What is family?

Question 1

What is a nuclear family?

Answer 1

A two-generational family of a man and woman and their dependent children, own or adopted.

Question 2

What is an extended family?

Answer 2

Any group of kin (people related by blood, marriage or adoption) extended beyond the nuclear family.
(e.g. A couple and their children living with or near their aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, nieces and nephews, etc.)

Question 3

What is the definition of Single-parent or Lone-parents family?

Answer 3

A family consisting of one parent and a child or children who live together.

Question 4

What is the definition of a reconstituted family?

Answer 4

A step family, in which one or both partners has children from previous relationships.

Question 5

What is the definition of an empty nest family?

Answer 5

A home or a family in which only a parent or parents remain after the children grow up and leave. (e.g.A married couple after their children move away for university)

Question 6

What is the definition of a beanpole family?

Answer 6

A family that is vertically extended but not horizontally extended ( e.g. grandparents, parents and children, but not aunts, uncles and cousins)

Question 7

Name the 6 types of family structures?

Answer 7

1) Nuclear
2) Extended
3) Single Parent/Lone-parent
4) Reconstituted
5) Empty nest
6) Beanpole

Question 8

What is the definition of monogamy?

Answer 8

A type of marriage or sexual relationship involving a singular, permanent partner.

Question 9

What is the definition of polygamy?

Answer 9

Any condition or practice of marriage that consists of multiple spouses at the same time.

Question 10

What is the definition of polygyny?

Answer 10

A type of marriage in which a man has multiple wives at the same time.
(e.g. The Mormon Church (also called Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints) initially encouraged men to have multiple wives. However, the practice was banned in 1890 when Utah applied for statehood in the United States Despite this, the practice continues in some fundamentalist sects of the church.)

Question 11

What is the definition of polyandry?

Answer 11

Any condition or practice of a female having multiple husbands at the same time.
(e.g. he Toda people who live in southern India traditionally practice polyandry but the practice is waning. The Todas specifically practice fraternal polyandry (also called adelphic polyandry) in which a female marries two brothers.)

Question 12

What is meant by an ‘empty shell’ marriage?

Answer 12

This is where the married couple live together but there is no love or affection. They have little in common.

Question 13

What is meant by matrilenial descent?

Answer 13

Tracing descent through the mother’s side of the family.

Question 14

What is meant by patrilineal descent?

Answer 14

Tracing descent through the father’s side of the family.

Question 15

What is the definition of martifocal household?

Answer 15

It is a concept referring to households that consist of one or more adult women and their children without the presence of fathers.
(e.g. Single-parent families headed by women are matrifocal since they day-to-day life of the family is organised around the mother.)

Question 16

What is the definition of patrifocall household?

Answer 16

It is a concept referring to households that consist of one or more adult women and their children without the presence of mothers.
(e.g. Single-parent families headed by men are patrifocall since they day-to-day life of the family is organised around the father.)

Question 17

What is the definition of matriarchal?

Answer 17

A family or group dynamic where a mother or female exerts the most power and authority.

Question 18

What is the definition of patriarchal?

Answer 18

A family or group dynamic where the father or male exerts the most power and authority.

Question 19

What is the definition of a household?

Answer 19

One or more people who live together in a common space, share meals, and combine economic resources.
(e.g. Two university friends sharing an apartment.)

Question 20

What is the definition of family?

Answer 20

A socially recognised group of two or more individuals joined by kinship (adoption, blood, fictive kin, or marriage).