• Marriage - a legal union based on mutual rights and obligations.
• Family - a group of people related by marriage, blood, or adoption.
• In the U.S., marriage traditionally involves a legal relationship between a man and a woman.

• Nuclear family – wife, father, and children
• Extended family – nuclear family plus other relatives – like grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.
• Marriage = wedding - culture

• Patrilineal – descent and inheritance are passed from the father to his male descendants.
• Matrilineal – descent and inheritance are passed on from the mother to her female descendants.
• Patriarchal control – oldest man living in household has authority over the rest of the family members.
• Matriarchal control – oldest woman living in the household holds the authority.
• Democratic/Egalitarian control – authority is split evenly between husband and wife.

• Romantic Love – idea of people being sexually attracted to one another and idealizing the other
– Ex.
Soul mate
– 2 components:
1) Emotional – feeling of sexual attraction
2) Cognitive – feeling we describe as being “in love”
• Homogamy –the tendency to marry someone similar to oneself based on personal preference.
• Heterogamy – partners are dissimilar with respect to some important social characteristics.
– Interracial marriage

• Monogamy – marriage of one man to only one woman at a time.
• Polygamy – marriage of a male or female to multiple partners of the other sex at the same time.
– Polygyny – marriage of one man to two or more women at the same time.
– Polyandry – marriage of one woman to two or more men at the same time (found in South
Asian countries. e.g. Tibet, Nepal).

- Stresses how family is related to other parts of society and how it contributes to the well-being of society
Functions of the Family
– Economic production, socialization of children, care of sick and aged, recreation, sexual control, and reproduction.

• Draws attention to the struggles of scarce resources:
– Housework = time, energy, leisure
– “second shift”
• Examines women’s oppression and how the family has been used to maintain male domination of females.

• Understanding behavior within the family based on the interactions among family members and in the meanings that members assign to these interactions.
– How each sex experiences marriage differently
• Ex.
housework
• Socialization begins within the family.
• Relationships within the family are constantly being redefined.

• Marriage rate – the number of marriages per year for every one thousand members of a population.
– The U.S. marriage rate has fluctuated since 1940.

• Divorce rate – the number of divorces annually for every thousand members of the population.
• Research – people who go to college, belong to a religion, wait to get married, and have children have a much better chance of their marriage lasting.
• Working with co workers of opposite sex and working with people who are recently divorced, increase one’s risk of divorce
• Divorce and children

• Over 1/5 of all reported cases of aggravated assault involve domestic violence, however many episodes go unreported.
• Domestic violence involves children, spouses, siblings, and older people.
• As many as ½ of married women in the U.S. are victims of spousal violence.
• At least 4 million women are battered by their husbands annually.
• 4,000 women each year are beaten to death.
• 14% of married women are sexually attacked by their husbands every year.
• ¾ of spousal violence occurs during separation or after divorce.

• Family resiliency – refers to the family’s capacity to emerge from crises as stronger and more resourceful.
• Families that flourish despite distress are resilient .

1. Individual characteristics such as: self-esteem, autonomy, sense of humor, problem-solving skills
2. Family characteristics such as: emotional support, commitment, warmth, affection, cohesion
3. Community characteristics such as: opportunities for participation in community life, emphasis on helping others
4. Family-friendly public policy.

• Blended Families - Families formed when at least one of the partners in the marriage has been married before and has one or more children from a previous marriage.

• have been on the rise since 1970; 23 million children now live in single-parent families (32 percent of all children)
• 95% of children in single-parent families are in singlemother families
• Children in single-parent families are without the same economic resources available in two-parent families.
• Most research indicates that growing up with a single parent negatively affects a child’s well-being.

• Children in single-parent homes:
– exhibit more behavioral problems,
– have higher teenage pregnancy rates,
– perform lower academically,
– score lower on tests of psychological well-being,
– are less able to adapt in social settings than children living with their biological parents

• In the past, there was a stigma attached to marriages without children.
• In 2008, one in five American women ages 40–44 was childless, up 80 percent since 1970
– Highest rates among White women, highly educated women.
• Reasons to remain childless:
– less stigma
– importance of careers
– Independence
– do not enjoy children
– too much delay
– physical or mental limitations.

• Dual-employed marriages are where both the husband and wife are in the labor market.
• A relatively new trend, it is now considered the norm.

• Cohabitation – living with someone in a marriagelike arrangement without the legal obligations and responsibilities of formal marriage.
– While cohabitation is more common among people with less education, it is increasing at higher educational levels.
– Cohabitation is on the rise. In 2009, cohabitation increased by 13 percent, twice the average annual increase of the preceding few years.
– Cohabitation has almost doubled since 1990.

• Due to the stigma surrounding homosexuality, it is difficult to know exactly what proportion of the American population is gay.
• Americans have differing views of legalizing same-sex marriage:
– 48% of Americans oppose legalizing gay marriage; 42% favor it.
• Same-sex partners living together with children—are also increasing in number, although their number is small compared with heterosexual marriages.

• “Boomerang kids” –
– young adults (18-34) have a much higher probability of living in their parents’ home than they did 30 years ago.
• Contributing factors:
– Young adults are marrying later.
– More young adults are continuing their education, and live at home while doing so.
– Due to the high cost of living, young adults return home after completing their education.
– High divorce rate also increases the proportion of young adults living at home.

• An added financial burden for older parents.
• Many parents complain that their adult children do not share in expenses, fail to help around the house, invade privacy, and prevent them from developing relationships with spouses and friends.
• Adult children living at home forfeit some freedom and are subject to some unwanted parental control.

• More middle-aged adults are finding mothers and fathers living with them.
• Sandwich generation – term applied to those adults caught between caring for their parents and caring for the family they formed after leaving home.
– Elderly parents receive better care from those who love them and feel responsible for them.
– Aging parents also offer emotional support and financial resources.
– Taking care of an elderly parent is not easy, physically or emotionally.
– The burden of caring for an aging parent falls much more heavily on women.
– About 2/3 of unpaid caregivers are female.

• Is the nuclear family deteriorating?
– Family Decline Perspective
– Family Change Perspective
• The nuclear family remains the most popular choice among Americans.