Family in the United States

This is a sub-article to Family.

A Multigenerational Family

An American family comprised of the mother, father, children and grandparents.

The American family structure encompasses all aspects of daily and personal life in the United States beginning in one's childhood and education up through marriage and the procreation of future generations. As the United States grows more diverse and unique, it is important to note the changing (and possibly controversial) trends in the family system. Parents, grandparents, spouses, children, in-laws, and the like are all considered a part of the expanding structure of the family, and the roles and responsibilities traditionally assigned to each are the basis for the traditional American structure. However, more contemporary ideas are being introduced such as same-sex parenting and single-parent adoption, generating important structural changes that can produce many sociological and economic effects on both the individual and the nation as a whole.

Family at a Glance

Nuclear family

Usually the nuclear family is thought of as the traditional family. The nuclear family consists of a mother, father, and the children. The nuclear family is evolving into different family structures, such as same sex parents, single parents, and adopting parents. The percentage of married-couple households with children under 18 has declined to 23.5 percent of all households in 2000 from 25.6 percent in 1990, and from 45 percent in 1960.

Single-parent

A single-parent (also termed lone parent and sole parent) is a parent who cares for one or more children without the assistance of their mate in the home. Single-parent homes are increasing more and more as married couples divorce, which produces rising trend in divorce rates. The percentage of single-parent households has doubled in the last three decades, but that percentage tripled between 1900 and 1950.

Extended family

The extended family consists of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. In some circumstances, the extended family comes to live either with or in place of a member of the nuclear family. Extended family are just as vital caregivers as the traditional mother/father team.

Roles and Relationships

Partners

Partners are people who are not married but live together, and can also be parents if they have children of their own. Living as partners is also known as cohabitation. The number of heterosexual unmarried couples in the United States has increased tenfold—from about 0.4 million in 1960 to more than five million in 2005. This number would increase by at least another 594,000 if we include same sex partners. Of all unmarried couples, about 1 in 9 (11 percent of all unmarried-partner households) are gay men or lesbians. The cohabitation lifestyle is becoming more popular in today's generation. It is more convenient for couples not to get married because it can be cheaper and simpler. As divorce rates rise in society, the desire to get married is less attractive for couples uncertain of their long-term plans.

Parents

Parents can be either the biological mother or biological father, or termed Guardians for adopted children. Traditionally, mothers were responsible for raising the kids while the father was out providing financially for the family. The age group for parents ranges from teenage parents to older parents, with teenage pregnancies fluctuating yearly. Older parents are financially established and generally have fewer problems raising children compared to their teenage counterparts.

Housewives

A housewife is a married lady who does not work outside of the home but generally stays and takes care of the house and the kids. This includes doing the cooking, washing, cleaning, etc. The roles of women working within the house has changed drastically as more women start to pursue careers outside of the home. According to Nijole V. Benokraitis, "The amount of time women spend doing housework declined from 27 hours per week in 1965 to less than 16 hours in 1995."

"Breadwinners"

A breadwinner is the main financial provider in the family. Usually the husband is the breadwinner in most families, however that seems to be changing as wives start to take over the role of being the breadwinner in the family. According to the New York Times, "In 2001, for example, wives earned more than their spouses in almost a third of married households where the wife worked."

Stay-at-home dads

Stay-at-home dads are fathers that stay-at-home and raise their children—the male equivalent to housewives. Stay-at-home dads aren't as popular in American society. According to US Census Bureau, "There are an estimated 105,000 “stay-at-home” dads. These are married fathers with children under 15 who are not in the labor force primarily so they can care for family members while their wives work outside the home. Stay-at-home dads care for 189,000 children."

Children

Only child families

Children that come from only child families have the stereotype of being spoiled, self-centered, and selfish. However, only children seem to do excel higher in school and careers than children with siblings. Famous only children who have been successful in various fields are Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Elvis Presley, and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Adopted children

Adopted children are kids that were abandoned or unable to be cared for by their biological parents and put into foster care or temporary family before finding their permanent residence. It is particularly hard for adopted children to get adopted from foster care: "According to the AFCARS Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 50,000 children were adopted from foster care in 2001. 59% of these children were adopted by their foster parents, 23 % by relatives, and 17% from non-relatives. The average age of these children was 7 years old."

Contemporary Views

Same-sex parents

Same-sex parents are gay or lesbian couples that choose to raise children. According to Nijole V. Benokraitis, "Nationally, 33 percent of female same-sex couples and 22 percent of male same-sex couples live with children under 18 years old." Children with same-sex parents usually deal with discrimination by their peers and there is always the potential for gender confusion as they mature, but same-sex couples provide quality care just like their heterosexual counterparts.

Single-parent households

Single-parent homes in America are starting to become more common in today's society. With more children being born to unmarried couples and to couples whose marriages subsequently dissolve, children increasingly live with only one parent. According to Nijole V. Benokraitis, "The proportion of children living with a never-married parent has also grown, from 4 percent in 1960 to 42 percent in 2001. Of all one parent families, 83 percent are mother-child families."

Controversy

Adoption requirements

The adoption requirements and policies for adopting children have made it harder for foster families and potential adoptive families to adopt kids. Before a family can adopt they must go through state, county, and agency criteria. Adoption agencies' criteria express the importance of age of the adoptive parents, as well as the agency's desire for married couples over single adopters. Adoptive parents also have to deal with criteria that is given by the birth parents of the adopting child. The different criteria for adopting children makes it harder for couples to adopt children in need. However, it can be good to place strict requirements to help protect the foster children from unqualified couples.

Incest

Incest is when close relatives begin having sexual relationships. Incest taboos, defined as prohibitions on sexual relations between individuals socially classified as relations, are nearly universal. The most dramatic exceptions to incest taboos are found in certain royal dynasties (Eygpt, Hawaii), where inbreeding (brother-sister) was enforced in order to keep the purity of the royal line, as well as in Ptolemac and Roman Egpyt where father-daughter and brother-sister sexual relations were relatively common.

Male/Female role pressures

The male social role is designed to reward masculine men, while the female social role offers its relative advantages only to feminine women. (The aggressive man will run the bigger business; the pretty, agreeable woman will find the richer husband.) In other words, masculinity and femininity are gender qualities which are developed in response to social discrimination. However, once they have been developed, they justify and cement it. The masculine and feminine gender roles mutually reinforce each other and thereby perpetuate the inequality on which they are based.

Media

TV families

The television industry has helped create a certain image of a Nuclear family in American soicety. During the era of the baby boomers, families grew popular in society especially on television. Family shows such as "The Cosby Show", "Married with Children", "The Jeffersons", and "Good Times" have portrayed different social classes of families growing up in America. The perfect nuclear families that are shown on tv have changed as the years passed and have become more realistic with showing single-parent families, divorced families, and people that are older and single. Television shows that are now in today's society that deal with single-parent families are "Half & Half", " One on One (TV series)", "Murphy Brown", and the "Gilmore Girls". Television shows that are becoming more popular tend to focus more on single life. For example "Sex and the City" illustrates the relationship between a bunch of friends.

External links

• http://singleparents.about.com/od/legalissues/p/portrait.htm
• http://www.ncsl.org/IssuesResearch/HumanServices/SameSexMarriage/tabid/16430/Default.aspx
• http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/eischens2.html
• http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/statistics/adoption.cfm