Critical Thinking Discussion Board Week 1

Diversity in Family Structures

Chapter 2

Outline

Introduction of Intimacy and

Family

Changing Patterns of

Intimate Relationships

Various Family Structures in Modern U.S.

Debates about Family & Marriage

Introduction to Family Theories

Polls on Blackboard: definition of family is there a onesize fits all?

Definition of Family/A Household

• Family is a group united by marriage or cohabitation, blood, and/or adoption in order to satisfy intimacy needs and/or bear and socialize children.

• Satisfying intimacy needs and rearing children always take place in a social context.

Types of Households in the United States, 2023

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). Current population survey: Annual social and economic supplement.

https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2023/demo/families/cps-2023.html

Nuclear Family • The so-called “typical” or ”traditional”

family: • The nuclear family consists of a

father, a mother, and their biological or adopted children.

• In the truest sense of the definition, nuclear families consist of first-time married parents, their biological or adopted children, and no other family members living in the home.

Percentage Distribution of Children by Family Type: U.S., 2022 Source: Institute for Family Studies. (2024). The resurgence of the two parent family. https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-resurgence-of-the-two-parent-family

Cohabiting Families

• Unmarried partners who live together in a single household are referred to as cohabiting couples.

• The U.S. Census Bureau today estimates that 10 percent of all adults in the United States are cohabiting (Marino, 2022).

• Although once considered a scandalous, uncommon alternative lifestyle, cohabiting before marriage (or instead of marriage) is now the prevailing living arrangement of intimate partners—the next step following serious dating (Nugent & Daugherty, 2018; Reynolds & Brown, 2020).

Single-Parent Families

Single-parent family types can be the result of the choice of the parent or of circumstance; they can result from divorce, the death of a spouse, or unmarried parenthood.

In the United States, the rate of children under the age of 18 who live with only one parent is more than three times the rate of children around the world (Institute for Family Studies, 2019; U.S. Census Bureau, 2023e).

Stepfamilies

• Census experts today estimate that one in three Americans—about 33 percent—is now either a stepparent, a stepchild, a stepsibling, or some other member of a stepfamily (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023b).

• A stepfamily is formed when, after death or divorce, a parent marries again.

• A stepfamily is also formed when a never- married parent marries and children from different biological families end up living with the new married couple for part of the time.

Extended/ Multigenerational Family

• typically defined as a family unit in which two or more generations of close family relatives live together in one household.

Childless/Childfree Families

• Couples may consider themselves childless if they are unable to conceive or bear children of their own or adopt children.

• Some couples today prefer to remain childfree as a conscious choice.

• Childlessness is not new…