Marriages and Families, 8e

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Marriages and Families, 8e

• Lamanna
• Riedman

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Chapter 1, Family Commitments Making Choices in
a Changing Society

• Defining Family
• Facts about Families in the U.S. Today
• The Freedom and the Pressure of Choosing
• Making Choices
• A Family of Individuals
• Marriages and Families Four Themes

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Defining Family

• Law and Science
• People related by blood, marriage or adoption.
• U.S. Census Bureau
• Two or more persons who share a household and who
  are related by blood, marriage or adoption.

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Families in 1950

• Idealized family
• home-maker wife
• bread-winner father
• two or more children
• Today, 7 of families fit the 1950s ideal

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Modern Families

• Most common household married couples without
  children.
• 1/3 of households include children under 18.
• Less than 1/4 of households are nuclear families
  of husband, wife and children.

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American Households, 2000

• 28.2 - married couples without children
• 23.5 - married couples with children under 18.
• 7.2 - female headed single parent families
• 2.1 - male headed single parent families
• 5.2 - unmarried couple households
• 25.8 - people living alone

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Facts About U.S. Families Today

• Fewer people are currently married.
• People are postponing marriage.
• Cohabitation has emerged as a likely intermediate
  between marriage andsinglehood.

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Facts About U.S. Families Today

• There are more single parent households than 10
  years ago.
• Some cohabitants maintain gay and lesbian
  domestic partners.
• Many adult children live with their parents.

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Facts About U.S. Families Today

• Parenthood is increasingly postponed.
• Most parents are working parents.
• More births are to unmarried mothers than in the
  past.

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Facts About U.S. Families Today

• Divorce rates have stabilized, but remain high.
• Most children live in two parent households.
• Children are more likely to live with a
  grandparent today than in 1970.
• Children are more likely than the general
  population or elderly to live in poverty.

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Making Choices Knowledgeably

• Recognizing as many options or alternatives as
  possible.
• Recognizing the social pressures that influence
  personal choices.
• Clarifying ones own values.
• Choosing knowledgably