LATS, lone parent families and one person households Flashcards
What is the trend in the number of one-person households?
The number of one-person households has risen, with 1/3 of households now consisting of individuals living alone. Many of these individuals are over 65 years old.
What are the reasons for the increase in one-person households?
Increase in divorce and separation
Decline in marriage rates
Older widows
Creative singlehood (personal choice to live alone)
Individualisation
Acceptance of alternatives to family due to secularisation
What are some impacts of one-person households?
Affordability of housing
Social isolation or individual freedom
Economic hardship
What did Duncan and Phillips find about living apart together?
They found that 1/10 couples are living apart together. This reflects a trend toward less formalised relationships and families of choice.
What factors influence whether couples live together or apart?
Timing: Too early
Preference: Personal choice
Financial constraints
How do feminists and functionalists view LATS?
Feminists see LATS as positive because it represents women becoming freer and more independent.
Functionalists view LATS negatively, as it leads to separate economic responsibilities and potentially weaker family bonds.
What is the trend in lone-parent families in the UK?
1/5 children live in lone-parent families.
Over 90% of lone parents are mothers.
A child in a lone-parent family is twice as likely to live in poverty compared to a child with two parents.
Since 1971, the number of lone parents in Britain has tripled.
What are the reasons for the increase in lone-parent families?
Increase in divorce
Decrease in marriage rates
Decline in stigma around lone parenting
Some choose to be single parents
What does Murray argue about lone parent families? (new right)
sign of the decline of traditional family structures
They also argue that lone-parent families contribute to social problems like juvenile crime
What is the New Right’s view on the welfare state?
They argue that the generosity of the welfare state encourages women to have children without the means to support them, creating a culture of dependency and rewarding ‘perverse incentives.’
What percentage of British children live in stepfamilies?
10% of all British children live with one birth parent and a step-parent.
How do children in stepfamilies feel about their ‘divided lives’?
Over 50% of children in stepfamilies view their ‘divided lives’ positively.
What did Allan and Crow find about stepfamilies?
Stepfamilies with dependent children account for 7% of all families, and their proportion has increased in recent years.
What did Smart find about children in broken families?
She found that half of children from broken families had at least one parent who had remarried. She also noted that step-parents could not fully replace the role of a biological mother or father.
What did Dorit Braun of Parentline Plus say about blended families?
Blended families often take up to 10 years to fully integrate and establish stability.
