Sociology

The general social institution I want to analyze is the family. I chose this institution

because I think that through the analysis of different family structures and conflicts in the family,

I can better understand sociology. Among the different types of families, I am very interested in

single-parent families, although I grew up in a traditional nuclear family. However, I have many

classmates and friends from single parent families. Through contact with them in school and

society, I know the family atmosphere, structure and education method of single parent families

seem to be somewhat different from those of two parent families. I want to understand where

these differences come from and what impact they have on society or whether society affects the

composition of the family through this project and research. .

The first resource I found is the research report ​Single Parenthood and Adolescent Sexual

Outcomes​ published by Mikaela Dufur and his peers in the ​Journal of Child and Family Studies

in 2018. The report compares the sexual behavior and perceptions of adolescents who grew up in

single-parent families with those who grew up in two-parent families. The study concluded that

adolescents who grew up in single-parent families were more likely to have precocious puberty,

sexually transmitted diseases and risky sexual behaviors. The second resource is Philip Cohen ’s

advice to educators based on the complexity and diversity of American families. He suggested

that educators should have a deeper understanding of different family structures in order to

provide better education for students from different types of families. This article is called

Families Are CHANGING—And Staying the Same​, published in 2017 on ​Educational

Leadership​. The third article I will cite is ​Problems and Strengths of Single-Parent Families​,

from ​Family in Society: Essential Primary Sources.​ ​The author introduced the growth trend and

reasons for forming modern single-parent families in the United States in this article.

Work Cited

Dufur, Mikaela J., et al. “Single Parenthood and Adolescent Sexual Outcomes.” ​Journal of Child

& Family Studies​, vol. 27, no. 3, Mar. 2018, pp. 802–815. ​EBSCOhost​,

doi:10.1007/s10826-017-0938-7.

Cohen, Philip N. “Families Are CHANGING— And Staying the Same.” ​Educational

Leadership​, vol. 75, no. 1, Sept. 2017, pp. 46–50. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=124801117&site=ehost-live

&scope=site.

"Problems and Strengths of Single-Parent Families." ​Family in Society: Essential Primary

Sources​, edited by K. Lee Lerner, et al., Gale, 2006, pp. 9-12. ​Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints​,

https://link-gale-com.libproxy.elac.edu/apps/doc/CX2688300017/OVIC?u=mont93762&

sid=OVIC&xid=1e6350ac. Accessed 16 Apr. 2020.