Alternative Family Structures

In today's society, there are various alternatives from the typical family type. The top examples of these are lone-parent, cohabitation and reconstituted. But there are also some others such as same sex couples, single parent and multi-cultural families. There has been a decrease in the number of nuclear families in the UK and an increase in various other families such as single parent families. But the raise in single parent households has to do with the increase in divorce across the UK which means that more people are left having to support their children on their own unless they become a reconstituted family.

Today's nuclear family with mom, dad, 2.3 kids, and dog only came into being just after the Industrial Revolution (Swerdolow 15). This leads to the idea that perhaps the desengration of the nuclear family isn't necessarily a negative things, but more of a retirement of a one way of life in favor of a new one. Even if this is true, the current period of decline still spurns numerous problems and attempted solutions.

Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarksian have shed new light on the subject of minority families and their differences to the traditional nuclear families in their essay, “The Color of Family Ties.” According to their work, those of White descent make up most of all nuclear families which can be described as a father, mother and children all living in one household. Gerstel and Sarkasian point out that it is not always the case that, “Black and Latino/a, especially Puerto Rican families are more disorganized than White families, and that their families ties are weaker,” as they are often thought of by those in politics or the media (62). In fact Gerstel and Sarkasian write, “Blacks and Latinos/as, are as likely as

According Leo Gozich (2010), “the divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41 percent; the divorce rate in America for second marriage is 60 percent; the divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73 percent” (Para 3). The journal also states that 50 percent of all marriages are ending in divorce. This means that aleast half of all marriages are failing and ending in divorce. This is true to worldly and Christian marriages alike.

The rate of divorce rose sharply in the United States during the 1970s following the implementation of no-fault divorce laws in every state. In the last decade, the rate of divorce has stayed stable or diminished slightly. Most social scientists see this as a result, not of stronger marriages, but of the increased proportion of couples who choose to cohabit rather than marry. No record is kept of these relationships; neither their initiation nor their end is captured in official statistics. Race and social class both have a significant impact on the likelihood of choosing marriage over cohabitation, at least at the time when children enter the picture. Marriage rates continue relatively high among college-educated middle and upper middle class young white Americans, and are much lower among working-class Americans and among racial minorities (American Community Survey; The State of Our Unions).

The type of family structure I grew up in was very traditional and structured. The family was intact. Mom stayed home and dad went to work in order to make money to pay the bills. He was always the breadwinner, and mom was a stay-at-home mom who took care of the children and the house instead of working outside the home. Both parents were open minded, warm, and loving, but they were also authoritative and serious about taking care of the children, the house, and each other. Overall, it was a very effective way to raise a family, and is being passed along to future generations of my family in order to preserve tradition and show how things can work out very nicely for people who are interested in keeping to some of the older ways of raising a family. Both parents do not always have to work for there to be enough money to survive (Mattox, 1990). It is possible for the mother to stay home, and if she has a lot of children it might actually be less expensive than paying for daycare (Forbes, 2005).

Over the past few decades social scientists have been engaged debates about family change and influences in modern society, with one of the main themes being the strength and relevance of the nuclear family. Those who believe that the nuclear family unit is breaking down often site the fact that social structures holding up the nuclear family, such as marriage, are collapsing ‘The chances in some societies are now less that 50-50… that a child will live continuously to adult-hood with both natural parents’ (Popenoe 1999). Those on the opposite side believe that the concept of a nuclear family is a traditional and naturally occurring phenomenon that passes from generation to generation. Evidence exists on both sides of the debate leading to conclusion that while the nuclear family is not as prevailing in modern society as it was in the past but still holds a certain level of relevance.

Divorce has become increasingly common and bound to occur for couple in the 21st century. Roughly 41% of first marriages end in divorce, and when looking at second marriages the number rises to 60%, followed by 73% for third marriages. Clearly, if the conflicts in the first marriage couldn’t be resolved and one was to assume those conflicts would magically solve themselves, the research would prove whatever point one makes must be false. Most divorces occur in the 35-44 age group (31%), followed by 45-54 (27.5%), and 25-34 (23.6%). Divorce remains a fixture but a higher-educated, two earner family is much more likely to be stable. 12% of Americans have married twice before, and 3% married more than two times. Clearly, with supporting statistics, the dissolution of marriage results when the needs of the spouses diverge and can no longer be met in the way it would be desired. In summary, divorce has become increasingly common because of a changing society.

Nowadays, divorce rates are very high, but people still get married. David Popenoe and Barbara Whitehead state, “Marriage trends in recent decades indicate that Americans have become less likely to marry, and the most recent data show that the marriage rates in the United States continues to decline” (Popenoe and Whitehead 16). Now why could this be? Society as a whole has changed the landscape of what truly is happiness. Selfish, self-centered men and women would rather run into to arms of their mistress or lover instead of trying to figure out their problems. Worldly desires creep in and cause people to make unconscious decisions. Andrew J. Cherlin states that, “In a larger sense, the changing division of labor, cohabitation, and gay marriage are the result of long-term

-The average size of a household is getting smaller. The number of households made up of 5+ people has fallen by 14% (1971) to 7% (2002)

Also, Marriages in the US have decreased over time due to people not being satisfied with each other. Most of the time they rush into marriage and towards the end it doesn’t go well and end up in a divorce. The year of 2013 has rates of 6.8 marriages per 1,000 population, almost 50% has got divorced. Over time the number of marriages have decreased while the number of divorces have increased. To this day the numbers are still rising for divorce and not much marriages have been going on as stated in USA Today.

Divorce rates in America have reached a high of 40 to 50 percent. Arranged marriages in today’s era, even in

The old lesson about marriage that has been conveyed by guardians all around, two are more grounded than one, is currently catching up on against a 21st century reality. The rate of wedded families in the United States has tumbled to a notable low. Statistics

Marriage and cohabitation play a central role in family life. The way in which society views marriage and cohabitation is changing as individualism becomes an increasingly mainstream ideal. Marriage rates have decreased significantly on average over the past 60 years, but different groups show different rates of change. While each societal group has their views, the general trends are showing decreasing marriage rates in lower income individuals, and increasing marriage rates in higher income educated individuals. These rates are directly connected to racial-ethnic groups, which in turn lead to larger gaps in socioeconomic status.

Since during the end of 20th century, the most dramatic change in family life was the increase in the rate of divorce. In the midst of the 19thcentury, the rate of divorce is only about 5% for first marriages. In contrast, the current marriage data have estimate that about half of first marriages end up in divorce (US Census Bureau, 2010). These “increase in marital dissolution has had major impact for the atmospheres in which new generation of children are nurtured and socialized” (Schwartzhoff,