War/Political Violence

Although there is widespread agreement on the importance of families, the definition of the term family remains under debate. Changes in marriage and parenting statistics prompt the need for definitions that are broad enough to recognize diverse family forms while still recognizing that families are unique compared to other social groups. Although various definitions emphasize different ideas, most include several basic components of families. First, families consist of at least two persons who are related and/or committed to each other and who live together in one household at some point in their lifetimes (Ambert 2001; Eshelman 1997; Olson and DeFrain 1997). Second, families perform specific important functions for society. In the 1930s, William Ogburn suggested that a family should perform the following seven functions (Ogburn 1938):

1. Economic (meeting the basic physical needs of its members);
2. Protection (physical as well as economic protection for children when young and for parent as elders);
3. Prestige and status (providing a sense of place and belonging in the broader society);
4. Education (formal and informal/socialization);
5. Religion (providing traditions and religious identity);
6. Recreation (play and fun); and
7. Affection and reproduction.

More than sixty years later, Anne-Marie Ambert (2001) produced a very similar list of important family functions:

1. Reproduction;
2. Provision of basic needs for growth and development;
3. A sense of personal belonging;
4. Socialization; and
5. Love and affection.

These lists, created several decades apart, indicate that expectations of families have remained fairly consistent. However, the extent to which a family fulfills these functions alone or with assistance from society varies across cultures and among individual families.