Family Trends and Patterns

Question 1

What are some reasons for the decline in marriage?

AO1

Answer 1

• Changing attitudes: there are more acceptable alternative living arrangements e.g. cohabitation. We now have greater choice in living arrangements and relationship status
• Secularisation: marriage is no longer seen as sacred - only 18.7% of marriages are religious (as of 2019). Wilson found that church attendance was at an all time low of 5% in 2015
• Decline in stigma: in 1989 70% of people believed couples who want children should get married, this was only 42% by 2012
• Changes in the position of women: women are more career orientated rather than focusing on starting families e.g. Sharpe’s ‘Just Like a Girl’ study
• Fear of divorce: people have lost faith in the institution of marriage - marriage is no longer permanent due to the accessibility of divorce e.g. Beck - ‘Risk Society’

Question 2

How can we analyse the causes for changes in marriage patterns?

AO3

Answer 2

RELEVANT:
- 42% of marriages in the UK end in divorce
- Policies like the Equality Act and Gender Pay Act encourage women in the workplace over in the home
- Cohabitation is on the rise

NOT RELEVANT:
- Islam is the fastest growing religion - secularisation is not widespread
- Decline in stigma is not true for all groups - many ethnicities and religions still prioritise marriage without divorce e.g. South Asian

Question 3

What are some reasons for the increase in reconstituted families?

AO1

Answer 3

• Changes in attitudes
• Female independence
• Secularisation - marriage is no longer seen as sacred
• Rising divorce rates - natural byproduct of higher amounts of divorcees
• Fletcher: rising notion of romantic love - people are more willing to enter and leave relationships in search for their true love

Question 4

What do Ferri and Smith say about reconstituted families?

(potential issues of living in a reconstituted family pt1)

AO1

Answer 4

• Step families are very similar to first families in terms of structure e.g. childcare support practices
• Reconstituted families are more likely to experience poverty - may be due to costly divorce or having to finance 2 families

Question 5

What did Allan and Crow say about reconstituted families?

(potential issues of living in a reconstituted family pt2)

AO1

Answer 5

Reconstituted families face more conflict and problems - may be due to conflicting parenting styles or habitus

Question 6

How can we evaluate issues of living in a reconstituted family?

AO3

Answer 6

Ribbens and McCarthy et al: there is diversity amongst reconstituted families - they are not a monolith and the various types of reconstituted families should be acknowledged

Question 7

What are some reasons for the changes in patterns of childbearing?

AO1

Answer 7

• Changing position of women: women are now more career orientated and won’t have kids if they feel like it would hinder their career progression e.g. Sharpe’s Just Like a Girl study found that girl’s priorities and aspirations have shifted
• Children are an economic liability whereas in the past they were an economic asset as they could work. Hirsch estimated that each child costs nearly £154,000 for parents until the age of 18
• Changes in attitudes: we are now in a child centric society - people value stability and being able to provide their child with a good environment before having kids.
• Beck and Gernshein - there is growing individualisation - people won’t have kids if it’s not to their benefit

Question 8

How can we analyse the reasons for changes in childbearing patterns?

AO3

Answer 8

• 72% of women work now
• Current cost of living crisis - children are now more of an economic liability than ever
• Hakim - voluntary childlessness support growing individualisation

Question 9

What is divorce?

Answer 9

The legal dissolution of a marriage contract by court

Question 10

What changes in law have impacted divorce?

AO1

Answer 10

• Equalising grounds 1923 - wives now had equal grounds of divorce on which they could apply for
• 1949 Legal Aid made divorce cheaper and so more accessible as it would be paid for by the state
• 1969 Divorce Reform Act - allowed divorce on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown

Question 11

What are the reasons for the rise in divorce rate?

AO1

Answer 11

• Changing attitudes: divorce is more normalised as seen as a viable option Mitchell and Goody claim that there has been a decline in stigma since the 1960s
• Secularisation: people don’t see it as a sin anymore as they don’t follow a religion - Wilson found that church attendance is only at 5%
• Fletcher: rising expectations of marriage - people are less willing to tolerate unhappy marriage - romantic love is prioritised so if the love dies then so does the marriage
• Hochschild - women are aware of the triple shift and are fustrated by it and so are more likely to divorce
• Beck and Giddens: individualisation thesis - traditional values have declined as people are now free to pursue self interest - now seek pure relationships instead of staying in unhappy ones
• Women’s increased financial independence - women are more likely to be in paid work - 53% in 1971 to 72% in 2022

Question 12

How can we analyse the causes for increased divorce rate?

AO3

Answer 12

• Still heavily stigmatised in some cultures and religions
• Modern churches have softened their stance on divorce - religious people get them too so secularisation is not the cause
• Allan and Crow support Fletcher as they argue that love is now the cornerstone of marriage
• Dennie also supports Fletcher claiming that western style marriages are vulnerable as they are only held together by emotional ties
• Bernard supports Hochschild as he found that 65% of divorces are petioned for by women
• Individualisation thesis is not relevant to all cultures e.g. arranged marriages are still used
• Laws like Equal Pay Act and Equality Act make women being financially dependent more relevant

Question 13

According to Gibson, what are the consequences of divorce?

(lone parent)

AO1

Answer 13

Divorce is associated with single parenthood.
1. Economic strain - divorce is expensive, now have to support children on single income
2. Lack of socialisation - typically leaves a female lone parent - lack of male role model for sons increases likelihood of criminality
3. Emotional trauma -no contact with one parent can make it harder to cope, entering a step family can cause more problems to arise
4. Loss of childhood

Question 14

How can we analyse Gibson?

AO3

Answer 14

In line with the New Right’s view of broken families breeding a welfare reliant underclass that enage in deviance

Question 15

How can we evaluate negative consequences of divorce?

AO3

Answer 15

• Feminists - allows women to be liberated from abusive relationships
• Morgan - divorce means different things to different people
• Smart - divorce has become normalised and family life can adapt to it

Question 16

What is cohabitation?

Answer 16

When a couple live together in one household but are not legally married

Question 17

What are the 3 main reasons why people cohabit?

AO1

Answer 17

1. Temporary and informal arrangement: spending a lot of time together and sharing accommodation but seen as a casual relationship
2. Alternative to marriage: long term stable and committed partnership but without legal committments or the patriarchal dimensions associated with marriage
3. Trial marriage: trial run before marriage to test the relationship - 80% of marriages are preceeded by cohabitation

Question 18

What are the reasons for the increase in cohabitation?

AO2

Answer 18

• Changes in attitudes: in 1989 only 44% of people agreed that premarital sex is not wrong, this was the majority view (65%) in 2012
• Generational difference: younger people are more risk conscious as divorce is more of a possibility
• Female independence: women no longer have to marry a man to be financially supported, women also want more control over their finances
• Secularisation: people don’t see it as a sin anymore to be in a relationship and have kids with someone you are not married to. Wilson found that church attendance is only at 5%

Question 19

How can we analyse the reasons for the increase in cohabitation?

AO3

Answer 19

• Being in a relationship with and starting with a family you’re not married to is now normalised by the media e.g. BBC show ‘Marrying Mum and Dad’
• Divorce rates have increased
• Laws like Equal Pay Act and Equality Act make women being financially dependent relevant
• Christianity is not the only religion, Islam is the fastest growing and cohabitation is still forbidden

Question 20

What is a strength of cohabitation according to Bejin?

AO3

Answer 20

• Rise in cohabitating couples amoungst youth represents a more conscious effort in their relationship
• Cohabitation over marriage allows people to negotiate their roles - found that cohabitating couples were less patriarchal than conventional households

Question 21

What is a strength of cohabitation for Shelton and John?

AO3

Answer 21

Women who live in cohabiting households do less housework than those who are married - less patriarchal

Question 22

How could we analyse Shelton and John and Bejin?

AO3

Answer 22

Not relevant to all cultures e.g. South Asian couples are still likely to have patriarchal conjugal roles

Question 23

What is an advantage of cohabitation to Barlow and Duncan?

AO3

Answer 23

• Many cohabit as it is too expensive to have the ‘ideal’, lavish marriage promoted today
• Many cohabit to delay marriage in order to save money for dream wedding

Question 24

What evidence suggests that cohabitation is not an alternative to marriage?

AO3

Answer 24

• Chester: cohabitation is just an early stage of marriage - has become part of the process rather than an alternative
• Coast: 75% of cohabitating couples say they expect to marry each other
• Cohabitating couples don’t have the same rights as married couples e.g. inherit nothing if partner dies

Question 25

What is a LAT relationship?

Answer 25

A long term, committed, intimate relationship where individuals define themselves as a couple but do not share a common home

Question 26

According to Levin what are the reasons for the increase of LAT relationships?

AO1

Answer 26

1. Technology - can still keep in touch despite not physically being together
2. Changes in the labour market - one partner may move away for work
3. May be a way of dealing with a broken relationship - take time apart from each other
4. Responsibility in care
5. Growing individualisation - people do what is in their best interests rather than them as a couple
6. Reducing risk - rather than uproot entire life one partner can leave and decide how the whole family would fair in this new location

Question 27

What is a disadvantage of cohabitation according to Morgan?

(New Right)

AO3

Answer 27

• Cohabitating couples are often less happy due to the unstable nature of their relationship e.g. infidelity is more common
• This creates more stress

Question 28

What is a disadvantage of cohabitation according to Murphy?

(New Right)

AO3

Answer 28

• Children of cohabitating couples perform worse in school - lower results and are more likely to leave school early
• Higher rates of illness
• Likely because more likely to be in poverty

Question 29

What is a disadvantage of cohabitation according to Manning?

(New Right)

AO3

Answer 29

• Cohabitating families cause instability
• Children are more likely to see relationship break down which has immediate and long term effects

Question 30

How do Benson’s findings support Manning?

AO3

Answer 30

• Married couples are more likely to be in a stable and secure marriage
• Studied 15,000 babies until age of 3 years old and found rate of family breakdown by this point was 20% for cohabitating families compared to only 6% for married couples

Question 31

What are the impacts of family breakdown?

Answer 31

For the child: new living arrangements, emotional impact - many children feel guilty as though they are the cause for their parents’ breakup, more likely to be in poverty with a single parent
For the parents: now have to balance childcare and work, emotional impact, more likely to be in poverty

Question 32

What are the causes for the rise in lone parent families?

AO1

Answer 32

Since the 1970s, lone parent families have tripled in number and now account for 14.7% of all families with dependent children:
- Changes in law: e.g. Divorce Reform Act, Embryology Act
- Changes in attitudes: fewer shotgun marriages, secularisation - no longer seen as a serious sin (44% VS 65%)
- Welfare State: gives women who aren’t financially secure a safety net if they need to divorce. Cashmore - WC women are now more likely to leave partner due to abuse
- Female independence: women are now no longer afraid to raise child by themselves. Haskey: women are now single by choice. Renvoize: professional women are able to support child without father’s support. 40% of lone parents are never married mothers
- Fletcher: higher expectations of marriage - ideology of romantic love - people are more willing to leave unhappy relationships in search of ‘Mr/Mrs Right’

Question 33

How can we analyse the reasons for the rise in lone parent families?

AO3

Answer 33

• Attitudes/secularisation not relevant as modern church is less strict on premarital sex/divorce. OR is relevant as Wilson found church attendance to only be 5%
• New Right view welfare state negatively. Murray claims it is a perverse incentive that leads to a dependency culture
• Laws like Embryology Act and rises in reproductive technology allow greater female independence in child rearing. HOWEVER can’t be applied to all classes - only MC can afford to be voluntarily single
• Allan and Crowe: love is the cornerstone of marriage

Question 34

How do the New Right criticise lone parent families?

AO3

Answer 34

Murray: the rise in lone parent families is a moral decay to our society. Rewarding this behaviour with benefits is a peverse incentive that creates a dependency culture. Children of lone parents are inadquately socialised and more likely to engage in criminality

Question 35

How can we analyse Murray’s view of the dependency culture?

AO3

Answer 35

Not relevant today as policies have been implemented to reduce dependency culture in lone parent families e.g. Child Maintenance Service keeps fathers financially accountable

Question 36

How can we evalate the New Right view of the family?

AO3

Answer 36

• Beck and Giddens: in late modern society people have greater freedom and choice to leave relationships based on their own needs being fulfilled - may be aided by safety net of welfare state
• Mooney: parental conflict has greater negative impact on children than parental separation

Question 37

What are the ways that divorce can impact families?

AO1/2/3 (depends on type of question)

Answer 37

Crocket and Tripp children of divorce are more likely to:
- underachieve in education
- suffer from poor health, mental illness, and commit suicide
- become criminals
- experience poverty

Walerstein found they were more likely to:
- struggle with substance abuse
- become sexually active early
- resent parents due to disruption of their own personal arrangements