Chapter 12

1. Chapter 12 Marriage and Alternative Family Arrangements

2. Chapter Outline • The Nature of Family Life • Defining Marriage • The Transformation of the Family • Family Diversity • The Future: Bright or Dismal?

3. Changes in the American Family Since 1970 • The marriage rate has fallen more than 40%. • When men and women marry today they are on average 4 years older than in 1970. • The number of single-parent households has more than doubled. • The proportion of those who have not married by age 35 has tripled for both men and women.

4. Changes in the American Family Since 1970 • Women are nearly twice as likely to be divorced as in 1970. • The divorce rate has increased by nearly 40%. • Unmarried-couple households have increased nearly fivefold. • Half of all children are expected to spend some part of their childhood in a single-parent home.

5. Functions of the Family • Patterning reproduction • Organizing production and consumption • Socializing children • Providing care and protection • Providing social status

6. Question • Most of the important decisions in the life of the family should be made by the man of the house. • Strongly agree • Agree somewhat • Unsure • Disagree somewhat • Strongly disagree

7. Family Structures • The nuclear family is the most basic family form and is made up of a married couple and their biological or adopted children. • The nuclear family is found in all societies, and it is from this form that all other (composite) family forms are derived.

8. Family Structures • Polygamous families are nuclear families linked together by multiple marriage bonds, with one central married to several spouses. • The family is polygynous when the central person is male and the multiple spouses are female. • The family is polyandrous when the central person is female and the multiple spouses are male.

9. Family Structures • In extended families, along with married parents and their offspring, there may be the parents’ parents, siblings of the parents, the siblings’ spouses and children, and in-laws. • All the members of the extended family live in one house or in homes close to one another, forming one cooperative unit.

10. Question • A(n) ________ family is made up of a married couple and their children. • patriarchal • nuclear • extended • matrilineal

11. Answer: B • A nuclear family is made up of a married couple and their children.

12. Question • Dwayne and Katrina are a married couple. They have two children and live with Katrina's brother's family. This is an example of what type of family? • extended • polygamous • nuclear • blended

13. Answer: A • Dwayne and Katrina have an extended family.

14. Marriage • Marriage, an institution found in all societies, is the socially recognized, legitimized, and supported union of individuals of opposite sexes.

15. Choosing a Marriage Partner • Rules of endogamyLimit the social categories from within which one can choose a marriage partner. • Rules of exogamyRequire an individual to marry someone outside his or her culturally defined group.

16. Marriage • How marriage differs from other unions: • Takes place in a public manner. • Includes sexual intercourse as an explicit element of the relationship. • Provides the essential condition for legitimizing offspring. • Is intended to be a stable and enduring relationship.

17. Question • The government should recognize homosexual marriages under the law with the same privileges as heterosexual marriages. • Strongly agree • Agree somewhat • Unsure • Disagree somewhat • Strongly disagree

18. Five Dimensions of Romantic Love • Idealization of the loved one. • The notion of a one and only. • Love at first sight. • Love winning out over all. • An indulgence of personal emotions.

19. Nuclear Family: Characteristics • Child-centered family. • Marriage based on romantic love. • Increased equality for women. • Decreased links with extended families or kinship networks. • Increased geographical and social mobility. • Clear separation between work and leisure.

20. The Transformation of the Family • Most scholars agree that the Industrial Revolution had a strong impact on the family. • Industrialism demands that workers be geographically mobile so that a workforce is available wherever new industries are built. • Industrialism requires a certain degree of social mobility. • The modern nuclear family allows for inheritance and descent through both sides of the family.

21. The Nuclear Family in the 20th Century • Rested on: • The child-Centered family • Companionate marriage • Increased equality for women • Decreased links with extended families or kinship networks • Neolocal residence and increased geographical mobility • Increased social mobility • Clear separation between work and leisure.

22. Decline of the Traditional Family • Between 1990 and 2000, percentage of married couples with children fell from 26% to 24%. • Proportion of families headed by married couples fell from 76% in 1990 to 72% in 2000. • Since the 1950s, traditional families have become increasingly rare.

23. Number of Marriages, in Millions, 1960–2004

24. Number of Marriages per 1,000 Unmarried Women, 15 and Older

25. Cohabitation • Increased dramatically in the past 20 years and is having a significant impact on the family. • In 1988, fewer than one in five married Americans said they lived with their spouse before marriage.

26. % of High School Seniors Who Thought It Was a Good Idea to Live Together before Getting Married

27. Family Violence • 30% of adults who were abused as children are abusive to their own children. • 22% of American women report having been physically abused by their spouses or companions. • 1 in 5 of these women report that the abuse took place in the previous year.

28. Annual Divorce Rate per 1,000 Population, 1970–2003

29. Divorce Factors: Education • The likelihood of a first marriage ending in divorce is 60% for people with some college education. • Those who have a college degree have nearly a 40% chance of divorce and are the least divorce-prone. • Approximately 53% of women who have gone on to graduate school will divorce.

30. Question • The strength of the American family is declining. • Strongly agree • Agree somewhat • Unsure • Disagree somewhat • Strongly disagree

31. Marriage and Divorce Quiz • One of the reasons there is more divorce today than in the past is because people live longer and there is more time to get divorced. • False. Even though people live longer, they also marry later than in the past. • Living together before marriage increases your chance of divorce. • True.

32. Marriage and Divorce Quiz • An unmarried woman is more likely to experienced domestic violence than a married woman. • True. • Now that people are more likely to divorce, those that stay married are happier than when people stayed married because of the stigma against divorce. • False.Studies show that the general level of marital satisfaction has not increased.

33. Marriage and Divorce Quiz • Second marriages are more successful than first marriages because people learn from their mistakes. • False. The divorce rate for second marriages is higher than for first marriages. • If your parents divorced your chances of divorcing are increased. • True.

34. Marriage and Divorce Quiz • Women are more likely than men to be the ones who initiate a divorce. • True. • Teenage marriages are fairly successful if they can get through the first year. • False.Marrying in your teens increase the likelihood of divorce two to three times over that of couples in their twenties and older.

35. Remarriage and Stepfamilies • The United States has the highest incidence of stepfamilies in the world. • 17% of married couple households involve a stepparent. • 54% of divorced women and 62% of men divorced men remarry within five years.

36. Reluctant to Marry: The Men Who Want to Stay Single • Compared to men who marry earlier these men are more likely to: • Worry about the risks of divorce. • Not want children. • Believe women cannot be trusted to tell the truth about past relationships. • Think single men have better sex lives than married men. • Believe marriage will reduce their personal freedom.

37. The Growing Single Population • In 2000, 61.5% of American men and nearly 58% of American women over the age of 18 were married. • In 1970, only 10.5% of the women and 19.1% of the men between the ages of 25 and 39 had never been married. • In 2003, 40.3% of women and 54.6% of men that age had never been married.

38. Single-Parent Families • In 1960, nearly 1/3 of all single mothers with children under 18 were widows. • In the 1970s, most single mothers were divorced or separated. • By 1980, only 11% of single mothers were widowed and two-thirds were divorced or separated. • By 2000, 40% of single mothers had never been married.

39. % of Children under Age 18 Living with a Single Parent

40. % Of Births to Unmarried Women

41. Gay and Lesbian Couples • 5% of gay and 22% of lesbian families include children. • Many of these children were part of a mother-father family and continued to live with a parent who transitioned to same-sex relationships. • 17% of gays and 29% of lesbians had previously been in a heterosexual marriage.

42. Quick Quiz

43. 1. Which of the following is a function of the family? • Socialization of children. • Regulation of sexual behavior. • Providing care and protection. • All of these choices are correct.

44. Answer: D • The following are all functions of the family: • Socialization of children. • Regulation of sexual behavior. • Providing care and protection.

45. 2. Parents who expect their children to marry someone of the same religion, ethnic group and social class are following the rules of: • endogamy. • exogamy. • polygamy. • monogamy.

46. Answer: A • Parents who expect their children to marry someone of the same religion, ethnic group and social class are following the rules of: endogamy.

47. 3. Which of the following is not a characteristic of the nuclear family as it evolved in early 20th century industrial society? • Clear separation between work and leisure. • Increased equality for women. • Increased links with extended families. • Families are more child-centered.

48. Answer: C • Increased links with extended families is not a characteristic of the nuclear family as it evolved in early 20th century industrial society.

49. 4. Cohabitation is more common among: • those with a college education. • members of the middle and upper classes. • those who are less religious. • all of these choices are correct.

50. Answer: C • Cohabitation is more common among those who are less religious.