The Decrease of the Nuclear Family

In 1970, 40% of couples were married with children. 2013 marked a new low as only 19% of household were married with children. A nuclear family is usually described as a heterosexual marriage with the average of 2.5 children, became synonymous with the American dream philosophy in the mid-1940s. The nuclear family standard is rapidly on the decline in the United States. These declining number have a range of causes. The causes of the decline of the nuclear family are cohabitation, childfree couples, high divorces rates, and the introduction of LGBTQ families. The effects are increased self-fulfillment, serial monogamy, childhood psychological trauma and family diversity. Gay and lesbian marriages

Although marriage is a societal value, there has been a sharp increase in the instances of alternative family relationships, a phenomenon the law has been relatively quick to respond to. BOCSAR figures show that from 1987 to 2007, the number of married couples developed from 63% to 62%, which in the same period the number of de facto relationships (both heterosexual and homosexual) grew from 6% to 9%. As such, a new movement sources desire for

The nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of aheterosexual pair of adults; wife and husband, and their children. It can also be known as a ‘beanpole family’ and it can be, especially in middle-class families, child-centered; child-centered is defined as being actively involved by spending lots of time together as the child's needs and wishes are the most important thing.

I think the changes in family has to do with how families have changed to now recognize families of same sex couples. This is a huge leap from the 1950’s model of a nuclear family of husband, wife, and their children (New York University Department of Sociology, 2013). Society as a

Conventional nuclear families are no more drawn out the standard. Almost 50% of all marriages now end in divorce, and remarriages for one or both accomplices have dramatically increased since the 1980s. As indicated by a study, more than 2.5 million children live in stepfamilies. 33% of Americans are stepparents, stepchildren, stepsiblings, or some other individual from a stepfamily

Your average nuclear family is not as common anymore. You may disagree and say a nuclear family is the strongest however I am willing to bet that you will see that blood doesn’t make a family.

In the 1970’s the majority of children were raised within a nuclear family as this was seen as the norm in society. However in recent years many more children are being raised in different family forms throughout the UK for all sorts of reasons. One form is cohabiting couples, the number of cohabiting couples is expected to double to almost 4million by 2021 which is a massive increase as in 1986, the number was around 1million. Children may be raised within this family form due to the woman getting pregnant and her boyfriend wanting to create an almost perfect family so they live together but do not get married. Another reason may be because they feel as though marriage is not the right option but still agree to do the same as what married couples do such as raise children.

These numbers will only keep rising, especially with same-sex marriage being legal in every state. Not only is this because this ruling causes people do re-evaluate their views on same-sex couples, but because statistically more people will perceive a family if there is a marriage. After all, family has historically been defined as “married partners and children residing in a household”(Defining 1).

Nuclear family is described as then the traditional family structure which consist of two adult male and female that are legally married and have biological children together. The nuclear family was most popular in the 1950’s and 60’s. They tend to have stronger bonds because they work together and rely on one another to overcome challenges.in this family children observe their parent supportive and loving relationship, which help the children learn how to interact appropriately. Children in this family are well structure and generally have more opportunity due to financial easy and stability of two adults. Nuclear family tend to be hardier when faced with difficulty as they learn to how solve problems together and support each other emotionally.

Having said that, the divorce revolution has contributed to the drop in fertility. 68% of U.S. households don’t have children, and only 32% do. It is believed that the divorce revolution makes the statement that the happiness of parents is more important than that of children. People are no longer staying together merely for the sake of children. Children from divorced parents are likely to have failed relationships themselves, and when they anticipate divorce after marrying their chances of having children are reduced. The fertility issue is not a political issue. Many people believe there are moral reasons for the decrease in fertility but I believe it’s people’s personal decision to have less children. Europe has experienced a very high decrease in fertility and the United States is catching up because we’re an individualistic nation. We prioritize our happiness over marital duties or

As stated previously there are many definitions to what a nuclear family can mean to someone. To get a

Rising individualism and secularism are reflected prominently in this category. The former refers to the increasing importance of individual goal attainment over the past few centuries and the latter to the decline in religious adherence and involvement. A second set of factors may be marked as economic. This set ranges from broad conceptualizations of the massive social changes created by industrialization (Goode 1963) to narrower ones focusing on women’s changing roles in the labor market commitment shifts in values and attitudes about gender roles. More proximate and direct sources of cohabitation’s rise are also recognized; an important one being the “sexual revolution”. This revolution destroyed the main grounds for earlier disapproval of cohabitation (that unmarried persons were having sexual relations). Once this stigma was removed, cohabitation was free to escalate.

One of the most interesting concepts in the opening chapter The Nuclear Family is the insistence of society to continue to hold the traditional family structure in highest regard. It’s like the saying ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’. Even though most families are non- traditional we haven’t accepted it. It was a good point by Coontz(1997) to say that “holding on to these nostalgic ideas creates problems for contemporary families.” By hanging on to this notion that families aren’t good enough with a mommy and a daddy and three kids, I think really does delay the development of solid, clear, moral foundations for modern families. If these families are considered secondary and not as good in the first place then

Nuclear Family is a household consisting of father, mother and children. Four pros and cons of this type of family are as follows:

It seems readily evident from an examination of the nature and role of the family in the developing world that form may indeed follow function. Many sociological studies conducted in recent years have indicated that the nuclear family is found at both the primitive and modern stages of economic evolution. The nuclear family predominated