In the United States, the traditional family structure is considered a family support system involving two married individuals providing care and stability for their biological offspring. However, this two-parent, heterosexual, nuclear family has become less prevalent, and nontraditional family forms have become more common.Edwards, H.N. (1987). Changing family structure and youthful well-being. Journal of Family Issues 8, 355–372 The family is created at birth and establishes ties across generations.Beutler, Burr, Bahr, and Herrin (1989) p. 806; cited by Fine, Mark A. in Families in the United States: Their Current Status and Future Prospects Copyright 1992 Those generations, the extended family of aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins, can hold significant emotional and economic roles for the nuclear family.
Over time, the structure has had to adapt to very influential changes, including divorce and more single-parent families, teenage pregnancy and unwed mothers, same-sex marriage, and increased interest in adoption. Social movements such as the feminist movement and the stay-at-home father have contributed to the creation of alternative family forms, generating new versions of the American family.
At a glance
Nuclear family
The nuclear family has been considered the "traditional" family structure since the Soviet Union scare in the Cold War of the 1950s. The nuclear family consists of a mother, father, and the children. The two-parent nuclear family has become less prevalent, and pre-American and European family forms have become more common. Beginning in the 1970s in the United States, the structure of the "traditional" nuclear American family began to change. It was the women in the households that began to make this change. They decided to begin careers outside of the home and not live according to the male figures in their lives.
The nuclear family is also having fewer children than in the past. The percentage of nuclear-family households is approximately half what it was at its peak in the middle of the 20th century. The percentage of married-couple households with children under 18, but without other family members (such as grandparents), has declined to 23.5% of all households in 2000 from 25.6% in 1990, and from 45% in 1960. In November 2016, the Current Population Survey of the United States Census Bureau reported that 69 percent of children under the age of 18 lived with two parents, which was a decline from 88 percent in 1960.
Single parent
A single parent (also termed lone parent or sole parent) is a parent who cares for one or more children without the assistance of the other biological parent. Historically, single-parent families often resulted from death of a spouse, for instance in childbirth. This term is can be broken down into two types: sole parent and co-parent. A sole parent is managing all of the responsibilities of child-rearing on their own without financial or emotional assistance. A sole parent can be a product of abandonment or death of the other parent or can be a single adoption or artificial insemination. A co-parent is someone who still gets some type of assistance with the child/children. Single-parent homes are increasing as married couples divorce, or as unmarried couples have children. Although widely believed to be detrimental to the mental and physical well-being of a child, this type of household is tolerated.Benokraitis, N: Marriages & families, page 7. sixth edition, 2007
The percentage of single-parent households has doubled in the last three decades, but that percentage tripled between 1900 and 1950.Benokraitis, N: Marriages & families, page 18. sixth edition, 2007 The sense of marriage as a "permanent" institution has been weakened, allowing individuals to consider leaving marriages more readily than they may have in the past.Glenn, N.D. (1987). Continuity versus change, sanguineness versus concern: Views of the American family in the late 1980s. Journal of Family Issues 8, 348–354 Increasingly, single-parent families are due to out of wedlock births, especially those due to unintended pregnancy. From 1960 to 2016, the percentage of U.S. children under 18 living with one parent increased from 9 percent (8 percent with mothers, 1 percent with fathers) to 27 percent (23 percent with mothers, 4 percent with fathers).
Stepfamilies Stepfamilies are becoming more familiar in America. Divorce rates are rising and the remarriage rate is rising as well, therefore, bringing two families together making stepfamilies. Statistics show that there are 1,300 new stepfamilies forming every day. Over half of American families are remarried, that is 75% of marriages ending in divorce, remarry.Stewart, S.D. (2007). Brave New Stepfamilies. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Extended family
The extended family consists of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. In some circumstances, the extended family comes to live either with or in place of a member of the nuclear family. An example includes elderly parents who move in with their adult children due to old age. This places large demands on the caregivers.Brubaker, T.H. (1990). Continuity and change in later life families: Grandparenthood, couple relationships and family caregiving. Gerentology Review 3, 24–40
Historically, among certain Asian and Native American cultures, the family structure consisted of a grandmother and her children, especially daughters, who raised their own children together and shared child care responsibilities. Uncles, brothers, and other male relatives sometimes helped out. Romantic relationships between men and women were formed and dissolved with little impact on the children who remained in the mother's extended family.
History
Roles and relationships Married partners
A married couple was defined as a "husband and wife enumerated as members of the same household" by the U.S. Census Bureau,Teachman, Tedrow, Crowder. The Changing Demography of America's Families Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 62 (Nov 2000) p. 1234 but they will be categorizing same-sex couples as married couples if they are married. Same-sex couples who were married were previously recognized by the Census Bureau as unmarried partners. Same-sex marriage is legally permitted across the country since June 26, 2015, when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Polygamy is illegal throughout the U.S.
Although marriages of first cousins are illegal in many states, they are legal in many other states, the District of Columbia and some territories. Some states have some restrictions or exceptions for cousin marriages and/or recognize such marriages performed out-of-state. Since the 1940s, the United States marriage rate has decreased, whereas rates of divorce have increased.Teachman, Tedrow, Crowder. The Changing Demography of America's Families. Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 62 (Nov 2000) p. 1235
Unwed partners
Living as unwed partners is also known as cohabitation. The number of heterosexual unmarried couples in the United States has increased tenfold, from about 400,000 in 1960 to more than five million in 2005.Benokraitis, N: Marriages & families, page 271. sixth edition, 2007 This number would increase by at least another 594,000 if same-sex partners were included. Of all unmarried couples, about 1 in 9 (11.1% of all unmarried-partner households) are homosexual.
The cohabitation lifestyle is becoming more popular in today's generation.Benokraitis, N: Marriages & families, page 275. sixth edition, 2007 It is more convenient for couples not to get married because it can be cheaper and simpler. As divorce rates rise in society, the desire to get married is less attractive for couples uncertain of their long-term plans.
Parents
Parents can be either the biological mother or biological father, or the legal guardian for adopted children. Traditionally, mothers were responsible for raising the kids while the father was out providing financially for the family. The age group for parents ranges from teenage parents to grandparents who have decided to raise their grandchildren, with teenage pregnancies fluctuating based on race and culture.Benokraitis, N: Marriages & families, page 326. sixth edition, 2007 Older parents are financially established and generally have fewer problems raising children compared to their teenage counterparts.Benokraitis, N: Marriages & families, pp. 328–329. sixth edition, 2007 In 2013, the highest teenage birth rate was in Alabama, and the lowest in Wyoming.
Housewives
A housewife or "homemaker" is a married woman who is not employed outside the home to earn income, but stays at home and takes care of the home and children. This includes doing common chores such as cooking, washing, cleaning, etc. The roles of women working within the house have changed drastically as more women start to pursue careers. The amount of time women spend doing housework declined from 27 hours per week in 1965, to less than 16 hours in 1995, but it is still substantially more housework than their male partners.Benokraitis, N: Marriages & families, page 367. sixth edition, 2007
"Breadwinners"
A breadwinner is the main financial provider in the family. Historically husbands in opposite-sex couples have been breadwinners; that trend is changing as wives start to take advantage of the women's movement to gain financial independence for themselves. According to The New York Times, "In 2001, wives earned more than their spouses in almost a third of married households where the wife worked."
Stay-at-home dads
Stay-at-home dads or "househusbands" are fathers that do not participate in the workforce and stay at home to raise their children—the male equivalent to housewives. Stay-at-home dads are not as popular in American society.Benokraitis, N: Marriages & families, page 328. sixth edition, 2007 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "There are an estimated 105,000 'stay-at-home' dads. These are married fathers with children under fifteen years of age who are not in the workforce primarily so they can care for family members, while their wives work for a living outside the home. Stay-at-home dads care for 189,000 children."
Children
Only child families An only child (single child) is a child without siblings. Some evidence suggests that only children may perform better in school and in their careers than children with siblings.
Childfree and childlessness Childfree couples choose to not have children. These include young couples, who plan to have children later, as well as those who do not plan to have any children. Involuntary childlessness may be caused by infertility, medical problems, death of a child, or other factors.
Adopted children Adopted children are children that were given up at birth, abandoned or were unable to be cared for by their biological parents. They may have been put into foster care before finding their permanent residence. It is particularly hard for adopted children to get adopted from foster care: 50,000 children were adopted in 2001. The average age of these children was 7, which shows that fewer older children were adopted.
Modern family models Same-sex marriage, adoption, and child rearing