Marriage and Family Life

1. Marriage and Family Life Unit 4: Describing the Family

2. Objective 1: Identify functions of families. • Provide for physical needs of all family members • Provide for the socialization of children • Provide for the psychological well-being of all family members

3. Objective 2: Match types of family structures to their descriptions. • Adoptive • Blended or reconstructed • Communal • Cooperative • Couple • Extended • Foster • Nuclear • Single parent • Single person

4. Objective 3: Identify potential substitutes for families. • Church groups • Roommates and dormitory neighbors • Foster families • Friends • Group homes • Residences for the elderly • Rehabilitation centers • Shelters

5. Objective 4: Select factors that put families at risk. • Abuse • Crime • Death of a family member • Delinquency • Divorce • Financial problems • Addictions • Damage or destruction of home • Homelessness • Illness or disability • Job loss or unemployment • Moving to a new city • Neglect • Teen parenting • Violence

6. Objective 5: Report about current and future issues affecting the family.

7. Objective 6: . Identify roles in families. • Wage earner • Spouse • Parent • Child • Sibling • Student • Homemaker • Worker • Caretaker • Housekeeper • Shopper • Nurse • Cook • Chief decisionmaker • Financial manager • Chauffeur

8. Objective 7: Identify how family roles have evolved. • Childhood can play a big part in learning our roles. • Children learn roles from their personal experiences at home, in school, in the community, from television, from movies, and from what they read. • A person’s roles change during the life cycles of a family. • A person may have many roles at one time. • Role conflict happens when a person does not fulfill the role or does not want to fulfill the role that he/she is expected to fulfill.

9. Objective 8: Characterize families past and present. Families in the past • The mother took care of the home and the family. • The father was the breadwinner and provided financial resources for the family. • Children were expected to do some household work. • Farming families worked together and shared responsibilities.

10. Objective 8: Characterize families past and present. Families in the present • More women work outside the home. • Men assume greater responsibility in childcare. • Older children and teens are often responsible for caring for siblings and for completing household duties. • The increase in divorce has created more single-parent and blended families. • Family expenses are higher.

11. Objective 9: Distinguish among stages of the family life cycle. • Independence stage • Coupling stage • Parenting stage • Middle-age stage • Empty nest stage • Retirement or senior life stage