Over the past decades, the patterns of family structure have changed dramatically in the United States. The typical nuclear family, two married parents with children living together in one household, is no longer the structure of the majority of the families today. The percentage of single-parent families, step-families and adopted families has increased significantly over the years. The nuclear family is a thing of the past. Family situations have tremendous influence upon a child’s academic achievement, behavior and social growth. The present structure of the average family in America is changing, mainly due to the growing number of mothers who now work outside the home. The current mark of dual-earner families stands at 64 percent, …show more content…
Step-parent families are formed when one or both partners have separate children and marry. The formation of the step-parent family introduces a second authoritative figure into the household (Sweeney, 2007). Step-parent families offer more supervision and monitoring in the home as well as additional role model (Sweeney, 2007). In many cases, a step-parent can be an emotional release for parents who may be overwhelmed with raising the children, running the home and being the sole provider for the family. In many instances step-parent families have positive outcomes, but there are some negatives such as retention and socialization skills that children in these homes face. Researchers believe that step-parent families have some of the same outcomes as single parent families. Some researchers believe that children in step-parent families are at a greater risk than those children living in single parent homes. Children in step-parent families have a greater risk of “suicide attempts, developmental difficulties, early sexual behavior and having a premarital birth” (Sweeney, 2007). Step-parent families may consist of conflict due to resentment. The children of each partner may dislike or disrespect the step-parent because they feel the parent is attempting to take the place of the absent biological parent.
Although having two parents may be more beneficial for children, single parent families are becoming more common. A single-parent
In today’s world, families are dynamic and interdependent systems. The developmental processes of the children in the family are deeply affected by how the family system operates. However, a family’s structure does not determine whether it is a healthy family system or not. Today, families consist of single parents, stepparents, divorced parents, remarried parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They are all able to contribute to a healthy functioning family system by meeting each family member’s needs and encouraging positive communication (Jamiolkowski, 2008). Unhealthy family systems have negative and possibly
Single parent vs. two parent homes and the effect it has on their child’s viability, intimacy and conflict in their intimate relationships.
Did you know that one third of all children in the United States (US) are expected to live in a stepfamily before they reach the age of 18[helpguide.org 2008]? While some people consider blended families abnormal, they can be just as good as a “regular” family. With blended families becoming more common, there are more studies being done to show both the similarities and differences between “regular” and blended families.
By listing several strong evidences, two surveys from the National survey of Families and Households and a data “Education, Income, and Poverty Rates by Race” by the U.S. Census Bureau, Gerstel and Sarkisian hope to clear up misunderstandings of the myth of the nuclear families. The authors point out that it is important to “understand family strategies and behaviors that often emerge in response to the challenges living in economic deprivation or insecurity.”
The step family or blended family is becoming as common today as biological mother and father. Blended families are complicated and different ways of becoming blended families and living arrangements. Blended families are normally formed through marriages, often after divorce. The death of one parent can also lead to remarriage. (Jane: 1997)
American families have never been as diverse as they are today. There is a constant changing definition of what we call “family”. We as Americans are straying further and further from the idea of a classic nuclear family. One of the biggest reasons is a dramatic rise in kids living with a single parent. In 2014, just 14% of children younger than 18 lived with a stay-at-home mother and a working father who were in their first marriage (Livingston, 2015). This research will address in depth why households are now more diverse than ever, what’s the normal family now, and why aren’t the laws adjusting to how the average American family lives today.
Normally, when families are in the transitioning process to form a “blended family”, things sometimes do not go smoothly. It is understood that the important factors of step parenting are not easy to follow, but over the years, the unimaginable has happened in stepfamilies when the right avenue is taken. In the beginning, some children might not comply with the change. Sometimes, even the parents involved tend to become somewhat flustered during the process. The above stated family change can and will overall create a small amount of disagreement. The breakdown of what should happen should allow a smoother transition and less drama if followed carefully.
One of the most common trend in Canada is there are as many stepfamily parents as lone parents. Of the 9.3 million, 20-64-year-old parents- 9.7% were lone and 10.7% were stepparents. One of the outcomes of marital disintegration, when kids are included is that they may separate their time between their folks. This is a critical issue since it influences the family to arrange and the daily lives of the kids and grown-ups specifically or in a roundabout way included. Stepfamily parents were more likely than in place parents to have kids under 25 living at home low maintenance., 32% of guardians in stepfamilies had kids living at home piece of the time,
Past and present, children all over the world raised in a single parent household have been seen as “different”. Although it may seem hard to raise a kid all by yourself, in today’s society it has become a lot more common. In today’s world, kids grow up a lot more emotionally stable commonly, no matter having one or two parents to show them how to grow up and live a responsible, successful life. The situation that arises in most cases, presents a clear difference between children raised by two parents and those who are raised by a single parent. Do kids even need two parents in their life? Does the government give aid when the focus comes down to kids who need it, when they are raised by only one parent? When step-parents come into the picture,
When families "blend" to create stepfamilies, things rarely progress smoothly. We understand that these keys to effective stepparenting are not always easy to follow, but over the years, we've seen the unimaginable happen in stepfamilies when take the right avenue. Some children may resist changes, while parents can become frustrated when the new family doesn't function like their previous family. While changes to family structure require adjustment time for everyone involved, these guidelines can help blended families work out their growing pains and live together successfully.
“Single-parent families now constitute 30 percent of all families with minor children and are the most rapidly growing families in America” (as cited in Dowd, 1997). When people hear the term ‘single-parent’ they automatically think it means a person who is the legal guardian of a child or children. It is typical for a single-parent to be a woman, because the statistics on the proportion of the children who live with their mother is at 87 percent, while a small 13 percent live with their father (as cited in Dowd, 1997). Because of the diversity in household types, a common question has been asked several times. Which type is better? Raising a child in a single-parent household or a two-parent household?
The idyllic American family has changed drastically over the years. What once was a traditional father-mother-child household has turned to a single-parent-child dynamic. As far back as time goes we can see the nuclear family, where the father is the provider and protector of the family and the mother cares for the home and children. Throughout past decades the nuclear family has waned considerably as we watch government step in to protect and provide by means of local police or National Guard and programs like WIC or welfare, and women are enabled to find their independence. Statistically, the nuclear family is almost non-existent, in an article by Blanchard-Fields, Hertzog, Stein, and Pak it states, “The traditional family model—the husband as breadwinner and the wife as homemaker—makes up only 7% of the families in U.S. society.”
The reasons behind this was because they believed stable cogabitating couples were financially unstable, there is less parental involvement and less educated compared to stable marital families. The thought that step-families would have a negative educational adjustment becauase they have already had a disruption in their lives, and the authors believed step-parents are not as involved compared to biological parents. When it came to marital disruption the authors expected a lower engagement in school as well as a negative effect on perceived achievement compared to stable married families. When it came to cohabitation disruption effect the authors thought that children would have negative effects on their educational adjustment then children in stable cohabitating families. The union specific effect compared disruption of marital families to the disruption of cohabitating couples. They expected a negative effect on the childrens educational adjustment in the disruption of cohabitating couples. The reasoning behind this is the authors believed that men in stable cohabitating families more likely when splitting up will less likely be involved in the childs life compared to men who get divorced. The authors compared most of relationships to stable marital families and they expected a negative
In recent decades the family institution has undergone a dramatic transformation focusing on increased divorce rates, cohabitation rates, and the number of children raised in step and single marital families (Amato, 2000; Bumpass & Lu, 2000; Graefe & Lichter, 1999). Due to the increase of divorce rates children move more frequently and deal with additional family transitions throughout their childhood (Brown, 2006). As these changes slowly increase, about 40% of kids who are born to wedded, two-biological- parent families have a higher chance of parental divorce prior to reaching adulthood(Amato,2000). In addition, these children will likely experience a multitude of family disruptions and transitions as parents decide to remarry and progress with new partners. The family atmospheres during these times are incredibly detrimental to the growth and development of these children (Sun& Li, 2009). Research studies show that parental divorce can compromise educational success for their children. Children in two-parent families have noticeably higher test scores than children who are in single parent families and also had lower chances of graduating from high school (Sun & Li, 2001). One of the rationalizations for the academic difficulty in divorced
In 2016, cohabitation is increasingly more common amongst couples in the United States. Simultaneously, cohabitation is a family form that progressively includes children (Manning & Lamb, 2003). Additionally, marital status serves as an indicator of qualities and characteristics of the child’s family life. Existing literature specifies that children in cohabiting stepparent families fare worse than children living with two married, biological parents (Manning & Lamb, 2003). As cohabitation is occurring more commonly, it is essential to understand the positive and negative effects cohabitation maintains on the quality of family life. Moreover, this study will analyze the holistic effects cohabitation maintains on the stability of relationship.