Major Types Of Family Forms And Unions Flashcards
(14 cards)
Family form?
The structure or size of the family, the depth of generations and the vertical relationships involved.
Family union
Refers to the type of arrangement in which people unite to form a family.
How many major family types are there? List
Nuclear
Single Parent
Sibling Household
Extended
Blended
Nuclear family
Made up of a married or unmarried couple living under the same roof with their children.
Children can be given birth to or adopted.
The ideal family.
Extended family
Generally made up of members of two to three or four generations.
Comprises grandparents, grandchildren, several married or unmarried siblings, and their spouses and children, and other relatives, living under the same roof.
Extended family consists of two generations is considered horizontally extended family.
Three or four generations is referred to as vertically extended family.
An example is a nuclear family with grandparents and or great grandparents living together.
Factors that give rise to the extended family.
Economics - the family realizes it needs to pool its resources to meet the cost of living and take adequate care of all members.
Health and security- many older family members in need of care due to ill health, share home with their adult children. This helps in better and regular caregiving, saving on the cost for special care or a nursing home and the general safety and security of the elderly.
Divorce or separation- many divorced couples or couples who have been separated find it easier to cope financially and emotionally by returning to live with their parents or sharing a home with their siblings.
Single parent family
Consists of one parent living with his or her child or children.
It is very common.
Often headed by a female.
A single parent family which is headed by a mother is called a matrifocal family.
A single parent family which is headed by a father is called a patrifocal family.
Some of the factors that give rise to this form of family include divorce, death of a parent and personal choice of parents.
Due to the absence of one parent, the function of socialization and economic support often become the responsibility of only one parent.
Sibling household
When the older sibling takes care of their younger sibling/s. They live together without the parents who may be absent based on one or more reasons. Like migration in search of a better livelihood, death of the parents, or desertion of the children by their parents.
Blended family
This family is aka combined, step or reconstituted family. This arises when two different families with children come to live together in a consensual or legal marriage union.
This family goes through a period of adjustment in which understanding, patience and effect communication are critical. This is important because the family are learning to come to terms with their new identities, new roles and new relationships in order to trust and accept their new family.
How many major family unions are there? List
Legal, visiting and common law or informal marriage.
Legal Marriage Union
The result of a legal marriage between man and a woman. Conducted through a religious ceremony or some other form of established legal registrar.
Common law or informal marriage union
Referred to as the consensual union.
A man and woman make a mutual consensual agreement to live together outside of a legal marriage. They may or may not produce children.
The visiting union
Aka friending union.
Man and a woman are involved in a sexual relationship but they do not live together.
