Nontraditional Family Research Paper

The most distinctive trait of American family life, then the trait that differentiates it from family life in other western countries, is sheer movement: frequent transitions, shorter relationships. Americans step on and off the carousel of intimate partnerships (marriages and cohabiting relationships) more often. Whether an American parent is married or cohabiting or raising children without a partner, she or he is more likely to change living arrangements in the near future than are parents in the rest of the western world. It is consequential and we should be concerned about it, both as parents and as a nation, because it may increase children’s behavioral and emotional problems. Simply pu, some children seem to have difficulty adjusting to a series of parents and parents’ partners moving in and out of their home. It is not just parental divorces and breakups that are hard for children. Even transitions that bring a new partner or stepparent into the home can be difficult to cope with. Children whose parents have remarried do not have higher levels of well-being than children in lone-parent (a parent who is neither married nor living with a partner) families, despite the addition of a second parent. One reason is that new

Using the 2003 National Survey of Children’s health, researchers were able to deduce the health differences between different types of families. In terms of physical health, most families produce children with excellent physical health. There is only a small margin of change between different types of families. However, mental health and special needs are drastically higher among non-traditional families than traditional families. Problems with emotional and behavioral control rise from five percent in traditional families to fourteen percent in blended step-families. Children from these families also experience poorer dental health. Bad health not only affects the way a child feels and operates, but it can also affect them later on in life. Many companies that would employ a high school dropout do not offer health insurance. Since a percentage of people from non-traditional families experience bad health, they are more likely to get turned down when they apply for life insurance. A lack of health insurance can prevent people from getting specific medications they may need to treat some of their health problems. Non-traditional families are ultimately responsible for poor health in their

In 2002, number of children living with their single parent was 16.5 million (Davidson). The most important thing is that each single-parent family is different from the other. Children who live with a widowed mother will definitely be living a different home life from children with divorced parents or the one whose parents were never married. Children of the parents who were divorced will always have some kind of relationship with parents and parents’ partners. But it is obvious that children from single-parent families face tougher times economically as well as

With the large and growing number of divorce rates, research is now discussing the effects it has on the children of divorced parents. Now divorce does not just impact the individuals going through it, but their children as well. Not only do children have to live with one or the other parent, have shared custody, or various other living arrangements that may change, but their entire life that they knew changes. Research is

The rapid epidemic of divorce in the United States within the last 20 years has affected more than one half of the families in the United States. In the past, we have viewed divorce as a short term crisis and not as a longitudinal view of the effects divorce might bring. Divorce does affect children. However, it is not the divorce that is the problem; it is the ongoing conflict between the parents and the child’s coping mechanisms in their own stages of development. Counseling, family therapy, and also having a divorce mediation are all successful ways of coping with the family.

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.

However, this is not the reality of our times. McConville (2013) states 41-50% of first marriages end in divorce in the United States. The affect the divorce has on the child is dictated by how the parents maneuver through the transition. Potter (2010) states that elementary and high school students both display poorer psychosocial well-being versus children from non-divorced families (pg. 933). Adolescents face many struggles and challenges throughout this developmental stage. Being a child of divorced parents can heighten stress and anxiety leading to depressive symptoms. To avoid and or decrease this instance, adolescents affected by divorce can benefit heavily through group counseling with others facing identical

Abuse in today’s society can be broken down into numerous sections and types, those in which, people around the world experience it. Such forms include, but are not limited to, drug abuse, discrimination, physical and verbal abuse, and sexual abuse. Many of the aforementioned changes people’s outlook on life; however, personally, I have observed my friend’s sexual abuse, changing my view of perfect families. When all's said and done, individuals can only move forward in life, trusting that there will be a better day even after relationships have been torn apart.

I was raised to believe that family is the most important aspect of life, and that family should stand up for one another. I took this a step father and said that friends are part of the family to. I was raised by a veteran and a mother who's side has family problems. Both of them raised me to stand up for my sisters as if no one ever would.

This article is useful as it recognizes the rise of single-parent families and the decline in two-parent families. Nuclear families are less common today and many children are living with cohabiting parents. Similar to the other articles, this article points out the decline of two parent families being that the number of divorce, remarriage and cohabitation rates are increasing. What was considered to be “traditional family” has been replaced with the number of children living with cohabiting or single parents. Children who are living in a nuclear family are also likely to experience different family arrangement due to the increase in divorce. This article analyzes the changes in American families and the statistics in regards to those changes

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

One of the most emotional times in a child’s life is the divorce experience of their parents. Difficult as it may be, a divorce can become even more devastating to the children involved, when parents become angry, resentful, peevish, and distasteful. In most cases, it is laborious for parents to have a good relationship after a divorce, after all if they had a good relationship they probably would not be getting a divorce. Each year about one million children will experience parental divorce (Haimi & Lerner, 2016; Gaydos, Schweiterman, & Zimmer, 1999, Barth 2016). With divorce rates continuously rising, divorcees with children must find ways to co-parent positively and effectively. The strongest predictor of child resiliency

Each and every day a child somewhere in the world is experiencing major changes within their family. One of those major changes is divorce or separation of parents. Divorce is “the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage”(Webster, 2011 p1). Today’s reality shows that couples only have one in two odds of remaining together. “ The U.S. Census bureau – involved in research about counseling children of divorce- estimating that approximately 50% of all American children born in 1982 lived in a single-parent homes sometime during their first 18 years. Mostly are due to divorce”(Children of Divorce, 2008 p.1). The rapid increase in divorce rates is a factor that has contributed to the large decline of the typical family. “Over 1

According to 2012 U.S. Census Bureau information, the number of children raised in single-parent households continues to rise. Children with two parents in the home, earning two incomes, tend to have better financial and educational advantages. The effects of a single-parent home on a child’s behavior can be far-reaching and impact several areas of life in a negative or positive way. In the United States, the effects of single-parent family life on children fall into two categories: (1) those attributed to the lower socioeconomic status of single parents and (2) the short-term consequences of divorce that moderate over time. Four factors are predictive of U.S. children's adjustment to the divorce of their parents: the passage of time, the quality of the children's relationship with their parent, the level of conflict between parents, and the economic standing of the children's family. In the first few years after a divorce, the children have higher rates of antisocial behavior, aggression, anxiety, and school problems than children in two-parent families. However, some of these problems may be credited to a decrease in available resources and adult supervision; many of the adverse effects disappear when there is adequate supervision, income, and stability in social networks.

Although both societies established their own belief on ideology, ethics, and traditions. Nevertheless, a traditional society’s foundation built on the extended family with each family considers as the welfare state. Consequently, the family is completely responsible for their well-being and offspring’s success. Conversely, the government is exclusively responsible for many of the services in modern society. Therefore, the success of the individual solely depends on the person rather than their families. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the important distinction between traditional and modern society. Furthermore, this paper will demonstrate the different beliefs held by each society and show many distinct comparisons between the two societies, along with the writer’s sympathetic perspective against tradition or modernity in light of the foregoing.