nuclear family

A nuclear family.

The term nuclear family developed in the western world to distinguish the family group consisting of parents (usually a father and mother) and their children, from what is known as an extended family. Nuclear families can be any size, as long as the family can support itself and there are only parents and children (or the family is an extended family.) According to Merriam-Webster the term dates back to 1947 and is therefore relatively new, although nuclear family structures themselves are not.^[1][2] Generally, the trend to shift from extended to nuclear family structures has been supported by the spread of western values. Today roughly one quarter of households in the United States, for example, are described as consisting of nuclear families, making them the third most common household arrangement in the nation.^[3]

Varying usages of the term

In its most common usage, the term "nuclear family" refers to a household consisting of a father, a mother and their children (siblings).^[4] George Murdock also describes the term in this way:

The family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It contains adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.

Some also use the term to describe single-parent households and families in which the parents are a "non-conjugal" couple.

Extended family compared to nuclear family

Main article: Extended family

Around the world, the structure of family norms are different. Ideas of what constitute a family changes based on culture, mobility, wealth, and tradition. In many cultures, the need to be self-supporting is hard to meet, particularly where rents/property values are very high, and the foundation of a new household can be an obstacle to nuclear family formation instead of extended family forms (or people remaining single while living longer with their parents).

In India, legislation promoting the nuclear family has been decried as eroding the traditional Hindu joint family. [1]

Changes to family formation

Family arrangements in the US have become more diverse with no particular households arrangement being prevalent enough to be identified as the average.^[3]

Sociology studies families and their formation, attempting to detail the difference between families. The numerical decline of the nuclear family is highlighted by:

• Increase in sole occupancy dwellings and smaller family sizes
• Average age of marriage being older
• Average number of children decreasing and first birth at later age
• The historical pattern of fertility. From baby boom to baby bust (instability)
• The aging population. The trend towards greater life expectancy.
• Rising divorce rates and people who will never marry.^[5]

In The United States nuclear families now constitute a minority of households with rising prevalence of other family arrangement such as blended families, binuclear families, single-parent families. Today nuclear families constitute roughly 24.1% of households, compared to 40.3% in 1970.^[3] Roughly 75% of all children in the United States will spend at least some time in a single-parent household.

See also

• Complex family
• Extended family
• Human bonding
• Intentional community
• Kibbutzim and families

External links

• The Family from the Hewett School Sociology Department
• The Nuclear Family from Buzzle.com
• How the nuclear family became controversial from Townhall.com

References

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