding, they acquired more authority in the family, and the family became more patriarchal than previously (Quale, 1992). Still, as Chapter 13 “Work and the Economy” indicated, the family continued to be the primary economic unit of society until industrialization.

Societies Without Nuclear Families

Although many preindustrial societies featured nuclear families, a few societies studied by anthropologists have not had them. One of these was the Nayar in southwestern India, who lacked marriage and the nuclear family. A woman would have several sexual partners during her lifetime, but any man with whom she had children had no responsibilities toward them. Despite the absence of a father, this type of family arrangement seems to have worked well for the Nayar (Fuller, 1976). Nuclear families are also mostly absent among many people in the West Indies. When a woman and man have a child, the mother takes care of the child almost entirely; the father provides for the household but usually lives elsewhere. As with the Nayar, this fatherless arrangement seems to have worked well in the parts of the West Indies where it is practiced (Smith, 1996).

A more contemporary setting in which the nuclear family is largely absent is the Israeli kibbutz , a cooperative agricultural community where all property is collectively owned. In the early years of the kibbutzim (plural of kibbutz), married couples worked for the whole kibbutz and not just for themselves. Kibbutz members would eat together and not as separate families. Children lived in dormitories from infancy on and were raised by nurses and teachers, although they were able to spend a fair amount of time with their birth parents. The children in a particular kibbutz grew up thinking of each other as siblings and thus tended to fall in love with people from outside the kibbutz (Garber-Talmon, 1972). Although the traditional family has assumed more importance in kibbutz life in recent years, extended families continue to be very important, with different generations of a particular family having daily contact (Lavee, Katz, & Ben-Dror, 2004).

These examples do not invalidate the fact that nuclear families are almost universal and important for several reasons we explore shortly. But they do indicate that the functions of the nuclear family can be achieved through other family arrangements. If that is true, perhaps the oft-cited concern over the “breakdown” of the 1950s-style nuclear family in modern America is at least somewhat undeserved. As indicated by the examples just given, children can and do thrive without two parents. To say this is meant neither to extol divorce, births out of wedlock, and fatherless families nor to minimize the problems they may involve. Rather, it is meant simply to indicate that the nuclear family is not the only viable form of family organization (Eshleman & Bulcroft, 2010).

In fact, although nuclear families remain the norm in most societies, in practice they are something of a historical rarity: many spouses used to die by their mid-40s, and many babies were born out of wedlock. In medieval Europe, for example, people died early from disease, malnutrition, and other problems. One consequence of early mortality was that many children could expect to outlive at least one of their parents and thus essentially were raised in one-parent families or in stepfamilies (Gottlieb, 1993).

The Family in the American Colonial Period

Moving quite a bit forward in history, different family types abounded in the colonial period in what later became the United States, and the nuclear family was by no means the only type. Nomadic Native American groups had relatively small nuclear families, while nonnomadic groups had larger extended families; in either type of society, though, “a much larger network of marital alliances and kin obligations [meant that]…no single family was forced to go it alone” (Coontz, 1995, p. 11). Nuclear families among African Americans slaves were very difficult to achieve, and slaves adapted by developing extended families, adopting orphans, and taking in other people not related by blood or marriage. Many European parents of colonial children died because average life expectancy was only 45 years. The one-third to one-half of children who outlived at least one of their parents lived in stepfamilies or with just their surviving parent. Mothers were so busy working the land and doing other tasks that they devoted relatively little time to child care, which instead was entrusted to older children or servants.

American Families During and After Industrialization

During industrialization, people began to move into cities to be near factories. A new division of labor emerged in many families: men worked in factories and elsewhere outside the home, while many women stayed at home to take care of children and do housework, including the production of clothing, bread, and other necessities, for which they were paid nothing (Gottlieb, 1993). For this reason, men’s incomes increased their patriarchal hold over their families. In some families, however, women continued to work outside the home. Economic necessity dictated this: because families now had to buy much of their food and other products instead of producing them themselves, the standard of living actually declined for many families.

But even when women did work outside the home, men out-earned them because of discriminatory pay scales and brought more money into the family, again reinforcing their patriarchal hold. Over time, moreover, work outside the home came to be seen primarily as men’s work, and keeping house and raising children came to be seen primarily as women’s work. As Coontz (1997, pp. 55–56) summarizes this development,

The resulting identification of masculinity with economic activities and femininity with nurturing care, now often seen as the “natural” way of organizing the nuclear family, was in fact a historical product of this 19th-century transition from an agricultural household economy to an industrial wage economy.

This marital division of labor began to change during the early 20th century. Many women entered the workforce in the 1920s because of a growing number of office jobs, and the Great Depression of the 1930s led even more women to work outside the home. During the 1940s, a shortage of men in shipyards, factories, and other workplaces because of World War II led to a national call for women to join the labor force to support the war effort and the national economy. They did so in large numbers, and many continued to work after the war ended. But as men came home from Europe and Japan, books, magazines, and newspapers exhorted women to have babies, and babies they did have: people got married at younger ages and the birth rate soared, resulting in the now famous baby boom generation . Meanwhile, divorce rates dropped. The national economy thrived as auto and other factory jobs multiplied, and many families for the first time could dream of owning their own homes. Suburbs sprang up, and many families moved to them. Many families during the 1950s did indeed fit the Leave It to Beaver model of the breadwinner-homemaker suburban nuclear family. Following the Depression of the 1930s and the war of the 1940s, the 1950s seemed an almost idyllic decade.

The Women in Military Service for America Memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery honors the service of women in the U.S. military. During World War II, many women served in the military, and many other women joined the labor force to support the war effort and the national economy.

Wally Gobetz – Virginia – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Even so, less than 60% of American children during the 1950s lived in breadwinner-homemaker nuclear families. Moreover, many lived in poverty, as the poverty rate then was almost twice as high as it is today. Teenage pregnancy rates were about twice as high as today, even if most pregnant teens were already married or decided to get married because of the pregnancy. Although not publicized back then, alcoholism and violence in families were common. Historians have found that many women in this era were unhappy with their homemaker roles, Mrs. Cleaver (Beaver’s mother) to the contrary, suffering from what Betty Friedan (1963) famously called the “feminine mystique.”

In the 1970s, the economy finally worsened. Home prices and college tuition soared much faster than family incomes, and women began to enter the labor force as much out of economic necessity as out of simple desire for fulfillment. As Chapter 13 “Work and the Economy” noted, more than 60% of married women with children under 6 years of age are now in the labor force, compared to less than 19% in 1960. Working mothers are no longer a rarity.

In sum, the cross-cultural and historical record shows that many types of families and family arrangements have existed. Two themes relevant to contemporary life emerge from our review of this record. First, although nuclear families and extended families with a nuclear core have dominated social life, many children throughout history have not lived in nuclear families because of the death of a parent, divorce, or birth out of wedlock. The few societies that have not featured nuclear families seem to have succeeded in socializing their children and in accomplishing the other functions that nuclear families serve. In the United States, the nuclear family has historically been the norm, but, again, many children have been raised in stepfamilies or by one parent.

Second, the nuclear family model popularized in the 1950s, in which the male was the breadwinner and the female the homemaker, must be considered a blip in U.S. history rather than a long-term model. At least up to the beginning of industrialization and, for many families, after industrialization, women as well as men worked to sustain the family. Breadwinner-homemaker families did increase during the 1950s and have decreased since, but their appearance during that decade was more of a historical aberration than a historical norm. As Coontz (1995, p. 11) summarized the U.S. historical record, “American families always have been diverse, and the male breadwinner-female homemaker, nuclear ideal that most people associate with ‘the’ traditional family has predominated for only a small portion of our history.” Commenting specifically on the 1950s, sociologist Arlene Skolnick (1991, pp. 51–52) similarly observed, “Far from being the last era of family normality from which current trends are a deviation, it is the family patterns of the 1950s that are deviant.”

Key Takeaways

• Although the nuclear family has been very common, several types of family arrangements have existed throughout time and from culture to culture.
• Industrialization changed the family in several ways. In particular, it increased the power that men held within their families because of the earnings they brought home from their jobs.
• The male breadwinner–female homemaker family model popularized in the 1950s must be considered a temporary blip in U.S. history rather than a long-term model.

For Your Review

• Write a brief essay in which you describe the advantages and disadvantages of the 1950s-type nuclear family in which the father works outside the home and the mother stays at home.
• The text discusses changes in the family that accompanied economic development over the centuries. How do these changes reinforce the idea that the family is a social institution?

Coontz, S. (1997). The way we really are: Coming to terms with America’s changing families . New York, NY: Basic Books.

Coontz, S. (1995, Summer). The way we weren’t: The myth and reality of the “traditional” family. National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal , 11–14.

Eshleman, J. R., & Bulcroft, R. A. (2010). The family (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Friedan, B. (1963). The feminine mystique . New York, NY: W. W. Norton.

Fuller, C. J. (1976). The Nayars today . Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Garber-Talmon, Y. (1972). Family and community in the kibbutz . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Gottlieb, B. (1993). The family in the Western world from the Black Death to the industrial age . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Lavee, Y., Katz, R., & Ben-Dror, T. (2004). Parent-child relationships in childhood and adulthood and their effect on marital quality: A comparison of children who remained in close proximity to their parents and those who moved away. Marriage & Family Review, 36 (3/4), 95–113.

Murdock, G. P., & White, D. R. (1969). Standard cross-cultural sample. Ethnology, 8 , 329–369.

Quale, G. R. (1992). Families in context: A world history of population . New York, NY: Greenwood Press.

Skolnick, A. (1991). Embattled paradise: The American family in an age of uncertainty . New York, NY: Basic Books.

Smith, R. T. (1996). The matrifocal family: Power, pluralism and politics . New York, NY: Routledge.

Starbuck, G. H. (2010). Families in context (2nd ed.). Boulder, CO: Paradigm.

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Article contents

Family, culture, and communication.

• V. Santiago Arias V. Santiago Arias College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
•  and  Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.504
• Published online: 22 August 2017

Through the years, the concept of family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists with a diverse theoretical framework, such as family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory. Among these theories, there are two main commonalities throughout its findings: the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial system because the quality of their communication or coparenting significantly affects the enactment of the caregiver role while managing conflicts, which are not the exception in the familial setting. Coparenting is understood in its broader sense to avoid an extensive discussion of all type of families in our society. Second, while including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, this process intrinsically suggests cultural assimilation as the main cultural approach rather than intergroup theory, because intercultural marriages need to decide which values are considered the best to be socialized. In order to do so, examples from the Thai culture and Hispanic and Latino cultures served to show cultural assimilation as an important mediator of coparenting communication patterns, which subsequently affect other subsystems that influence individuals’ identity and self-esteem development in the long run. Finally, future directions suggest that the need for incorporating a nonhegemonic one-way definition of cultural assimilation allows immigration status to be brought into the discussion of family communication issues in the context of one of the most diverse countries in the world.

• parental communication
• dyadic power
• family communication systems
• cultural assimilation

Introduction

Family is the fundamental structure of every society because, among other functions, this social institution provides individuals, from birth until adulthood, membership and sense of belonging, economic support, nurturance, education, and socialization (Canary & Canary, 2013 ). As a consequence, the strut of its social role consists of operating as a system in a manner that would benefit all members of a family while achieving what is considered best, where decisions tend to be coherent, at least according to the norms and roles assumed by family members within the system (Galvin, Bylund, & Brommel, 2004 ). Notwithstanding, the concept of family can be interpreted differently by individual perceptions to an array of cultural backgrounds, and cultures vary in their values, behaviors, and ideas.

The difficulty of conceptualizing this social institution suggests that family is a culture-bound phenomenon (Bales & Parsons, 2014 ). In essence, culture represents how people view themselves as part of a unique social collective and the ensuing communication interactions (Olaniran & Roach, 1994 ); subsequently, culture provides norms for behavior having a tremendous impact on those family members’ roles and power dynamics mirrored in its communication interactions (Johnson, Radesky, & Zuckerman, 2013 ). Thus, culture serves as one of the main macroframeworks for individuals to interpret and enact those prescriptions, such as inheritance; descent rules (e.g., bilateral, as in the United States, or patrilineal); marriage customs, such as ideal monogamy and divorce; and beliefs about sexuality, gender, and patterns of household formation, such as structure of authority and power (Weisner, 2014 ). For these reasons, “every family is both a unique microcosm and a product of a larger cultural context” (Johnson et al., 2013 , p. 632), and the analysis of family communication must include culture in order to elucidate effective communication strategies to solve familial conflicts.

In addition, to analyze familial communication patterns, it is important to address the most influential interaction with regard to power dynamics that determine the overall quality of family functioning. In this sense, within the range of family theories, parenting function is the core relationship in terms of power dynamics. Parenting refers to all efforts and decisions made by parents individually to guide their children’s behavior. This is a pivotal function, but the quality of communication among people who perform parenting is fundamental because their internal communication patterns will either support or undermine each caregiver’s parenting attempts, individually having a substantial influence on all members’ psychological and physical well-being (Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Subsequently, parenting goes along with communication because to execute all parenting efforts, there must be a mutual agreement among at least two individuals to conjointly take care of the child’s fostering (Van Egeren & Hawkins, 2004 ). Consequently, coparenting serves as a crucial predictor of the overall family atmosphere and interactions, and it deserves special attention while analyzing family communication issues.

Through the years, family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists, but interaction behaviors define the interpersonal relationship, roles, and power within the family as a system (Rogers, 2006 ). Consequently, family scholarship relies on a wide range of theories developed within the communication field and in areas of the social sciences (Galvin, Braithwaite, & Bylund, 2015 ) because analysis of communication patterns in the familial context offers more ecological validity that individuals’ self-report measures. As many types of interactions may happen within a family, there are many relevant venues (i.e., theories) for scholarly analysis on this subject, which will be discussed later in this article in the “ Family: Theoretical Perspectives ” section. To avoid the risk of cultural relativeness while defining family, this article characterizes family as “a long-term group of two or more people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties and who enact those ties through ongoing interactions providing instrumental and/or emotional support” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 5).

Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the most relevant theories in family communication to identify frustrations and limitations with internal communication. Second, as a case in point, the United States welcomes more than 50 million noncitizens as temporary visitors and admits approximately 1 million immigrants to live as lawful residents yearly (Fullerton, 2014 ), this demographic pattern means that nearly one-third of the population (102 million) comes from different cultural backgrounds, and therefore, the present review will incorporate culture as an important mediator for coparenting, so that future research can be performed to find specific techniques and training practices that are more suitable for cross-cultural contexts.

Family: Theoretical Perspectives

Even though the concept of family can be interpreted individually and differently in different cultures, there are also some commonalities, along with communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members disregarding cultural differences. This section will provide a brief overview of the conceptualization of family through the family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory, with a special focus on the interparental relationship.

Family Communication Patterns Theory

One of the most relevant approaches to address the myriad of communication issues within families is the family communication patterns (FCP) theory. Originally developed by McLeod and Chaffee ( 1973 ), this theory aims to understand families’ tendencies to create stable and predictable communication patterns in terms of both relational cognition and interpersonal behavior (Braithwaite & Baxter, 2005 ). Specifically, this theory focuses on the unique and amalgamated associations derived from interparental communication and its impact on parenting quality to determine FCPs and the remaining interactions (Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

To illustrate FCP’s focus on parental communication, Schrodt, Witt, and Shimkowski ( 2014 ) conducted a meta-analysis of 74 studies (N = 14,255) to examine the associations between the demand/withdraw family communication patterns of interaction, and the subsequent individual, relational, and communicative outcomes. The cumulative evidence suggests that wife demand/husband withdraw and husband demand/wife withdraw show similar moderate correlations with communicative and psychological well-being outcomes, and even higher when both patterns are taken together (at the relational level). This is important because one of the main tenets of FCP is that familial relationships are drawn on the pursuit of coorientation among members. Coorientation refers to the cognitive process of two or more individuals focusing on and assessing the same object in the same material and social context, which leads to a number of cognitions as the number of people involved, which results in different levels of agreement, accuracy, and congruence (for a review, see Fitzpatrick & Koerner, 2005 ); for example, in dyads that are aware of their shared focus, two different cognitions of the same issue will result.

Hereafter, the way in which these cognitions are socialized through power dynamics determined socially and culturally by roles constitutes specific interdependent communication patterns among family members. For example, Koerner and Fitzpatrick ( 2006 ) provide a taxonomy of family types on the basis of coorientation and its impact on communication pattern in terms of the degree of conformity in those conversational tendencies. To wit, consensual families mostly agree for the sake of the hierarchy within a given family and to explore new points of view; pluralistic families allow members to participate equally in conversations and there is no pressure to control or make children’s decisions; protective families maintain the hierarchy by making decisions for the sake of achieving common family goals; and laissez-faire families, which are low in conversation and conformity orientation, allow family members to not get deeply involved in the family.

The analysis of family communication patterns is quintessential for family communication scholarly work because it influences forming an individual’s self concept in the long run. As a case in point, Young and Schrodt ( 2016 ) surveyed 181 young adults from intact families, where conditional and interaction effects between communication patterns and conformity orientation were observed as the main predictors of future romantic partners. Moreover, this study concluded that FCPs and interparental confirmation are substantial indicators of self-to-partner confirmation, after controlling for reciprocity of confirmation within the romantic relationship. As a consequence, FCP influences children’s and young adults’ perceptions of romantic behavior (e.g., Fowler, Pearson, & Beck, 2010 ); the quality of communication behavior, such as the degree of acceptation of verbal aggression in romantic dyads (e.g., Aloia & Solomon, 2013 ); gender roles; and conflict styles (e.g., Taylor & Segrin, 2010 ), and parental modeling (e.g., Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

This suggests three important observations. First, family is a very complex interpersonal context, in which communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members interact as subsystems (see Galvin et al., 2004 ; Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Second, among those subsystems, the core interaction is the individuals who hold parenting roles (i.e., intact and post divorced families); the couple (disregarding particular sexual orientations), and, parenting roles have a reciprocal relationship over time (Le, McDaniel, Leavitt, & Feinberg, 2016 ). Communication between parenting partners is crucial for the development of their entire family; for example, Schrodt and Shimkowski ( 2013 ) conducted a survey with 493 young adult children from intact (N = 364) and divorced families (N = 129) about perceptions of interparental conflict that involves triangulation (the impression of being in the “middle” and feeling forced to display loyalty to one of the parents). Results suggest that supportive coparental communication positively predicts relational satisfaction with mothers and fathers, as well as mental health; on the other hand, antagonist and hostile coparental communication predicted negative marital satisfaction.

Consequently, “partners’ communication with one another will have a positive effect on their overall view of their marriage, . . . and directly result[ing in] their views of marital satisfaction” (Knapp & Daly, 2002 , p. 643). Le et al. ( 2016 ) conducted a longitudinal study to evaluate the reciprocal relationship between marital interaction and coparenting from the perspective of both parents in terms of support or undermining across the transition to parenthood from a dyadic perspective; 164 cohabiting heterosexual couples expecting their first child were analyzed from pregnancy until 36 months after birth. Both parents’ interdependence was examined in terms of three variables: gender difference analysis, stability over time in marriage and coparenting, and reciprocal associations between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining. The findings suggest a long-term reciprocal association between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining in heterosexual families; the quality of marriage relationship during prenatal stage is highly influential in coparenting after birth for both men and women; but, coparenting is connected to romantic relationship quality only for women.

Moreover, the positive association between coparenting and the parents’ relationship relates to the spillover hypothesis, which posits that the positive or negative factors in the parental subsystem are significantly associated with higher or lower marital satisfaction in the spousal subsystem, respectively. Ergo, overall parenting performance is substantially affected by the quality of marital communication patterns.

Dyadic Power

In addition, after analyzing the impact of marital interaction quality in families on marital satisfaction and future parental modeling, it is worth noting that marital satisfaction and coparenting are importantly mediated by power dynamics within the couple (Halstead, De Santis, & Williams, 2016 ), and even mediates marital commitment (e.g., Lennon, Stewart, & Ledermann, 2013 ). If the quality of interpersonal relationship between those individuals who hold parenting roles determines coparenting quality as well, then the reason for this association lies on the fact that virtually all intimate relationships are substantially characterized by power dynamics; when partners perceive more rewards than costs in the relationship, they will be more satisfied and significantly more committed to the relationship (Lennon et al., 2013 ). As a result, the inclusion of power dynamics in the analysis of family issues becomes quintessential.

For the theory of dyadic power, power in its basic sense includes dominance, control, and influence over others, as well as a means to meet survival needs. When power is integrated into dyadic intimate relationships, it generates asymmetries in terms of interdependence between partners due to the quality of alternatives provided by individual characteristics such as socioeconomic status and cultural characteristics such as gender roles. This virtually gives more power to men than women. Power refers to “the feeling derived from the ability to dominate, or control, the behavior, affect, and cognitions of another person[;] in consequence, this concept within the interparental relationship is enacted when one partner who controls resources and limiting the behavioral options of the other partner” (Lennon et al., 2013 , p. 97). Ergo, this theory examines power in terms of interdependence between members of the relationship: the partner who is more dependent on the other has less power in the relationship, which, of course, directly impact parenting decisions.

As a case in point, Worley and Samp ( 2016 ) examined the balance of decision-making power in the relationship, complaint avoidance, and complaint-related appraisals in 175 heterosexual couples. Findings suggest that decision-making power has a curvilinear association, in which individuals engaged in the least complaint avoidance when they were relatively equal to their partners in terms of power. In other words, perceptions of one another’s power potentially encourage communication efficacy in the interparental couple.

The analysis of power in intimate relationships, and, to be specific, between parents is crucial because it not only relates to marital satisfaction and commitment, but it also it affects parents’ dyadic coping for children. In fact, Zemp, Bodenmann, Backes, Sutter-Stickel, and Revenson ( 2016 ) investigated parents’ dyadic coping as a predictor of children’s internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior in three independent studies. When there is a positive relationship among all three factors, the results indicated that the strongest correlation was the first one. Again, the quality of the marital and parental relationships has the strongest influence on children’s coping skills and future well-being.

From the overview of the two previous theories on family, it is worth addressing two important aspects. First, parenting requires an intensive great deal of hands-on physical care, attention to safety (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ), and interpretation of cues, and this is why parenting, from conception to when children enter adulthood, is a tremendous social, cultural, and legally prescribed role directed toward caregiving and endlessly attending to individuals’ social, physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive development (Johnson et al., 2013 ). And while parents are making decisions about what they consider is best for all family members, power dynamics play a crucial role in marital satisfaction, commitment, parental modeling, and overall interparental communication efficacy in the case of postdivorce families. Therefore, the likelihood of conflict is latent within familial interactions while making decisions; indeed, situations in which family members agree on norms as a consensus is rare (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ).

In addition to the interparental and marital power dynamics that delineates family communication patterns, the familial interaction is distinctive from other types of social relationships in the unequaled role of emotions and communication of affection while family members interact and make decisions for the sake of all members. For example, Ritchie and Fitzpatrick ( 1990 ) provided evidence that fathers tended to perceive that all other family members agree with his decisions or ideas. Even when mothers confronted and disagreed with the fathers about the fathers’ decisions or ideas, the men were more likely to believe that their children agreed with him. When the children were interviewed without their parents, however, the majority of children agreed with the mothers rather than the fathers (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ). Subsequently, conflict is highly present in families; however, in general, the presence of conflict is not problematic per se. Rather, it is the ability to manage and recover from it and that could be problematic (Floyd, 2014 ).

One of the reasons for the role of emotions in interpersonal conflicts is explained by the Emotion-in-Relationships Model (ERM). This model states that feelings of bliss, satisfaction, and relaxation often go unnoticed due to the nature of the emotions, whereas “hot” emotions, such as anger and contempt, come to the forefront when directed at a member of an interpersonal relationship (Fletcher & Clark, 2002 ). This type of psychophysical response usually happens perhaps due to the different biophysical reactive response of the body compared to its reaction to positive ones (Floyd, 2014 ). There are two dimensions that define conflict. Conflict leads to the elicitation of emotions, but sometimes the opposite occurs: emotions lead to conflict. The misunderstanding or misinterpretation of emotions among members of a family can be a source of conflict, as well as a number of other issues, including personality differences, past history, substance abuse, mental or physical health problems, monetary issues, children, intimate partner violence, domestic rape, or maybe just general frustration due to recent events (Sabourin, Infante, & Rudd, 1990 ). In order to have a common understanding of this concept for the familial context in particular, conflict refers to as “any incompatibility that can be expressed by people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 6). Thus, the concept of conflict goes hand in hand with coparenting.

There is a myriad of everyday family activities in which parents need to decide the best way to do them: sometimes they are minor, such as eating, watching TV, or sleeping schedules; others are more complicated, such as schooling. Certainly, while socializing and making these decisions, parents may agree or not, and these everyday situations may lead to conflict. Whether or not parents live together, it has been shown that “the extent to which children experience their parents as partners or opponents in parenting is related to children’s adjustment and well-being” (Gable & Sharp, 2016 , p. 1), because the ontology of parenting is materialized through socialization of values about every aspect and duty among all family members, especially children, to perpetuate a given society.

As the findings provided in this article show, the study of family communication issues is pivotal because the way in which those issues are solved within families will be copied by children as their values. Values are abstract ideas that delineate behavior toward the evaluation of people and events and vary in terms of importance across individuals, but also among cultures. In other words, their future parenting (i.e., parenting modeling) of children will replicate those same strategies for conflict solving for good or bad, depending on whether parents were supportive between each other. Thus, socialization defines the size and scope of coparenting.

The familial socialization of values encompasses the distinction between parents’ personal execution of those social appraisals and the values that parents want their children to adopt, and both are different things; nonetheless, familial socialization does not take place in only one direction, from parents to children. Benish-Weisman, Levy, and Knafo ( 2013 ) investigated the differentiation process—or, in other words, the distinction between parents’ own personal values and their socialization values and the contribution of children’s values to their parents’ socialization values. In this study, in which 603 Israeli adolescents and their parents participated, the findings suggest that parents differentiate between their personal values and their socialization values, and adolescents’ values have a specific contribution to their parents’ socialization values. As a result, socialization is not a unidirectional process affected by parents alone, it is an outcome of the reciprocal interaction between parents and their adolescent children, and the given importance of a given value is mediated by parents and their culture individually (Johnson et al., 2013 ). However, taking power dynamics into account does not mean that adolescents share the same level of decision-making power in the family; thus, socialization take place in both directions, but mostly from parents to children. Finally, it is worth noticing that the socialization of values in coparenting falls under the cultural umbrella. The next section pays a special attention to the role of culture in family communication.

The Role of Culture in Parenting Socialization of Values

There are many individual perceived realities and behaviors in the familial setting that may lead to conflict among members, but all of them achieve a common interpretation through culture; indeed, “all family conflict processes by broad cultural factors” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 46). Subsequently, the goal of this section is to provide an overview of the perceived realities and behaviors that exist in family relationships with different cultural backgrounds. How should one approach the array of cultural values influencing parental communication patterns?

An interesting way of immersing on the role of culture in family communication patterns and its further socialization of values is explored by Schwartz ( 1992 ). The author developed a value system composed of 10 values operationalized as motivational goals for modern society: (a) self-direction (independence of thought and action); (b) stimulation (excitement, challenge, and novelty); (c) hedonism (pleasure or sensuous gratification); (d) achievement (personal success according to social standards); (e) power (social status, dominance over people and resources); (f) conformity (restraint of actions that may harm others or violate social expectations); (g) tradition (respect and commitment to cultural or religious customs and ideas); (h) benevolence (preserving and enhancing the welfare of people to whom one is close); (i) universalism (understanding, tolerance, and concern for the welfare of all people and nature); and (j) security (safety and stability of society, relationships, and self).

Later, Schwartz and Rubel ( 2005 ) applied this value structure, finding it to be commonly shared among over 65 countries. Nevertheless, these values are enacted in different ways by societies and genders about the extent to which men attribute more relevance to values of power, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, and self-direction, and the opposite was found for benevolence and universalism and less consistently for security. Also, it was found that all sex differences were culturally moderated, suggesting that cultural background needs to be considered in the analysis of coparental communication when socializing those values.

Even though Schwartz’s work was more focused on individuals and societies, it is a powerful model for the analysis of the role of culture on family communication and parenting scholarships. Indeed, Schwartz et al. ( 2013 ) conducted a longitudinal study with a sample of 266 Hispanic adolescents (14 years old) and their parents that looked at measures of acculturation, family functioning, and adolescent conduct problems, substance use, and sexual behavior at five time points. Results suggest that higher levels of acculturation in adolescents were linked to poorer family functioning; however, overall assimilation negatively predicted adolescent cigarette smoking, sexual activity, and unprotected sex. The authors emphasize the role of culture, and acculturation patterns in particular, in understanding the mediating role of family functioning and culture.

Ergo, it is crucial to address the ways in which culture affects family functioning. On top of this idea, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) observed that Western cultures such as in the United States and European countries are oriented toward autonomy, favoring individual achievement, self-reliance, and self-assertiveness. Thus, coparenting in more autonomous countries will socialize to children the idea that achievement in life is an outcome of independence, resulting in coparenting communication behaviors that favor verbal praise and feedback over physical contact. As opposed to autonomy-oriented cultures, other societies, such as Asian, African, and Latin American countries, emphasize interdependence over autonomy; thus, parenting in these cultures promotes collective achievement, sharing, and collaboration as the core values.

These cultural orientations can be observed in parents’ definitions of school readiness and educational success; for Western parents, examples include skills such as counting, recognizing letters, or independently completing tasks such as coloring pictures, whereas for more interdependent cultures, the development of obedience, respect for authority, and appropriate social skills are the skills that parents are expecting their children to develop to evaluate school readiness. As a matter of fact, Callaghan et al. ( 2011 ) conducted a series of eight studies to evaluate the impact of culture on the social-cognitive skills of one- to three-year-old children in three diverse cultural settings such as Canada, Peru, and India. The results showed that children’s acquisition of specific cognitive skills is moderated by specific learning experiences in a specific context: while Canadian children were understanding the performance of both pretense and pictorial symbols skillfully between 2.5 and 3.0 years of age, on average, Peruvian and Indian children mastered those skills more than a year later. Notwithstanding, this finding does not suggest any kind of cultural superiority; language barriers and limitations derived from translation itself may influence meanings, affecting the results (Sotomayor-Peterson, De Baca, Figueredo, & Smith-Castro, 2013 ). Therefore, in line with the findings of Schutz ( 1970 ), Geertz ( 1973 ), Grusec ( 2002 ), Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ), and Johnson et al. ( 2013 ), cultural values provide important leverage for understanding family functioning in terms of parental decision-making and conflict, which also has a substantial impact on children’s cognitive development.

Subsequently, cultural sensitivity to the analysis of the familial system in this country needs to be specially included because cultural differences are part of the array of familial conflicts that may arise, and children experience real consequences from the quality of these interactions. Therefore, parenting, which is already arduous in itself, and overall family functioning significantly become troublesome when parents with different cultural backgrounds aim to socialize values and perform parenting tasks. The following section provides an account of these cross-cultural families.

Intercultural Families: Adding Cultural Differences to Interparental Communication

For a country such as the United States, with 102 million people from many different cultural backgrounds, the presence of cross-cultural families is on the rise, as is the likelihood of intermarriage between immigrants and natives. With this cultural diversity, the two most prominent groups are Hispanics and Asians, particular cases of which will be discussed next. Besides the fact that parenting itself is a very complex and difficult task, certainly the biggest conflict consists of making decisions about the best way to raise children in terms of their values with regard to which ethnic identity better enacts the values that parents believe their children should embrace. As a result, interracial couples might confront many conflicts and challenges due to cultural differences affecting marital satisfaction and coparenting.

Assimilation , the degree to which a person from a different cultural background has adapted to the culture of the hostage society, is an important phenomenon in intermarriage. Assimilationists observe that children from families in which one of the parents is from the majority group and the other one from the minority do not automatically follow the parent from the majority group (Cohen, 1988 ). Indeed, they follow their mothers more, whichever group she belongs to, because of mothers are more prevalent among people with higher socioeconomic status (Gordon, 1964 ; Portes, 1984 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

In an interracial marriage, the structural and interpersonal barriers inhibiting the interaction between two parents will be reduced significantly if parents develop a noncompeting way to communicate and solve conflicts, which means that both of them might give up part of their culture or ethnic identity to reach consensus. Otherwise, the ethnic identity of children who come from interracial marriages will become more and more obscure (Saenz, Hwang, Aguirre, & Anderson, 1995 ). Surely, parents’ noncompeting cultural communication patterns are fundamental for children’s development of ethnic identity. Biracial children develop feelings of being outsiders, and then parenting becomes crucial to developing their strong self-esteem (Ward, 2006 ). Indeed, Gordon ( 1964 ) found that children from cross-racial or cross-ethnic marriages are at risk of developing psychological problems. In another example, Jognson and Nagoshi ( 1986 ) studied children who come from mixed marriages in Hawaii and found that the problems of cultural identification, conflicting demands in the family, and of being marginal in either culture still exist (Mann & Waldron, 1977 ). It is hard for those mixed-racial children to completely develop the ethnic identity of either the majority group or the minority group.

The question of how children could maintain their minority ethnic identity is essential to the development of ethnic identity as a whole. For children from interracial marriage, the challenge to maintain their minority ethnic identity will be greater than for the majority ethnic identity (Waters, 1990 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ) because the minority-group spouse is more likely to have greater ethnic consciousness than the majority-group spouse (Ellman, 1987 ). Usually, the majority group is more influential than the minority group on a child’s ethnic identity, but if the minority parent’s ethnicity does not significantly decline, the child’s ethnic identity could still reflect some characteristics of the minority parent. If parents want their children to maintain the minority group’s identity, letting the children learn the language of the minority group might be a good way to achieve this. By learning the language, children form a better understanding of that culture and perhaps are more likely to accept the ethnic identity that the language represents (Xin & Sandel, 2015 ).

In addition to language socialization as a way to contribute to children’s identity in biracial families, Jane and Bochner ( 2009 ) indicated that family rituals and stories could be important in performing and transforming identity. Families create and re-create their identities through various kinds of narrative, in which family stories and rituals are significant. Festivals and rituals are different from culture to culture, and each culture has its own. Therefore, exposing children to the language, rituals, and festivals of another culture also could be helpful to form their ethnic identity, in order to counter problems of self-esteem derived from the feeling of being an outsider.

To conclude this section, the parenting dilemma in intercultural marriages consists of deciding which culture they want their children to be exposed to and what kind of heritage they want to pass to children. The following section will provide two examples of intercultural marriages in the context of American society without implying that there are no other insightful cultures that deserve analysis, but the focus on Asian-American and Hispanics families reflects the available literature (Canary & Canary, 2013 ) and its demographic representativeness in this particular context. In addition, in order to acknowledge that minorities within this larger cultural background deserve more attention due to overemphasis on larger cultures in scholarship, such as Chinese or Japanese cultures, the Thai family will provide insights into understanding the role of culture in parenting and its impact on the remaining familial interaction, putting all theories already discussed in context. Moreover, the Hispanic family will also be taken in account because of its internal pan-ethnicity variety.

An Example of Intercultural Parenting: The Thai Family

The Thai family, also known as Krob Krua, may consist of parents, children, paternal and maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, grandchildren, in-laws, and any others who share the same home. Thai marriages usually are traditional, in which the male is the authority figure and breadwinner and the wife is in charge of domestic items and the homemaker. It has been noted that Thai mothers tend to be the major caregivers and caretakers in the family rather than fathers (Tulananda, Young, & Roopnarine, 1994 ). On the other hand, it has been shown that Thai mothers also tend to spoil their children with such things as food and comfort; Tulananda et al. ( 1994 ) studied the differences between American and Thai fathers’ involvement with their preschool children and found that American fathers reported being significantly more involved with their children than Thai fathers. Specifically, the fathers differed in the amount of socialization and childcare; Thai fathers reported that they obtained more external support from other family members than American fathers; also, Thai fathers were more likely to obtain support for assisting with daughters than sons.

Furthermore, with regard to the family context, Tulananda and Roopnarine ( 2001 ) noted that over the years, some attention has been focused on the cultural differences among parent-child behaviors and interactions; hereafter, the authors believed that it is important to look at cultural parent-child interactions because that can help others understand children’s capacity to socialize and deal with life’s challenges. As a matter of fact, the authors also noted that Thai families tend to raise their children in accordance with Buddhist beliefs. It is customary for young Thai married couples to live with either the wife’s parents (uxorilocal) or the husband’s parents (virilocal) before living on their own (Tulananda & Roopnarine, 2001 ). The process of developing ethnicity could be complicated. Many factors might influence the process, such as which parent is from the minority culture and the cultural community, as explained in the previous section of this article.

This suggests that there is a difference in the way that Thai and American fathers communicate with their daughters. As a case in point, Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ) examined the relationship maintenance behaviors within father-daughter relationships in Thailand and the United States. Participants included 134 American father-daughter dyads and 154 Thai father-daughter dyads. The findings suggest that when quality of communication was included in this relationship, both types of families benefit from this family communication pattern, resulting in better conflict management and advice relationship maintenance behaviors. However, differences were found: American fathers are more likely than American daughters to employ relationship maintenance behaviors; in addition, American fathers are more likely than Thai fathers to use relationship maintenance strategies.

As a consequence, knowing the process of ethnic identity development could provide parents with different ways to form children’s ethnic identity. More specifically, McCann, Ota, Giles, and Caraker ( 2003 ), and Canary and Canary ( 2013 ) noted that Southeast Asian cultures have been overlooked in communication studies research; these countries differ in their religious, political, and philosophical thoughts, with a variety of collectivistic views and religious ideals (e.g., Buddhism, Taoism, Islam), whereas the United States is mainly Christian and consists of individualistic values.

The Case of Hispanic/Latino Families in the United States

There is a need for including Hispanic/Latino families in the United States because of the demographic representativeness and trends of the ethnicity: in 2016 , Hispanics represent nearly 17% of the total U.S. population, becoming the largest minority group. There are more than 53 million Hispanics and Latinos in the United States; in addition, over 93% of young Hispanics and Latinos under the age of 18 hold U.S. citizenship, and more than 73,000 of these people turn 18 every month (Barreto & Segura, 2014 ). Furthermore, the current Hispanic and Latino population is spread evenly between foreign-born and U.S.-born individuals, but the foreign-born population is now growing faster than the number of Hispanic children born in the country (Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ). This demographic trend is projected to reach one-third of the U.S. total population by 2060 ; therefore, with the growth of other minority populations in the country, the phenomenon of multiracial marriage and biracial children is increasing as well.

Therefore, family communication scholarship has an increasing necessity to include cultural particularities in the analysis of the familial system; in addition to the cultural aspects already explained in this article, this section addresses the influence of familism in Hispanic and Latino familial interactions, as well as how immigration status moderates the internal interactions, reflected in levels of acculturation, that affect these families negatively.

With the higher marriage and birth rates among Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States compared to non-Latino Whites and African American populations, the Hispanic familial system is perhaps the most stereotyped as being familistic (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). This family trait consists of the fact that Hispanics place a very high value on marriage and childbearing, on the basis of a profound commitment to give support to members of the extended family as well. This can be evinced in the prevalence of extended-kind shared households in Hispanic and Latino families, and Hispanic children are more likely to live in extended-family households than non-Latino Whites or blacks (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). Living in extended-family households, most likely with grandparents, may have positive influences on Hispanic and Latino children, such as greater attention and interaction with loving through consistent caregiving; grandparents may help by engaging with children in academic-oriented activities, which then affects positively cognitive educational outcomes.

However, familism is not the panacea for all familial issues for several reasons. First, living in an extended-family household requires living arrangements that consider adults’ needs more than children’s. Second, the configuration of Hispanic and Latino households is moderated by any immigration issues with all members of the extended family, and this may cause problems for children (Menjívar, 2000 ). The immigration status of each individual member may produce a constant state of flux, whereas circumstances change to adjust to economic opportunities, which in turn are limited by immigration laws, and it gets even worse when one of the parents isn’t even present in the children’s home, but rather live in their home country (Van Hook & Glick, 2006 ). Although Hispanic and Latino children are more likely to live with married parents and extended relatives, familism is highly affected by the immigration status of each member.

On the other hand, there has been research to address the paramount role of communication disregarding the mediating factor of cultural diversity. For example, Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ) performed a cross-cultural comparison of the association between coparenting or shared parental effort and family climate among families from Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica. The overall findings suggest what was explained earlier in this article: more shared parenting predicts better marital interaction and family climate overall.

In addition, parenting quality has been found to have a positive relationship with children’s developmental outcomes. In fact, Sotomayor-Peterson, Figueredo, Christensen, and Taylor ( 2012 ) conducted a study with 61 low-income Mexican American couples, with at least one child between three and four years of age, recruited from a home-based Head Start program. The main goal of this study was to observe the extent that shared parenting incorporates cultural values and income predicts family climate. The findings suggest that the role of cultural values such as familism, in which family solidarity and avoidance of confrontation are paramount, delineate shared parenting by Mexican American couples.

Cultural adaptation also has a substantial impact on marital satisfaction and children’s cognitive stimulation. Indeed, Sotomayor-Peterson, Wilhelm, and Card ( 2011 ) investigated the relationship between marital relationship quality and subsequent cognitive stimulation practices toward their infants in terms of the actor and partner effects of White and Hispanic parents. The results indicate an interesting relationship between the level of acculturation and marital relationship quality and a positive cognitive stimulation of infants; specifically, marital happiness is associated with increased cognitive stimulation by White and high-acculturated Hispanic fathers. Nevertheless, a major limitation of Hispanic acculturation literature has been seen, reflecting a reliance on cross-sectional studies where acculturation was scholarly operationalized more as an individual difference variable than as a longitudinal adaptation over time (Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

Culture and Family Communication: the “so what?” Question

This article has presented an entangled overview of family communication patterns, dyadic power, family systems, and conflict theories to establish that coparenting quality plays a paramount role. The main commonality among those theories pays special attention to interparental interaction quality, regardless of the type of family (i.e., intact, postdivorce, same-sex, etc.) and cultural background. After reviewing these theories, it was observed that the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial context because it affects children from their earlier cognitive development to subsequent parental modeling in terms of gender roles. Thus, in keeping with Canary and Canary ( 2013 ), no matter what approach may be taken to the analysis of family communication issues, the hypothesis that a positive emotional climate within the family is fostered only when couples practice a sufficient level of shared parenting and quality of communication is supported.

Nevertheless, this argument does not suggest that the role of culture in the familial interactions should be undersold. While including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, in the second section of this article, the text also provides specific values of different countries that are enacted and socialized differently across cultural contexts to address the role of acculturation in the familial atmosphere, the quality of interactions, and individual outcomes. As a case in point, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) provided an interesting way of seeing how cultures differ in their ways of enacting parenting, clarifying that the role of culture in parenting is not a superficial or relativistic element.

In addition, by acknowledging the perhaps excessive attention to larger Asian cultural backgrounds (such as Chinese or Japanese cultures) by other scholars (i.e., Canary & Canary, 2013 ), an insightful analysis of the Thai American family within the father-daughter relationship was provided to exemplify, through the work of Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ), how specific family communication patterns, such as maintenance relationship communication behaviors, affect the quality of familial relationships. Moreover, a second, special focus was put on Hispanic families because of the demographic trends of the United States, and it was found that familism constitutes a distinctive aspect of these families.

In other words, the third section of this article provided these two examples of intercultural families to observe specific ways that culture mediates the familial system. Because one of the main goals of the present article was to demonstrate the mediating role of culture as an important consideration for family communication issues in the United States, the assimilationist approach was taken into account; thus, the two intercultural family examples discussed here correspond to an assimilationist nature rather than using an intergroup approach.

This decision was made without intending to diminish the value of other cultures or ethnic groups in the country, but an extensive revision of all types of intercultural families is beyond the scope of this article. Second, the assimilationist approach forces one to consider cultures that are in the process of adapting to a new hosting culture, and the Thai and Hispanic families in the United States comply with this theoretical requisite. For example, Whites recognize African Americans as being as American as Whites (i.e., Dovidio, Gluszek, John, Ditlmann, & Lagunes, 2010 ), whereas they associate Hispanics and Latinos with illegal immigration in the United States (Stewart et al., 2011 ), which has been enhanced by the U.S. media repeatedly since 1994 (Valentino et al., 2013 ), and it is still happening (Dixon, 2015 ). In this scenario, “ask yourself what would happen to your own personality if you heard it said over and over again that you were lazy, a simple child of nature, expected to steal, and had inferior blood? . . . One’s reputation, whether false or true, cannot be hammered, hammered, hammered, into one’s head without doing something to one’s character” (Allport, 1979 , p. 142, cited in Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ).

As a consequence, on this cultural canvas, it should not be surprising that Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) found that second-generation Hispanics are increasingly likely to marry foreign-born Hispanics and less likely to marry third-generation or later coethnics or Whites. In addition, this study suggests that third-generation Hispanics and later were more likely than in the past to marry non-Hispanic Whites; thus, the authors concluded that there has been a new retreat from intermarriage among the largest immigrant groups in the United States—Hispanics and Asians—in the last 20 years.

If we subscribe to the idea that cultural assimilation goes in only one direction—from the hegemonic culture to the minority culture—then the results of Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) should not be of scholarly concern; however, if we believe that cultural assimilation happens in both directions and intercultural families can benefit both the host and immigrant cultures (for a review, see Schwartz et al., 2013 ), then this is important to address in a country that just elected a president, Donald Trump, who featured statements racially lambasting and segregating minorities, denigrating women, and criticizing immigration as some of the main tenets of his campaign. Therefore, we hope that it is clear why special attention was given to the Thai and Hispanic families in this article, considering the impact of culture on the familial system, marital satisfaction, parental communication, and children’s well-being. Even though individuals with Hispanic ancentry were in the United States even before it became a nation, Hispanic and Latino families are still trying to convince Americans of their right to be accepted in American culture and society.

With regard to the “So what?” question, assimilation is important to consider while analyzing the role of culture in family communication patterns, power dynamics, conflict, or the functioning of the overall family system in the context of the United States. This is because this country is among the most popular in the world in terms of immigration requests, and its demographics show that one out of three citizens comes from an ethnic background other than the hegemonic White culture. In sum, cultural awareness has become pivotal in the analysis of family communication issues in the United States. Furthermore, the present overview of family, communication, and culture ends up supporting the idea of positive associations being derived from the pivotal role of marriage relationship quality, such that coparenting and communication practices vary substantially within intercultural marriages moderated by gender roles.

Culture is a pivotal moderator of these associations, but this analysis needs to be tethered to societal structural level, in which cultural differences, family members’ immigration status, media content, and level of acculturation must be included in family research. This is because in intercultural marriages, in addition to the tremendous parenting role, they have to deal with cultural assimilation and discrimination, and this becomes important if we care about children’s cognitive development and the overall well-being of those who are not considered White. As this article shows, the quality of familial interactions has direct consequences on children’s developmental outcomes (for a review, see Callaghan et al., 2011 ).

Therefore, the structure and functioning of family has an important impact on public health at both physiological and psychological levels (Gage, Everett, & Bullock, 2006 ). At the physiological level, the familial interaction instigates expression and reception of strong feelings affecting tremendously on individuals’ physical health because it activates neuroendocrine responses that aid stress regulation, acting as a stress buffer and accelerating physiological recovery from elevated stress (Floyd & Afifi, 2012 ; Floyd, 2014 ). Robles, Shaffer, Malarkey, and Kiecolt-Glaser ( 2006 ) found that a combination of supportive communication, humor, and problem-solving behavior in husbands predicts their wives’ cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)—both physiological factors are considered as stress markers (see 2006 ). On the other hand, the psychology of individuals, the quality of family relationships has major repercussions on cognitive development, as reflected in educational attainment (Sohr-Preston et al., 2013 ), and highly mediated by cultural assimilation (Schwartz et al., 2013 ), which affects individuals through parenting modeling and socialization of values (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ).

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• Parenting in America
• 1. The American family today

Table of Contents

• 2. Satisfaction, time and support
• 3. Parenting approaches and concerns
• 4. Child care and education: quality, availability and parental involvement
• 5. Children’s extracurricular activities
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

For updated data, read our 2023 essay “The Modern American Family.”

Family life is changing. Two-parent households are on the decline in the United States as divorce, remarriage and cohabitation are on the rise. And families are smaller now, both due to the growth of single-parent households and the drop in fertility. Not only are Americans having fewer children, but the circumstances surrounding parenthood have changed. While in the early 1960s babies typically arrived within a marriage , today fully four-in-ten births occur to women who are single or living with a non-marital partner. At the same time that family structures have transformed, so has the role of mothers in the workplace – and in the home. As more moms have entered the labor force, more have become breadwinners – in many cases, primary breadwinners – in their families.

As a result of these changes, there is no longer one dominant family form in the U.S. Parents today are raising their children against a backdrop of increasingly diverse and, for many, constantly evolving family forms. By contrast, in 1960, the height of the post-World War II baby boom, there was one dominant family form. At that time 73% of all children were living in a family with two married parents in their first marriage. By 1980, 61% of children were living in this type of family, and today less than half (46%) are. The declining share of children living in what is often deemed a “traditional” family has been largely supplanted by the rising shares of children living with single or cohabiting parents.

Not only has the diversity in family living arrangements increased since the early 1960s, but so has the fluidity of the family. Non-marital cohabitation and divorce, along with the prevalence of remarriage and (non-marital) recoupling in the U.S., make for family structures that in many cases continue to evolve throughout a child’s life. While in the past a child born to a married couple – as most children were – was very likely to grow up in a home with those two parents, this is much less common today, as a child’s living arrangement changes with each adjustment in the relationship status of their parents. For example, one study found that over a three-year period, about three-in-ten (31%) children younger than 6 had experienced a major change in their family or household structure, in the form of parental divorce, separation, marriage, cohabitation or death.

The growing complexity and diversity of families

The share of children living in a two-parent household is at the lowest point in more than half a century: 69% are in this type of family arrangement today, compared with 73% in 2000 and 87% in 1960. And even children living with two parents are more likely to be experiencing a variety of family arrangements due to increases in divorce, remarriage and cohabitation. 3 Today, fully 62% of children live with two married parents – an all-time low. Some 15% are living with parents in a remarriage and 7% are living with parents who are cohabiting. 4 Conversely, the share of children living with one parent stands at 26%, up from 22% in 2000 and just 9% in 1960.

These changes have been driven in part by the fact that Americans today are exiting marriage at higher rates than in the past. Now, about two-thirds (67%) of people younger than 50 who had ever married are still in their first marriage. In comparison, that share was 83% in 1960. 5  And while among men about 76% of first marriages that began in the late 1980s were still intact 10 years later, fully 88% of marriages that began in the late 1950s lasted as long, according to analyses of Census Bureau data. 6

The rise of single-parent families, and changes in two-parent families

Despite the decline over the past half century in children residing with two parents, a majority of kids are still growing up in this type of living arrangement. 7 However, less than half—46%—are living with two parents who are both in their first marriage. This share is down from 61% in 1980 8 and 73% in 1960.

An additional 15% of children are living with two parents, at least one of whom has been married before. This share has remained relatively stable for decades.

In the remainder of two-parent families, the parents are cohabiting but are not married. Today 7% of children are living with cohabiting parents; however a far larger share will experience this kind of living arrangement at some point during their childhood. For instance, estimates suggest that about 39% of children will have had a mother in a cohabiting relationship by the time they turn 12; and by the time they turn 16, almost half (46%) will have experience with their mother cohabiting. In some cases, this will happen because a never-married mother enters into a cohabiting relationship; in other cases, a mother may enter into a cohabiting relationship after a marital breakup.

The decline in children living in two-parent families has been offset by an almost threefold increase in those living with just one parent—typically the mother. 9  Fully one-fourth (26%) of children younger than age 18 are now living with a single parent, up from just 9% in 1960 and 22% in 2000. The share of children living without either parent stands at 5%; most of these children are being raised by grandparents . 10

The majority of white, Hispanic and Asian children are living in two-parent households, while less than half of black children are living in this type of arrangement. Furthermore, at least half of Asian and white children are living with two parents both in their first marriage. The shares of Hispanic and black children living with two parents in their first marriage are much lower.

Asian children are the most likely to be living with both parents—fully 84% are, including 71% who are living with parents who are both in their first marriage. Some 13% of Asian kids are living in a single-parent household, while 11% are living with remarried parents, and just 3% are living with parents who are cohabiting.

Roughly eight-in-ten (78%) white children are living with two parents, including about half (52%) with parents who are both in their first marriage and 19% with two parents in a remarriage; 6% have parents who are cohabiting. About one-in-five (19%) white children are living with a single parent.

Among Hispanic children, two-thirds live with two parents. All told, 43% live with two parents in their first marriage, while 12% are living with parents in a remarriage, and 11% are living with parents who are cohabiting. Some 29% of Hispanic children live with a single parent.

The living arrangements of black children stand in stark contrast to the other major racial and ethnic groups. The majority – 54% – are living with a single parent. Just 38% are living with two parents, including 22% who are living with two parents who are both in their first marriage. Some 9% are living with remarried parents, and 7% are residing with parents who are cohabiting.

Children with at least one college-educated parent are far more likely to be living in a two-parent household, and to be living with two parents in a first marriage, than are kids whose parents are less educated. 11 Fully 88% of children who have at least one parent with a bachelor’s degree or more are living in a two-parent household, including 67% who are living with two parents in their first marriage.

In comparison, some 68% of children who have a parent with some college experience are living in a two-parent household, and just 40% are living with parents who are both in a first marriage. About six-in-ten (59%) children who have a parent with a high school diploma are in a two-parent household, including 33% who are living with parents in their first marriage. Meanwhile, just over half (54%) of children whose parents lack a high school diploma are living in a two-parent household, including 33% whose parents are in their first marriage.

Blended families

According to the most recent data, 16% of children are living in what the Census Bureau terms “blended families” – a household with a stepparent, stepsibling or half-sibling. This share has remained stable since the early 1990s, when reliable data first became available. At that time 15% of kids lived in blended family households. All told, about 8% are living with a stepparent, and 12% are living with stepsiblings or half-siblings. 12

Many, but not all, remarriages involve blended families. 13  According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, six-in-ten (63%) women in remarriages are in blended families, and about half of these remarriages involve stepchildren who live with the remarried couple.

Hispanic, black and white children are equally likely to live in a blended family. About 17% of Hispanic and black kids are living with a stepparent, stepsibling or a half-sibling, as are 15% of white kids. Among Asian children, however, 7% – a far smaller share – are living in blended families. This low share is consistent with the finding that Asian children are more likely than others to be living with two married parents, both of whom are in their first marriage.

The shrinking American family

Fertility in the U.S. has been on the decline since the end of the post-World War II baby boom, resulting in smaller families. In the mid-1970s, a 40% plurality of mothers who had reached the end of their childbearing years had given birth to four or more children. 14  Now, a similar share (41%) of mothers at the end of their childbearing years has had two children, and just 14% have had four or more children. 15

At the same time, the share of mothers ages 40 to 44 who have had only one child has doubled, from 11% in 1976 to 22% today. The share of mothers with three children has remained virtually unchanged at about a quarter.

Women’s increasing educational attainment and labor force participation, and improvements in contraception, not to mention the retreat from marriage, have all likely played a role in shrinking family size .

Family size varies markedly across races and ethnicities. Asian moms have the lowest fertility, and Hispanic mothers have the highest. About 27% of Asian mothers and one-third of white mothers near the end of their childbearing years have had three or more children. Among black mothers at the end of their childbearing years, four-in-ten have had three or more children, as have fully half (50%) of Hispanic mothers.

Similarly, a gap in fertility exists among women with different levels of educational attainment, despite recent increases in the fertility of highly educated women. For example, just 27% of mothers ages 40 to 44 with a post-graduate degree such as a master’s, professional or doctorate degree have borne three or more children, as have 32% of those with a bachelor’s degree. Among mothers in the same age group with a high school diploma or some college, 38% have had three or more kids, while among moms who lack a high school diploma, the majority – 55% – have had three or more children.

The rise of births to unmarried women and multi-partner fertility

Not only are women having fewer children today, but they are having them under different circumstances than in the past. While at one time virtually all births occurred within marriage, these two life events are now far less intertwined. And while people were much more likely to “mate for life” in the past, today a sizable share have children with more than one partner – sometimes within marriage, and sometimes outside of it.

Births to unmarried women

In 1960, just 5% of all births occurred outside of marriage. By 1970, this share had doubled to 11%, and by 2000 fully one-third of births occurred to unmarried women. Non-marital births continued to rise until the mid-2000s, when the share of births to unmarried women stabilized at around 40%. 16

Not all babies born outside of a marriage are necessarily living with just one parent, however. The majority of these births now occur to women who are living with a romantic partner, according to analyses of the National Survey of Family Growth. In fact, over the past 20 years, virtually all of the growth in births outside of marriage has been driven by increases in births to cohabiting women. 17

Researchers have found that, while marriages are less stable than they once were, they remain more stable than cohabiting unions. Past analysis indicates that about one-in-five children born within a marriage will experience the breakup of that marriage by age 9. In comparison, fully half of children born within a cohabiting union will experience the breakup of their parents by the same age. At the same time, children born into cohabiting unions are more likely than those born to single moms to someday live with two married parents. Estimates suggest that 66% will have done so by the time they are 12, compared with 45% of those who were born to unmarried non-cohabiting moms.

The share of births occurring outside of marriage varies markedly across racial and ethnic groups. Among black women, 71% of births are now non-marital, as are about half (53%) of births to Hispanic women. In contrast, 29% of births to white women occur outside of a marriage.

Racial differences in educational attainment explain some, but not all, of the differences in non-marital birth rates.

New mothers who are college-educated are far more likely than less educated moms to be married. In 2014 just 11% of women with a college degree or more who had a baby in the prior year were unmarried. In comparison, this share was about four times as high (43%) for new mothers with some college but no college degree. About half (54%) of those with only a high school diploma were unmarried when they gave birth, as were about six-in-ten (59%) new mothers who lacked a high school diploma.

Multi-partner fertility

Related to non-marital births is what researchers call “ multi-partner fertility .” This measure reflects the share of people who have had biological children with more than one partner, either within or outside of marriage. The increase in divorces, separations, remarriages and serial cohabitations has likely contributed to an increase in multi-partner fertility. Estimates vary, given data limitations, but analysis of longitudinal data indicates that almost 20% of women near the end of their childbearing years have had children by more than one partner, as have about three-in-ten (28%) of those with two or more children. Research indicates that multi-partner fertility is particularly common among blacks, Hispanics, and the less educated.

Parents today: older and better educated

While parents today are far less likely to be married than they were in the past, they are more likely to be older and to have more education.

In 1970, the average new mother was 21 years old. Since that time, that age has risen to 26 years . The rise in maternal age has been driven largely by declines in teen births. Today, 7% of all births occur to women under the age of 20; as recently as 1990 , the share was almost twice as high (13%).

While age at first birth has increased across all major race and ethnic groups, substantial variation persists across these groups. The average first-time mom among whites is now 27 years old. The average age at first birth among blacks and Hispanics is quite a bit younger – 24 years – driven in part by the prevalence of teen pregnancy in these groups. Just 5% of births to whites take place prior to age 20, while this share reaches 11% for non-Hispanic blacks and 10% for Hispanics. On the other end of the spectrum, fully 45% of births to whites are to women ages 30 or older, versus just 31% among blacks and 36% among Hispanics.

Mothers today are also far better educated than they were in the past. While in 1960 just 18% of mothers with infants at home had any college experience, today that share stands at 67%. This trend is driven in large part by dramatic increases in educational attainment for all women. While about half (49%) of women ages 15 to 44 in 1960 lacked a high school diploma, today the largest share of women (61%) has at least some college experience, and just 19% lack a high school diploma.

Mothers moving into the workforce

In addition to the changes in family structure that have occurred over the past several decades, family life has been greatly affected by the movement of more and more mothers into the workforce. This increase in labor force participation is a continuation of a century-long trend ; rates of labor force participation among married women, particularly married white women, have been on the rise since at least the turn of the 20th century. While the labor force participation rates of mothers have more or less leveled off since about 2000, they remain far higher than they were four decades ago.

In 1975, the first year for which data on the labor force participation of mothers are available, less than half of mothers (47%) with children younger than 18 were in the labor force, and about a third of those with children younger than 3 years old were working outside of the home. Those numbers changed rapidly, and, by 2000, 73% of moms were in the labor force. Labor force participation today stands at 70% among all mothers of children younger than 18, and 64% of moms with preschool-aged children. About three-fourths of all employed moms are working full time.

Among mothers with children younger than 18, blacks are the most likely to be in the labor force –about three-fourths are. In comparison, this share is 70% among white mothers. Some 64% of Asian mothers and 62% of Hispanic mother are in the workforce. The relatively high proportions of immigrants in these groups likely contribute to their lower labor force involvement – foreign-born moms are much less likely to be working than their U.S.-born counterparts.

The more education a mother has, the more likely she is to be in the labor force. While about half (49%) of moms who lack a high school diploma are working, this share jumps to 65% for those with a high school diploma. Fully 75% of mothers with some college are working, as are 79% of those with a college degree or more.

Along with their movement into the labor force, women, even more than men, have been attaining higher and higher levels of education. In fact, among married couples today, it is more common for the wife to have more education than the husband, a reversal of previous patterns. These changes, along with the increasing share of single-parent families, mean that more than ever, mothers are playing the role of breadwinner —often the primary breadwinner—within their families.

Today, 40% of families with children under 18 at home include mothers who earn the majority of the family income. 18 This share is up from 11% in 1960 and 34% in 2000. The bulk of these breadwinner moms—8.3 million—are either unmarried or are married and living apart from their spouse. 19 The remaining 4.9 million, who are married and living with their spouse, earn more than their husbands. While families with married breadwinner moms tend to have higher median incomes than married-parent families where the father earns more ($88,000 vs. $84,500), families headed by unmarried mothers have incomes far lower than unmarried father families. In 2014, the median annual income for unmarried mother families was just $24,000.

Breadwinner moms are particularly common in black families, spurred by very high rates of single motherhood. About three-fourths (74%) of black moms are breadwinner moms. Most are unmarried or living apart from their spouse (61%), and the remainder (13%) earn more than their spouse. Among Hispanic moms, 44% are the primary breadwinner; 31% are unmarried, while 12% are married and making more than their husbands. For white mothers, 38% are the primary breadwinners—20% are unmarried moms, and 18% are married and have income higher than that of their spouses. Asian families are less likely to have a woman as the main breadwinner in their families, presumably due to their extremely low rates of single motherhood. Just 11% of Asian moms are unmarried. The share who earn more than their husbands—20%— is somewhat higher than for the other racial and ethnic groups.

The flip side of the movement of mothers into the labor force has been a dramatic decline in the share of mothers who are now stay-at-home moms . Some 29% of all mothers living with children younger than 18 are at home with their children. This marks a modest increase since 1999, when 23% of moms were home with their children, but a long-term decline of about 20 percentage points since the late 1960s when about half of moms were at home.

While the image of “stay-at-home mom” may conjure images of “Leave It to Beaver” or the highly affluent “ opt-out mom ”, the reality of stay-at-home motherhood today is quite different for a large share of families. In roughly three-in-ten of stay-at-home-mom families, either the father is not working or the mother is single or cohabiting. As such, stay-at-home mothers are generally less well off than working mothers in terms of education and income. Some 49% of stay-at-home mothers have at most a high-school diploma compared with 30% among working mothers. And the median household income for families with a stay-at-home mom and a full-time working dad was $55,000 in 2014, roughly half the median income for families in which both parents work full-time ($102,400). 20

• “Parent” here is used to mean an adult parental figure. Except as noted, throughout this chapter a parent may be the biological or adoptive parent, or the spouse or partner of a biological or adoptive parent (i.e., a stepparent). The marital status of the parents alone doesn’t reveal definitively what their relationship is to their children. For instance, if a child is living with two parents, both of whom are in their first marriage: it may be the case that both of those parents are the biological parents of that child; or it may be the case that the mother is the biological parent of that child and that she later entered into her first marriage to the child’s (now) stepfather; or it may be the case that the father is the biological parent of that child and that he entered into his first marriage to the child’s (now) stepmother. ↩
• Any marriage in which at least one of the partners has been married previously is defined as a remarriage. ↩
• While the divorce rate has risen since 1960, the trend in divorce since 1980 is less clear. Stevenson and Wolfers maintain that divorce rates have declined since that time, while Kennedy and Ruggles find that the divorce rate has continued its rise. ↩
• Among women, 73% of marriages that began in the late 1980s lasted for at least 10 years, compared with 87% of those that began in the late 1950s. ↩
• For the purposes of this report, same-sex couples are grouped with other-sex couples. While same-sex parenting and marriage has become more prevalent, estimates suggest that less than 1% of couple households with children are headed by same-sex couples; and that, in total, fewer than 130,000 same-sex couples are currently raising children younger than 18. See here for more on the challenges of counting same-sex couples in the U.S. ↩
• Data on the share of parents in their first marriage are not available for 1990 or 2000. ↩
• In 2014, 83% of children living with only one parent were living with their mother, according to the American Community Survey. ↩
• The dramatic changes in kids’ living arrangements in the recent past are in sharp contrast to historical trends , which reveal remarkable stability. From 1880 to around 1970, the share of children living with two parents consistently hovered around 85%, while the share living with a single mother remained in the single digits. Even smaller shares were living with no parent, or with a father only. ↩
• Parental education is based on the highest educational attainment of coresident parents. So if a child lives with both parents, and the father has a bachelor’s degree, and the mother has a high school diploma, that child is classified as having a parent with a bachelor’s degree. A child living with a single parent is classified based on that parent’s education. The 5% of children who are not living with their parents are excluded from this analysis. ↩
• These data are based on self-reports. It may be the case that some families that began as stepfamilies may no longer identify as such, if the stepparent went on to adopt the children. And, of course, many families may be “blended” but may not include parents who are formally married; those families are likely not captured in this measure. ↩
• While blended families all involve remarriage, not all remarriages produce blended families. Remarriages involving spouses who have no children from prior relationships would not create blended families. ↩
• Women at the end of their childbearing years are often defined as those ages 40-44. While it is still possible to have children beyond this point, about 99.8% of babies are born to women younger than 45, and 97% are born to women younger than 40. Women who reached the end of their childbearing years in the mid-1970s came of age during the height of the post-World War II baby boom, a period typified by unusually high fertility. ↩
• While they are not included in this analysis due to data limitations, many women who do not bear children are indeed mothers—either adoptive mothers or stepmothers. ↩
• Preliminary 2014 data indicate that the share of non-marital births declined slightly for the first time in almost 20 years, due largely to changes in age composition among childbearing-aged women. ↩
• Given the limitations of data regarding the fertility of men , the focus here is on fertility of women. ↩
• Only families where the mother or father is the household head are included in the analysis of breadwinner moms. ↩
• For the remainder of this chapter, “unmarried mothers” refers to those who are not married, or who are married but living apart from their spouse. ↩
• The vast majority of stay-at-home parents are indeed mothers, but a growing share of fathers are joining the ranks, as well. In 2012, 16% of stay-at-home parents were dads, up from 10% in 1989. Like stay-at-home mothers, stay-at-home dads tend to be less well off than their working counterparts; they are far more likely to lack a high school diploma (22% vs. 10%), and far more likely to be living in poverty (47% vs. 8%). ↩

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Essay on My Family for School Students and Children

500+ words essay on my family.

Families are an integral part of one’s life. It does not matter if you have a small or big family, as long as you have one. A family serves as the first school to the child where one learns about various things. The basic knowledge about one’s culture and identity comes from their family only. In other words, you are a reflection of your family. All the good habits and manners one has incorporated are from their family only. I feel very lucky to be born in a family which has made me a better person. In my opinion, families are an essential part of one’s being. In this essay on my family, I will tell you why family is important.

Why Families are Important?

Families are a blessing not everyone is fortunate enough to have. However, those who do, sometimes do not value this blessing. Some people spend time away from the family in order to become independent.

However, they do not realize its importance. Families are essential as they help in our growth. They develop us into becoming a complete person with an individual identity. Moreover, they give us a sense of security and a safe environment to flourish in.

You can read essay on my mother here .

We learn to socialize through our families only and develop our intellect. Studies show that people who live with their families tend to be happier than ones living alone. They act as your rock in times of trouble.

Families are the only ones who believe in you when the whole world doubts you. Similarly, when you are down and out, they are the first ones to cheer you up. Certainly, it is a true blessing to have a positive family by your side.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Pillars of Strength

My family has been always by my side in ups and downs. They have taught me how to be a better person. My family consists of four siblings and my parents. We also have a pet dog that is no less than our family.

Within each family member, lies my strength. My mother is my strength as I can always count on her when I need a shoulder to cry on. She believes in me more than any other person. She is the backbone of our family. My father is someone who will always hide away his troubles for the sake of his family.

In short, I will forever be indebted to my family for all they have done for me. I cannot imagine my life without them. They are my first teachers and my first friends.

They are responsible for creating a safe and secure environment for me at home. I can share everything with my family as they never judge one another. We believe in the power of love above everything and that drives us to help each other to become better human beings.

FAQs on Family

Q.1 Why are families important?

A.1 Families are important because they nurture and develop us. They make us happy and give us the chance to become better human beings. Families enhance your confidence and make you believe in yourself.

Q.2 How do families act as pillars of strength?

A.2 Families are the pillars of strength because they give us the courage to face the world. They are always there when we need them. Even in the loneliest of times, families make us feel better.

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