Families and Households - Family Structures Flashcards
Name 8 types of family structure
- Nuclear Famaily
- Extended Family
- Cohabitation
- Same Sex Couples
- Lone-parent family
- Singledom
- Beanpole families
- Reconstituted families
Define a nuclear family.
A household consisting of a mother, a father and their children.
What are the three reasons for the decrease in nuclear families?
- Marriage is lower/divorce is higher
- Less stigma
- Women’s increased independence
Marriage rate in 1972 and 2012
More than 400,000 in 1972, only 250,000 in 2012.
Number of divorces in 1961 and 2012
Around 20,000 in 1961, 118,000 in 2012
How has secularisation made the nuclear family rarer?
Secularisation has resulted in less stigma towards divorce and singledom and, as such, a downward trend in the nuclear family
What do Mitchel and Goody (1967) believe the main cause of the trend in divorces is?
Decrease in stigma
Give two examples of legislation that has increased women’s independence in society.
- The Equal Pay Act
- The Sex Discrimination Act
How have changes in education led to greater independence for women?
The greater focus on coursework benefits young girls so they do better in school and are more able to become financially independent from men.
Define an extended family
A family which extends beyond the nuclear family, to include grandparents, piblings, and cousins.
What are three reasons for the increase in extended families?
- Cost of living crisis
- Longer life expectancy
- Migration
Explain how the cost of living crisis increased extended families, giving numbers.
People can no longer pay for houses (65x in 1970) so are more likely to live with their parents even when they have kids. Alternately, many parents have to move in with their children because they cannot afford residential care (>1k weekly).
Life expectancies in 1900 and 2013.
1900: 55 years old
2013: 94 years old
How does increased life expectancy increase extended families?
Grandparents are more likely to be alive for a decent amount of the same time as grandkids so are more likely to form extended families.
How many people migrated to the UK in 2014?
260,000