Sociology
Chapter 12
Lecture Questions
Section 1 (pages 296-304)
Revised May 2011
1. What is the most universal social institution?
 The family.
 Every society organizes its members into families.
 However, what constitutes a family varies widely
from culture to culture

Despite this variety, families throughout the world follow
similar organizational patterns and fulfill common functions.



A family is a group of people who are related
by marriage, blood, or adoption and who
often live together and share economic
resources.
Probably what sociologists call the nuclear
family.
A nuclear family consists of one or both
parents and their children.
◦ The nuclear family is the family form most
recognizable to Americans.

An individual’s family of orientation is the
nuclear family into which the person is born
or adopted.
› This family is composed of the individual and his
or her siblings—brothers and sisters—and
parents.

When an individual marries, a new nuclear
family is formed.
› The new nuclear family is now a family of
procreation, consisting of the individual, his or
her spouse, and their children.
4. Describe an extended family.

In many societies the nuclear family is
embedded in a larger family group
called an extended family.
 It consists of two or more generations.

In an extended family, grandparents,
parents, children, uncles, aunts, and
cousins may all live in one house or
grouping of houses.
5. USING THE VISUAL ON PAGE 296, WHAT
SOCIOLOGICAL NEEDS DO YOU THINK AN
EXTENDED FAMILY MAY FULFILL?
 Extended family members may provide
additional support, such as emotional and
childrearing support.
 In addition, extended families may be able to
live together for less expense than the different
nuclear-family units could live separately.
 Family
trees illustrate and trace the specific
connections among the members of a kinship
system.
7. What does kinship refer
to?
 Kinship refers to a network of people who are
related by marriage, birth, or adoption.
 Kinship systems can be quite large with as many
as 200 possible categories of relatives.
8. List the three (3) categories of
kinship and some examples of each.

Primary—
 Mother,
father, sister, brother, spouse, daughter, and
son.

Secondary—
 Grandparents,
grandchildren, in-laws, aunts, uncles,
nephews, and nieces.

Tertiary—
 Great-grandparents,
great-grandchildren, great aunts,
great uncles, and cousins.
9. What is meant by the term marriage?
 Sociologists use the term to refer not to the married
couple but to the set of norms that establishes and
characterizes the relationship between married
individuals.
 Because marriage often marks the beginning of a
family, this set of norms influences the ways in which
societies answer the questions of family
organization.
10. WHAT ARE THE FOUR (4) QUESTIONS
OF FAMILY ORGANIZATION?
How many marriage partners may a person
have?
 Who will live with whom?
 How will family membership be determined?
 Who will make the decisions in the family?

11. WHAT IS MONOGAMY AND POLYGAMY?
The marriage of one man to one woman is
called monogamy.
 Marriage with multiple partners is called
polygamy.

 This
practiced by a majority of pre-industrial
societies around the world.
12. Using the article on pages
298-299, how has marriage and
the family life changed in Egypt
since Hamida was young? Do
you think the interviewed
women are happy with these
changes? Explain your answer.
 Arranged marriages are rarer, and women have taken on
more authority and gained greater freedom.
 Older women, such as Hamida, may view these changes
more negatively.


If only the father works, then he must
make enough money to support two
wives and several children.
If all three parents work, then they will
make more money than a dual-earner
family.
POLYGAMY
Polygamy is the more common marital system in
the majority of preindustrial societies around the
world.
 Nevertheless, most people in polygamous
societies take only one spouse.


Why?
First—It is very expensive to have more than one marriage
partner.
 You are expected to marry only those spouses you can
support.
 Second—Most societies tend to produce roughly equal
numbers of men and women.
 If a substantial number of people in a society took
multiple spouses, there simply would not be enough
eligible partners to enable everyone to marry.

14. What is polygyny?

Polygyny is the most common form of
polygamy.
 Man is married to more than one woman.
Generally occurs in preindustrial societies
when there are large areas of land
available to cultivate.
 A husband who has two or more wives
gains additional workers for the land.

 With multiple wives, the husband is likely to
produce more children, who can also work.
 These factors add to the man’s prestige and
economic wealth.
15. WHAT IS POLYANDRY?

A woman is permitted to marry more than one man at a
time.


It is found primarily in parts of Asia.


Appears to arise in response to extreme poverty and a
shortage of women.
For example, the Toda of India practiced female
infanticide—the killing of female babies.


Polyandry is much rarer form of polygamy.
As a result, there were not enough women to provide
monogamous partners for all of the men in the society.
Because of this shortage the Toda developed a system of
polyandry.
When a woman married a man, she became a wife to all of his
brothers.
 This practice also served to keep the birthrate down, which is
important in a poverty-stricken society that cannot afford to
support a large population.

16. Describe the following residential
patterns: patrilocality, matrilocality, and
bilocality.


Once individuals are married, they must decide where to live.
Patrilocality (patri means “father” in Latin) locality means location.


In some societies the couple is expected to live with or near the
wife’s parents.



Patrilocality is the rule of residence found most commonly around the
world.
This is called matrilocality.
Bilocality—bi means “two”—allows the newly married couple to
choose whether they will live near the husband’s or the wife’s
parents.
Neolocality—neo means “new”.


Married couples are free to set up a residence apart from both sets of
parents.
Neolocal residence is most commonly associated with nuclear-family
living.
17.Using the visual on page 301,
how might matrilineal descent
affect the organization of these
societies?
 Family members probably have closer connections with
wives’ parents and relatives than with husbands’
parents and relatives.

Societies that trace kinship through the father’s
family follow the rule of patrilineal descent.
Common in preindustrial societies in which men produce
the most valued resources.
 In a patrilineal society, property is passed from father to
son.



Matrilineal descent—the tracing of kinship
through the mother’s family—is much less
common.
Most industrial societies practice bilateral descent,
kinship is traced through both parents, and
property can be inherited from either side of the
family
 These
images show both parents equally
involved in household chores or sharing
chores and child care.

Patriarchy is where the father holds most of the
authority.
◦ The vast majority of societies around the world are
partiarchal.

Matriarchy is where the mother holds most of the
authority.
◦ Very rare.

Egalitarian is where both the mother and father share
authority.
◦ The United States and other industrialized societies are
moving toward more egalitarian authority patterns, but for
many patriarchal authority is still the cultural norm.
◦ American couples are increasingly sharing the demands of
domestic chores, earning income, and raising children.
A 1950's magazine article on a wife’s place.
An interesting article, taken from "housekeeping Monthly" May 13 1955.
A Good Wife’s Guide
•Have dinner ready. Plan ahead even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time, for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been
thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his
favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
•Prepare yourself. Take 15 mins to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking.
He has just been with allot of work weary people.
•Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
•Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.
•Gather up school books, toys, paper etc and then run a dishcloth over the tables.
•Over the cooler months of the year, you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by.Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order,
and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
•Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces ( if they are small) comb their hair and, if necessary, change their cloths.
They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival eliminate all noise of washer, dryer or vacuum.
Try to encourage the children to be quiet.
•Be happy to see him.
•Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
•Listen to him. you may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first. Remember, his topics of conversation
are more important than yours.
•Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead try to understand his
world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.
•Your goal: Try and make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself, body and spirit.
•Don't greet him with complaints and problems.
•Don't complain if he is home late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count that as minor compared to what he may have gone through that day.
•Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
•Arrange his pillow or offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low soothing and pleasant voice.
•Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his
will with fairness and truthfulness. you have no right to question him.
•A good wife always knows her place.

Regulation of sexual activity
◦ All societies regulate the sexual activities of their members
to some degree.
◦ At the very least, they enforce some type of incest taboo.
 An incest taboo is a norm forbidding sexual relations or
marriage between certain relatives.
◦ The incest taboo is found universally, but the relatives that
are included in this taboo vary from society to society.
 For example, in the U.S. a person cannot marry his or her
parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, or
nephews.
 However, 20 states allow marriages between first cousins.
 Six (6) states allow under certain circumstances.
 People 50 or older.
 Twenty-five states prohibit this kind of marriage, including Kansas.




To survive, societies must replace members who
die or move away.
In every society the family is the approved social
unit for the performance of this function.
Consequently, societies establish norms
governing childbearing and child rearing.
These norms determine such things as who is
eligible to marry and to bear children, the
number of children that is considered
appropriate, and the rights and responsibilities of
parents.




Children must be taught the ways of the
society into which they were born.
The family is the first agent of socialization
that most children encounter.
As a result, most children first learn about
the values and norms of society from the
family.
Parents, siblings, and other relatives usually
serve as the earliest role models for children.

The family acts as the basic economic unit in
society.
◦ In most societies, labor is divided on the basis of
gender—some tasks in the family fall to males while
others fall to females.
◦ Most societies also have a division of labor based
on age.


These specific roles vary from society to society.
Emotional support

The family is expected to guide the individual’s
psychological development and to provide him or her
with a loving and caring environment.
Sociology
Chapter 12
Lecture Questions
Section 2 ( pages 305-317)
1. USING THE VISUAL ON PAGE 305, HOW
COMMON DO YOU THINK THIS TYPE OF FAMILY
WAS IN THE
1950S?
Probably not as common as television and other
forms of American popular culture make it seem
to have been.
 Traditionally the popular image of the “typical”
American family includes a working father, a
stay-at-home mother, and two or three children.
 Since the 1970s the percentage of married
women with children and careers has grown.





The majority of American adults marry at
least once during their lifetimes.
In 2000 about 56 percent of American men
and 52 percent of American women.
However, marriage rates are declining,
particularly among younger Americans.
Among Americans between the ages of 25-34
are the prime marrying years.
Marriage statistics
 There were 2.23 million marriages in 2005, down from 2.28
million in 2004.
 Despite an increase in population of 2.9 million in the same time
period.
 Divorce rates in 2005 was 3.6 per 1000.
 Compared to 4.2 in 2000 and 4.7 in 1990.
 The peak was 5.1 in 1981.
 Nevada had the highest divorce rate at 6.4 per 1000 in 2004.
 Massachusetts had the lowest at 2.2.
 Americans tend to get married more often between June and
October, than any other time of the year.
 Only 63% of American children grow up with both biological
parents.
 This is the lowest figure in the Western world.
3. Define homogamy and how it is
related to marriage.

Americans overwhelmingly marry individuals who have social
characteristics similar to their own.




Homogamy is based on characteristics such as age, socioeconomic
status, religion, and race.
In general, Americans marry individuals who are close to them in
age, with the husband slightly older than the wife.
Americans also marry within their own socioeconomic class.


This is called homogamy.
When differences do occur, it is often the women who is of a lower
socioeconomic standing.
In the case of religion, marriages between individuals from different
Protestant denominations are relatively common.

However, it is less common for Protestants to marry non-Protestants.

The same is true for Catholics, Jews, and people of other faiths.
4. Explain how homogamy in
marriage is related to race.
 Only 2.4 percent of all marriages are between
individuals who are black and white.
 However, the number of interracial marriages in
the United States has grown by almost 10 times
since the late 1960s.
 Before that time, at least a dozen states had
laws that made interracial marriages illegal.
 In 1967 a Supreme Court ruling struck down those laws
designed to “prevent the mixing of the races”.
 Loving vs Virginia, 1967.
5. USING THE CHART ON PAGE 306, WHAT IS
THE MOST COMMON TYPE OF HETEROGAMOUS
MARRIAGE?

Hispanic and other non-Hispanic
Family violence
 Until relatively recently, it was considered
a fairly rare phenomenon.
 Now, it is considered a serious problem
among all social classes and
racial/ethnic groups.
 Includes child abuse and
spousal/intimate-partner abuse.

7. USING THE VISUAL ON PAGE 307, HOW DOES
THIS IMAGE ILLUSTRATE THE EFFECTS OF
FAMILY VIOLENCE ON CHILDREN?

It shows a scene associated with family
violence that children might see.




Government figures indicate that battering is
probably the most underreported crime in the
United States.
This type of violence can perpetuate itself
through generations if it is not stopped.
In most states, police will not make an arrest
unless they have physical evidence that abuse
has taken place.
85% of domestic violence victims are female

Historically, the subordinate status of women
probably has the most to do with wife
battering.
◦ “Rule of Thumb” doctrine in England permitted the
use of a stick to “discipline” your wife.
 The stick could not be any larger in diameter than your
thumb.
 Some states in America permitted the disciplining of
women, similar to England.


Every 30 seconds, a woman is abused in the
United States.
There are approximately 4 million women
beaten by their husband or boyfriend every
year in the U.S.
◦ 6500 reported cases in Sedgwick County every year.
 18 per day average

One-third of female homicide victims are killed
by their husband or boyfriend every year.
◦ This is approximately 1200 homicides or about 3 per
day in the United States. (1 every 8 hours)
 8 female victims killed in Sedgwick County (2007)
 Of those 8, all but 1 were trying to leave their abuser.





22% of police fatalities (deaths) and 40% of
police injuries occur during a domestic dispute
call.
Alcohol is implicated in 74% of all domestic
dispute calls.
Women beaten once have a 65% chance of
being beaten again.
16% of women are beaten in a given year.
28% of women are beaten during the course of
their marriage.
◦ 12% of women will experience physical “dating
violence”.
 25% of women will experience psychological abuse from
their dating partner.

Vast majority of women return home three (3)
times before leaving for good.

Phase One – Tension-building
◦ Tension is in the air.
◦ She tries to do her job well.
◦ Minor battering may occur.

Phase Two – The Explosion
◦
◦
◦
◦
He loses control and becomes violent.
Sometimes she will start it, “to get it over with”.
He sets out to teach her a lesson.
This is the shortest phase.

Phase Three – In Love Again
◦ Tension is released.
◦ Batterer begs for forgiveness and promises to never
do it again.






Low in self-esteem.
Believes in traditional home, family, and
sex-role stereotypes.
Usually emotionally immature, jealous, and
unable to accept responsibility for his
actions.
May have a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
personality.
Uses wife-battering and often excessive
drinking in response to severe stress.
Wants to “control” his wife/girlfriend.










Economic dependence.
Religious pressure.
“The children need a father”.
Fear of being alone.
Belief in the American Dream.
Pity
Guilt and shame
Duty and responsibility
Fear for her life
Love




It shifted economic activity from the home to the factory, limited the
functions of the family, and changed roles within the family.
Men became breadwinners, and women became homemakers.
Women’s status within the family diminished, and adolescence emerged as a
life stage.
For example, telecommuting might increase the amount of time that parents
can spend with children and lead to more equality of gender roles within the
family.


The U.S. divorce rate is approximately 50%.
Rates of divorce vary among different segments
of the population.
◦ Couples who marry during their teenage years have a
greater risk of divorce than those who wait until after the
age of 20.
◦ Couples who are college-educated have lower divorce
rates than those who have not attended college.

Divorce also varies by race and ethnicity.
◦ African American women are more likely than white
women to be separated or divorced.
◦ Hispanic women, on the other hand, are less likely to be
divorced than white women.


Divorce has major consequences for former partners.
In economic terms, divorce has greater effects on women than
on men.
◦ One study found that after divorce, women’s incomes fell by 30 percent.
◦ In contrast, men’s incomes showed a 10 percent reduction.

Conversely, women seem to make better emotional adjustments
to divorce.
◦ Rates of suicide, alcoholism, dug abuse, depression, and anxiety are all
higher among divorced men than among divorced women.

Each year, more than 1 million children under the age of 18
witness the breakup of their parent’ marriages.
◦ Like their parents, children of divorce often struggle to adjust to their new
situations.
◦ Studies suggest that children of divorced parents have more emotional
problems and are lower achievers than children of parents who have not
divorced.
◦ Some 40 percent of these children are still struggling to adjust 10 years
after their parents divorced.
10. Why are divorce rates so high in
the United States?



Laws governing the divorce process have become less complicated.
The cost of obtaining a divorce has decreased.
No-fault divorce laws where neither party has to state a specific
reason for seeking the divorce.




These laws first emerged in the early 1970s, consequently the divorce
rate has skyrocketed since then.
The increase of dual-earner families has decreased the economic
dependence of women.
Society in general has become more tolerant of divorce, much more
than it was 20 or 30 years ago.
People expect more of marriage and are less ready to accept
marital problems.
11. Using the visual on page 309, how
might therapy help prevent divorce?
• By helping couples learn to communicate better
and to understand and address some of their
problems better.
Propensity for stability in marriage
Study by M. Stephens (1989)
• Factors
▫ Very reliable (class A)
▫ Less reliable, not tested
extensively (class B)
▫ Least reliable, some
things to consider
(class C)
Class A Factors
• Age
▫ Optimal age is 23-26
▫ 27 and higher have
increased divorce rates
 However, not as high as
teen marriages
Class A Factors
• Length of relationship
▫ Longer the better
▫ Lower (at least one year
of dating)
▫ Upper (5-6 years)
Class A Factors
• Premarital pregnancy
▫ Increased divorce rate, if a
child is born in the first year
of marriage
Class A Factors
• Religiousity
▫ People of the same religious belief, have lower divorce
rates.
▫ The larger the wedding ($), the lower the divorce rate.
▫ If married by a religious ceremony, the lower the
divorce rate.
Class A Factors
• Social class
▫ The lower the social
class, the higher the
divorce rate.
▫ Similarity of class is
important !
 If a female marries below
her class, there is an
increased chance of
divorce.
Class B Factors
• Level of education
▫ As the level of education
rises, the chances of
divorce falls.
Class B Factors
• Previous divorce
▫ If you have been
previously divorced, your
divorce rate is higher.
Class B Factors
• Divorced parents
▫ If your parents were
divorced, your chances
for divorce are higher.
Class B Factors
• Where you live
▫ Urban areas have
higher divorce rates
than rural areas.
Class B Factors
• Parental approval
▫ If the parents approve of
the marriage, the
divorce rate goes down.
Class B Factors
• Sociability
▫ The more outgoing you
are as a couple, the
longer the marriage will
last.
Class C Factors
• Differences in age
▫ Larger the difference,
the higher the divorce
rate.
 Males shouldn’t be 7+
years older.
 Females shouldn’t be 1+
years older.
Class C Factors
• Siblings
▫ Only children have a greater risk of divorce.
▫ Best match up
 Eldest to youngest
▫ Worst match up
 Eldest to eldest
 Youngest to youngest
Divorce statistics
• Current divorce rate in the U.S. is between 4550%
• Second marriages have higher divorce rates than
do first marriages.
• Only 5% of the population marry more than
twice.
• There are between 1.0 to 1.5 million divorces
every year in the U.S.
Divorce statistics (continued)
• Most divorces are not contested
▫ 85-90% are settled out of court.
▫ Decisions must be made on the following
 Division of property
 Custody of children
Divorce statistics (continued)
• The first three years of marriage are the most “divorceprone.”
• As the years of marriage increase, the chances of divorce
decrease.
• Teen marriages have about a 75% divorce rate.
• Prior to 1974, in a divorce, one of the spouses had to be
blamed for the divorce.
▫ Old legal grounds




Adultery
Desertion
Non-support
Mental cruelty
Divorce statistics
• No-fault divorce laws (1974) caused the divorce
rate to escalate in this country.
• Some states are “offering” covenant marriages.
▫ Covenant marriages require the couple to undergo
counseling prior granting a divorce.
▫ They also require a longer period of time for the
divorce to be final.

Empty nest—some parents have a tough time
adjusting to being alone without children.
However, many feel a sense of increased
satisfaction after their children have left home.
Recently, children are leaving home later than in the
past.
 Some are returning to their parents’ home after living
on their own for a while.


Death of a spouse—women are more likely to
experience this disruption.



16% of men over 65 are widowers
40% of women over 65 are widowers
Widowhood creates problems for some.


Identity problems for many women.
Economic problems.
13. What trends in American
family patterns have sociologists
been studying in recent years
Delayed marriage
 Delayed childbearing
 Childlessness
 Dual-earner marriages
 One-parent families
 Remarriage

14. Using the visual on page 310, how
does this cartoon illustrate the
complexity and growth of stepfamilies?
 By humorously suggesting complex stepfamilies for both
children.
15. Using the mapping on page
311, describe the trends shown in
the various graphs. What do you
think helped to bring about these
trends?
 Fewer Americans are married, more are divorced, and
more married women—both with and without
children—are part of the workforce.
 Causes include industrialization, the women’s
movement, a rise in the average age at marriage, and
fewer social taboos against divorce.
16. What is delayed marriage? List five
(5) statistics to support your answer.
• 1890-median age at 1st marriage for women was 22.0 and
26.1 for men
▫ 1960-ages dropped to 20.3 for women and 22.8 for men
▫ 2000-ages rose to 25.1 for women and 26.8 for men
• Some sociologists view this tendency toward later marriage as
an indication that being single is acceptable socially.
• Also, most sociologists note that most young people today are
delaying marriage in order to finish their education and to
launch their careers.
• The numbers may be skewed due to the number of couples
living together outside of marriage.
▫ Cohabitation numbers have increased from 523,000 in 1970 to
3.8 million in 2000.
 Cohabitation now precedes more than half of all first marriages.
17. What is delayed childbearing? List three
(3) statistics to support your answer. What
is a sandwich generation?

In the 1960s the average length of time between marriage and
the birth of the first child was 15 months.

By the 1970s that interval had increased to 27 months.


Women between the ages of 30 and 34 accounted for 23
percent of all births in 1998.

Women between the ages of 35-39 accounted for 12 percent of all
births during the same time period.


Today it is not at all uncommon for women to have their first child after
the age of 30.
The reasons for this delay is simple—to allow time to complete
education and to establish a career.
Delayed childbearing can lead to caring for young children and
at the same time caring for an aging parent. This is called the
sandwich generation.

A little less than 5 years.
18. Using the graph on page 312,
how many years has the median
age of marriage for women
increased between 1960 and
1998?
 Finding
time to do their work, spend
quality time with their family, and handle
domestic tasks.
20. Describe childlessness and
voluntary childlessness.
 Childlessness can be the result of delayed childbearing too
long or the result of infertility.
 Some couples choose never to have children.
 This conscious choice to remain childless is called voluntary
childlessness.
 In 2000, 22 percent of married women between the ages of 30-44 had no
children.
 Among childless married women in their early 30s, a little more than 40
percent had no plans to have children in the future.
 Other studies have found that married couples who choose to
remain childless often have high levels of education and income.

The percentage of married women who work outside the home
increased steadily for more than 50 years until the mid 1990s.
◦ In 1940 about 17 percent of married women were employed outside the
home.
◦ This figure rose to 22 percent after WWII in 1948.
◦ By 1960 the number of married women in the labor force had grown to 31
percent.
◦ Today about 61 percent of all married women work outside the home at
least part-time.


The reason this number has risen is simple—economic necessity.
◦ Few families today can survive or live as comfortably as they want on a
single salary.
◦ Education enables women to pursue more-attractive better-paying
positions in the labor market.
The Family Medical Leave Act was passed in 1993 and allowed
women to care for their newborn children without dropping out
of the labor force.
◦ The FMLA allows workers to take up to 12 weeks off of unpaid leave to care
for children or family members.
22. Using the economics section on page 314,
what two types of evidence do the studies use
to suggest that gender roles in dual-earner
families may be changing? What changes in
the way people work do you think need to be
made to make life easier for dual-earner
families? Explain you answers.


In many dual-earner families, the wife earns more than the
husband does, and the amount of time women spend on
housekeeping is on the decline.
More flexible work schedules or telecommuting.

53 percent (22 percent non-relative + 31 percent
day-care center/nursery school, etc.)
24. What is a one-parent family? List
five (5) statistics to support your
answer.
• One-parent families are formed through separation, divorce, death of
a spouse, births to unwed mothers, or adoption by unmarried
individuals.
▫ However, in the U.S. most one-parent families are the result of divorce or
of births to unwed mothers.
▫ One-parent families account for about 25 percent of the families in the
U.S. with children under the age of 18.
▫ Women head about 8 out of every 10 of these one-parent families.
• Single parents are subject to a special set of stresses and strains.
▫
▫
▫
▫
Responsibility overload based on family decisions.
Task overload based on home responsibilities like cooking and cleaning.
Emotional overload in dealing with children.
Financial stress.
 31
percent (16 + 51 + 26=93; 93/3=31)
26. What is remarriage? List three
(3) statistics to support your
answer.
 We are seeing an increase in the rate of remarriage.
 In some 43 percent of the marriages occurring today, one or both of the
partners have previously been married.
 The majority of the people who get divorced—about 75 percent—eventually
remarry.
 The high rates of divorce and remarriage in the U.S. have led to a large increase
in the number of stepfamilies.
 Stepfamilies, also called blended families, arise when one or both of the
marriage partners bring children from their previous marriages into their new
family.
 Estimates suggest that more than 50 percent of Americans have been, are now,
or will be members of stepfamilies.
 Some studies suggest that it takes approximately four years for children to
accept a stepparent in the same way that they accept a biological mother or
father.