CHANGES IN FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD

The Nature of Families

• Kinship unit is a group whose members are related to one another on the basis
of blood ties, adoption or marriage

• Nuclear family - basic family unit consisting of a father, mother and children

• Extended family - parents, children, grandparents, and other relatives who live
in close proximity to one another

• Modified extended family – individual nuclear families with extended family ties
and relationships

• All societies tend to be organized around a system of modified extended kinship

• Industrialization has made the family smaller and more geographically and
economically mobile

Adequate Family Functioning

• Families go through a number of stages:

» Early marriage

» Child rearing

» Empty nest

» Retirement

• Failure to adjust to the stages or to function adequately often stems from external
and internal crises that impact the group

• External crises are outside determinants that affect the structure and function of
the family

» Economic recession and the loss of jobs

» War

• Internal crises arise within the family due to the problems with a family member

» Physical

» Emotional

• Sources of family stress and interpersonal problems may reduce the family to an
empty shell

• Empty shell marriages lack a sense of emotional vitality

• Several factors contribute to the continuation of empty shell marriages

 » Habit

» Economic constraints

» Outside pressures to stay together

Effects of Women’s Employment

• Today over 71 percent of American women with children under the age of 18
work

• With children under the age of 6, over sixty-four percent work

• Social forces behind the increases in the number of working women have been

» Women’s movement and increased opportunities

» Need for income to maintain a middle-class lifestyle

• Attitudes about working mothers have not changed as fast as employment trends

• Choice in working outside the home is related to marital happiness

• Working wives often find themselves having to do a “second shift”

» Job for eight hours a day

» Housework

• Husbands and men have adjusted by:

» Contributing more to household roles

» Taking on the house husband role

» Becoming autonomous - males choosing a single

life over lasting relationships

• Juggling Work and Family Responsibilities

• There has been an increase in the hours that men and women are putting in at
work

» It is common to put in 50 hours a week

» Work a number of jobs

• Stress from juggling family and work is related to marital unhappiness

Divorce

• The Impact of Divorce

• Economic impact

» Divorced mothers are often forced into poverty

 • Children often experience divorce as the end of life as they know it

• Children often feel:

» Fear, anger, depression, and confusion

• Single-parents often feel the strain of divorce in three ways

• 1. Responsibility overload

• 2. Task overload

• 3. Emotional overload

Stepfamilies

• Nearly fifty percent of families in the United States are stepfamilies

• Adjusting to new and blended family roles

» Authority conflicts between stepchildren and step

parents

» Adjusting to stepsiblings

» Adjusting to new household rules and routines

Cohabiting Couples

• Cohabitation is most common among those under age 25 and those over the age
of 65

• Rate of cohabitation is increasing by approximately 15 percent per year

• There are more than 3.5 million cohabitating couples in the United States

• Many see cohabitation as a trial marriage

• Only 10 percent of cohabitating couples are together after six years

Postponement of Marriage

• Postponement of marriage has a number of implications for the family:

» Fewer children

» Grand parenting at later ages

• Marriage squeeze - the later women wait to marry the fewer eligible mates there
are to choose from

Changing Norms of Parenthood

• Births to Unmarried Mothers

• Stigma attached to out-of-wedlock births has declined in society

 • Fewer children born out of wedlock are being given up for adoption

• Stricter child support laws have emerged to assist single mothers

• Weakening of marital norms is seen as having a negative effect on the institution

of marriage

Teenage Pregnancy

• Teenage fertility and childbearing rates have fallen in the United States

• A persistent issue in the U.S. is if young woman who become pregnant should be
allowed to have an abortion

• One study reported that if a teenage girl elects to keep her baby, she is more
likely to drop out of school in comparison with those who have an abortion or give
their child up for adoption

Gay and Lesbian Families

• Gay and lesbian couples often face a number of obstacles

• One of these issues is the legal status of gay marriages and the rights it accords
to married couples

• Obstacles to adopting and rearing children

Homeless Families

• Homeless is related to a number of crises

» Divorce

» Loss of Job

» Health of the breadwinner

» Poverty

» Family problems and violence

Family Violence

• Child Abuse

• Child abuse in a family is related to:

» A one-parent family

» Low socioeconomic status and low parental

education

» Authoritarian parenting
 » Four or more children in a family and receipt of
some form of public assistance

» The family changes its place of residence

frequently

• The higher rate of reported abuse among the poor is related in part to their
contact with official agencies identifying abuse that often goes hidden among
other social classes

• Child abuse is also related to parents who are extremely demanding and have
unrealistic expectations of what a child can do

• Spouse Abuse

• Spouse abuse is related to power and control

• Spouse abuse is a function of gender inequality and patriarchy

• The cycle of abuse often involves

» Tension

» Belittlement

» Violence

» Remorse

» Reconciliation

Social Policy

• Divorce Law

• No-fault divorce law

• California in 1970 and then the rest of the states

• The Ongoing Debate Over Divorce Law

• Making divorce more difficult

• Louisiana and Covenant Marriage Laws and family values

• Alimony - the amount of money paid by one partner to the other has been tied to
fault in the divorce

• Child Support

• Most states have instituted tougher collection policies

• Stepped up efforts to collect child support

• Efforts to Reduce Teenage Pregnancies

• Sex education and access to birth control

• Child Care and Family Support

• Policies to assist low-income families with children

• Child care

• Health

• Family Leave Act