Family types and non-family households

Question 1

Nuclear family

Answer 1

• consists of a mother father and dependent children
• The most common type of family is the nuclear family. (ONS 2013) However, it is the only family type to decrease since 1996
  In UK we come to expect that sexual activity, childbearing, maintenance and support of children and socialisation will all be focused upon the institution of the nuclear family (Tony Bilton 1981)
  The nuclear family is a universal social grouping (George Peter Murdock 1949)
• most people at some point in their lives will be part of a nuclear family.

Question 2

Extended family

Answer 2

• An extended family includes kin beyond the nuclear family.
• A vertically extended family contains 3 or more generations whereas, a horizontally extended family includes members from the same generation e.g aunts and uncles
• Less than 1% of households are multi-family (ONS 2013)
• strongest in working-class families
• in 1993 Finch and Mason found that 90% of those researched had given or received financial help from their extended family and that women were more actively involved with the extended family.

Question 3

Beanpole family

Answer 3

• A multi-generational family with few aunts and uncles. Due to long life expectancy and less births.
• The beanpole family is the outcome of a national ‘pruning of the tree’. (ONS 2003)

Question 4

Same-sex family

Answer 4

• A same-sex couple with or without children
• Same-sex families are still a minority. In 2013, there was 8,000 civil partnerships and 5,000 co-habiting couples.
• in 2002 the adoption and children act allowed unmarried couples in England and Wales, including same sex partnerships to apply for adoption jointly.
• civil partnerships 2004 came into force in December 2005 and allowed gay couples to have legal recognition. this gave them equal treatment to married couples.

Question 5

Single parent family

Answer 5

• A divorced/ single parent with one or more children
• have tripled since the 1970’s
• 7% of families in the Millenium Cohort study remained alone for the whole 5 years, but 3.9% went from lone parenthood to cohabitation and 1.9% went from lone parenthood to marriage (Panico et al 2010)
• 25% of all families with dependent children are single parent families
• 90% of all single parent families are headed by females
• most single parents now are the result of divorce and women not marrying

Question 6

Reconstituted family

Answer 6

• family made up of an adult couple, married or unmarried living with at least one child from a previous relationship of one of the partners.
• can also be known as a step or blended family.
• In 2011, there was 544,000 reconstituted families. 11.% of couple families with dependant children are reconstituted. Men are increasingly likely to live with other men’s children while their own children grow up elsewhere (Grant 2006).

Question 7

Lone-person family

Answer 7

• someone who lives by themself
• 3 in 10 households contain one single person
• Some people have adopted creative singlehood to describe how some people choose to remain single.
  Many single people found a freedom in being single and choose to focus on their careers than a long-term relationship. (Hall et al 1999)

Question 8

Dispersed extended family

Answer 8

• Kin do not live together in the same household and nuclear families are the main living unit.
• We are going through a process of individualisation (Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim 1995)

Question 9

Non-family household

Answer 9

• Households not made up of a family.

- In 2013, there were 7.8 million single-person households and 8,000,000 households containing two unrelated adults

Question 10

Living Apart-together

Answer 10

• Individuals who live alone but are in regular contact with their partner or children.
• LATS are a newly emerging type of family which allow individuals to enjoy the intimacy of being part of a couple with the autonomy of living alone. (Levin 2004) However for many, living apart together is a prelude to cohabitation and possibly marriage. (Haskey and Lewis 2006)

Question 11

Symmetrical family

Answer 11

• The symmetrical family is where a family divides all responsibilities equally between partners. This was created and theorised by Willmott and Young (1970) as one of the phases the modern family has shifted into.

Question 12

Individualisation

Answer 12

• Individualisation is the idea people are becoming more independent and moving away from their families to develop their individual identity.
• In late modernity there has been a transformation of intimacy. Individuals no longer seek the kind of love associated with traditional marriage, based on the idea of lifelong commitment to a partner. (Anthony Giddens 1992)

Question 13

Family diversity

Answer 13

• The fact there is different kinds of families in society.