FNES 147: Defining Family and Changes in Family Life

Defining Family and Changes in Family Life

Objectives

  • Define marriage and families in a global society
  • Describe trends in family structure in the US today
  • Discuss similarities and differences between contemporary families
  • Explain the roles of society and culture in marriage and family experiences

What is Marriage?

  • Includes religious, legal, and social aspects
  • Experienced worldwide
  • Social (or civil) union: A legal term that speaks to the commitment or marriage contract made by partners
  • In the US, marriage is a legally recognized social union
  • Legal and binding civil contract
  • Legal benefits
  • Marriages across cultures follow different processes

Marriage as a Social and Economic Union

  • Marriage traditionally protected family wealth
  • Family served as a basic political, religious, social, and economic unit
  • Couples today form economic partnerships
  • Families have financial responsibilities that are necessary for society

Marriage as a Religious Act

  • Viewed as a sacred act in many religions
  • A lifelong commitment
  • Viewed as the strongest social bond around which society is organized

Marital Types

  • Monogamy: Dyadic (two-person) marriage
    • Legal structure of marriage in the US
    • Expectation of exclusive emotional intimacy and love
  • Polygamy: Practice of having more than one marriage partner
    • Practiced by ~ 2% of the global population
    • Polygyny: Involves a man having multiple wives
    • Polyandry: Involves a woman having multiple husbands (rare)
    • Cenogamy: Group marriage where every man and woman is married to each other

Shifting Views on Couple Relationships

  • The Silent Generation (1928-1945): Conformity to traditional views of marriage, family, and divorce
  • Baby Boomers (1946-1965): Individual needs placed ahead of marriage and family (“Me generation”)
  • Generation X (1965-1980): Divorce/remarriage as a common experience
  • Millennials (1981-1996): Nontraditional views and timelines on marriage and gender
  • Generation Z (1997 - 2009): Impacts of technology

What is Family?

  • Family (US Census Bureau, 2024): “A group of two or more people (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family.”
  • Household: Consists of people who occupy a housing unit
  • Nonfamily household: Consists of a householder living alone or sharing with unrelated people

Types of Households in the US (US Census Bureau, 2023)

  • Married Same-Sex
  • Single Father
  • Cohabiting Heterosexual
  • Married Heterosexual
  • Female Living Alone
  • Single Mother
  • Male Living Alone

What is Family?

  • Family of origin: Family into which we are born or adopted
  • Family of procreation: Family unit formed when we marry and have children
  • Nuclear family: Consists of a first-time married mother, father, and biological or adopted children
    • About 37% of households (2023)
    • Also called the “traditional family”
  • Extended family: A family unit where two or more generations of close relatives live in one household
  • Family values: Refer to society viewpoint that expects members to adhere to certain social roles

Is the American Family Deteriorating?

  • What are the roots for the nuclear family?
  • Where does the nuclear family come from?
  • The idealized 1950s American family form – too good to be true?
  • Are trends result of change or deterioration?
  • Where do you see American families in 2030? 2050?

What is Family?

  • General fertility rate: Ratio of the number of live births per 1000 women of childbearing age
    • 58/1000 in 2018
  • Typical American family has 1.9 children under 18 years old
  • Childless families: Inability to conceive or adopt children
  • Childfree families: Having no children as a conscious choice

What is Family?

  • Single-parent families: Result from choice or circumstance
    • Single-parent households are increasing in US
    • 34% of US parents are unmarried

What is Family?

  • Stepfamilies: Families formed after death or divorce
    • Defined by the presence of a stepparent, stepsibling, or half sibling
    • About 33% of Americans are part of a stepfamily
  • Cohabiting families: Families formed by unmarried partners sharing a household
    • Now the prevailing living arrangement among intimate partners -- about 10% of adults (2022)
    • 51% of marriages preceded by cohabitation (2019)
    • More children in cohabiting home than single parent home (8% of all children – 2023)

What is Family?

  • Gay and lesbian families: Same-sex partners who live in the same household and may share children
    • 1. 2 million same-sex households in the US
  • Chosen family: Nonbiological kinship bonds that replace blood family and serves as source of support, trust, love
  • Immigrant families: Families where at least 1 parent was born outside of the US
    • About 17.6 million children; 87% of whom are American citizens

Contemporary Families

  • The “traditional” family form is no longer the norm in American culture
  • Families are more complex and diverse than ever before
  • Important to talk about diversity to avoid bias early in life
  • Social, cultural, economic, political changes impact families in numerous ways across the past several decades

Families in Cultural Contexts

  • We do not develop in isolation - culture and society play influential roles
  • Social identity: Whether societal goals emphasize the advancement of group or individual interests
    • Collectivist cultures
    • Individualistic cultures

Families in Cultural Contexts

  • Collectivist cultures: Define identity in terms of relationships with others
    • Members strive to be equal members of society
    • Behavior driven by obligation
    • Harmony, cooperation, closeness are important
  • Individualistic cultures: Define identity in terms of personal attributes (i.e., wealth, social status, education)
    • View self as independent from society
    • Personal needs and rights guide behavior
    • Promote autonomy and individuation from family

The Ecological Model

  • Social ecology: A perspective that recognizes individual experiences interact with external social factors to affect the quality of family life
  • Ecological Model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979): People develop in a variety of interacting contexts
  • Contexts are areas of development that play a role in relationship between people and their environments
  • Ecosystem: A context within the Ecological Model

The Ecological Model

  • The person: Development is determined by interacting biological, social, and cognitive influences
    • Individuals also impact their environment
  • Microsystem: Contexts nearest the individual
    • Interactions in which people are directly involved
    • i.e., family, school, community, religious institutions
  • Mesosystem: Interaction between various contexts
    • Elements within the microsystem effect each other to impact the individual

The Ecological Model

  • Exosystem: Parts of society where policies are made that ultimately impact microsystems and individuals
    • Umbrella for systems in a society
    • i.e., social policies, media, board of education
  • Macrosystem: Overarching cultural values and beliefs
    • Establish implicit or explicit rules about social norms
  • Chronosystem: Reflects changes over time
    • Accounts for historical context of current social norms

Family Life Education

  • Provides organized education to strengthen families
  • Tool to explore and understand family and relationships
  • Definitions have progressed over time
  • Move from dealing- and preventing-the-problems focus to developing-family-potentials focus
  • Consideration of individual development and life course experiences in context of family living has remained consistent
  • Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE): Professional in family studies – multidisciplinary and multiprofessional

CFLE Content Areas (Table 1.3)

  • Families in Society includes varying family forms; cross-cultural and diverse families and family values; and social and cultural variations (ethnicity, race, religion).
  • Family Dynamics focuses on family communication patterns, conflict resolution, coping strategies, families in crisis/stress and distress and families with special needs (military, step-foster, adoptive families, etc.).
  • Human Growth and Development explores human development across our lifespan.
  • Human Sexuality presents sexual anatomy and physiology, reproduction, the emotional aspects of sexuality, sexual response and dysfunction, and our sexual values.
  • Interpersonal Relationships focuses on love, human intimacy, and relational skills, such as communication.
  • Family Resource Management focuses on family financial goals and planning and money decisions.
  • Parent Education looks at the choice and challenges of parenthood, including the rights and responsibilities of parents, parental roles, and variations in parenting practices and styles.
  • Family Law and Public Policy focuses on laws relating to marriage, divorce, cohabitation, child custody, child protection and the rights of children, and public policy (civil rights, social security) as it affects the family.
  • Ethics concerns the diversity of human values and the complexity of how values are shaped in contemporary society.