Changing Families: Family, The - Definitions and Diversity
The notion that there is no single "one-size-fits-all" model of what constitutes a family is a concept of enormous importance, especially at a time when diversity is much more the rule than the exception.
Changing Families: Role of Family and Social Change, The
Despite enormous changes in the forms that families may take, family as an institution somehow endures and continues to play a uniquely important role in society.
Changing Families: Impact of the Family
An Arab-American family in Dearborn, Michigan, a lesbian couple and their daughter in San Francisco, California, and a family living among the Amish in Pennsylvania are profiled. They illustrate how living in a family has an enormous impact on nea...
Changing Families: Alternative Family Structures
Among the most obvious changes in American families has been the increased diversity of family forms and structures. Some of the most common alternative family forms are: single parent families, married couples without children, stepfamilies, and f...
Changing Families: Idealized Perceptions of Family
Idealized perceptions of family are often at odds with reality. For example, the 1950's was a decade many point to nostalgically as the golden age of family. Yet fathers were frequently so consumed with their jobs during that time that they had li...
Changing Families: Why Families Have Changed
The institution of family has changed since the 1960's because of many factors, including the increased participation of women in the paid labor force, the rise in divorce rates, and developments in contraception and reproductive technology.