Family Theory & Types of Families
Time Use - Conceptions Of Time In Families, Major Trends In Time Use In Families
Family scholars have traditionally been interested in the role of time in shaping the organization of family experience. Anthropologists who studied families in preindustrial cultures were interested in the way that families lived their lives according to the temporal rhythms of nature, with the tides, the seasons, and the movement of the sun giving structure to everyday life. Although different t…
Bundling
Bundling is probably the best known courtship practice of colonial America, even though very little research on the topic has ever been published. It appears to contradict the otherwise sexually strict mores of the Puritans. It meant that a courting couple would be in bed together, but with their clothes on. With fuel at a premium, it was often difficult to keep a house warm in the evenings. Since…
Nuclear Families
The term nuclear family can be defined simply as a wife/mother, a husband/father, and their children. However, this straightforward structural definition is surrounded by a cloud of ambiguity and controversy. Most of the debates have centered around three questions. First, is the nuclear family universal—found in every known human society? Second, is the nuclear group the essential form of …
Caregiving - Formal, Informal
Formal care to older adults includes care provided in the home and care away from the home. In-home services include, but are not limited to, visiting nurse services, homemaker services, respite care, and home health aide services. Care away from the home involves services such as care provided in a physician's office, day care provided in a nursing facility or other bureaucratic facility, …
Equity - The Scope Of Equity Theory And Close Relationships, Overview Of Equity Theory, Conclusion
It is not surprising that in cultures founded on principles of individualism, equality, and capitalism, such as in the United States, theories concerned with fairness and exchange would develop regarding close relationships. A large body of relationship research has originated from a group of theories associated with social-exchange principles, which conceptualize relationships as based on princip…
Extended Families - Extended Family Kinship, Study Of The Extended Family
All societies have a concept of extended family. Its relative importance, structure, and functions, however, vary according to the particular culture. Traditionally, the term extended family has been applied to the kinship network of social and economic ties composed of the nuclear family (parents and children) plus other, less immediate, relatives. Study of the extended family unites two independ…
Familism - The Antecedents Of Familism, The New Social Order Of The Revolution, Familism After World War Ii
The term familism refers to a model of social organization, based on the prevalence of the family group and its well-being placed against the interests and necessities of each one of its members. It is part of a traditional view of society that highlights loyalty, trust, and cooperative attitudes within the family group. Although its origin is in the traditional family institution, it is also used…
Definition of Family - Related Constructs, Inclusive Definitions, Theoretical Definitions, Situational Definitions, Normative Definitions, Conclusion
Over the decades, social scientists have struggled in their efforts to define the multidimensional concept of family. Through her research Jan Trost (1990) confirmed this overwhelming definitionitional dilemma experienced not only by family researchers but also the general population. Specifically, she illustrated the difficulty and diversity with which people identify those who could or should be…
History of Family
The historical study of the family is generally regarded as a subfield of social history whose particular focus is the ways in which families live out histories of their own while participating actively in the larger arenas of national and international history. There is ultimately little historical space that family does not impinge upon. Family history, consequently, takes in such subjects and a…
Phenomenology - Mundane Phenomenology (everyday Life), Existential Phenomenology, Ethical Phenomenology, Social Phenomenology, Ethnomethodology And Family Discourse
Phenomenology began as a primarily twentieth-century philosophical movement that argued that the best way to come to know the world is to rigorously examine how we apprehend the world through conscious experience (Spiegelberg 1982). Evidence for the influence of phenomenology on the practice of social science can be found in the widespread use of the term phenomenology for the description of human…
Family Business - Mutual Acceptance Of Roles, Agreement To Continue The Business, Propensity Of A Successor To Take Over
The family business has arrived into its own as a distinct enterprise with unique concerns and issues. In the broadest sense, a family business is an enterprise where family members have influence over strategy and major policies, maintain the intention of keeping the business in the family, own significant portions of stock, and sit on the board (Shanker and Astrachan 1996). Other criteria for a …
Family Development Theory - Basic Concepts And Propositions, Critiques, Research, Conclusion
Family development theory focuses on the systematic and patterned changes experienced by families as they move through their life course. The term family as used here represents a social group containing at least one parent-child relationship. The family group is organized and governed by social norms. The general notion of a family life-cycle has a long history that dates back to 1777 (Mattessich…
Clan
A clan—alternatively called a sib or gens—is a kind of kin group whose members claim a shared identity and certain rights based upon descent from a common ancestor. Clans are usually found in societies with descent systems based on only one lineage—descent is figured only through the male line (producing patriclans)or female line (producing matriclans).They have, however, also…
Family Diagnosis/DSM-IV - Understanding The Dsm-iv Classification System, Garf Development, Family Therapy Theorists' Concerns About Using The Dsm Diagnosis System
Family therapy is based on the theory that healthy systems prevent psychological maladjustment. When the family system functions properly, adequate support is available for individuals in the family to make necessary adjustments to most stressors in life. If the stressors are extreme when self, family, and community resources are weak, symptoms are likely to develop in at least one member of the f…
Later Life Families - Defining Later Life Families, Characteristics Of Later Life Families, Couple Relationships In Later Life, Retirement And Couple Relationships - Conclusion
Similar to their younger counterparts, families in later life experience both change and continuity. In addition to retirement, grandparenthood, and changing intergenerational relationships, members of later life families experience marital transitions, the onset of health problems, and changes in marital satisfaction and sexual relationships as well as emerging needs for the caregiving of older f…
Cohabitation - Trends And Patterns, Reasons For Cohabitation, Meanings Of Cohabitation, Consequences Of Cohabitation, Conclusion
Cohabitation, sometimes called consensual union or de facto marriage, refers to unmarried heterosexual couples living together in an intimate relationship. Cohabitation as such is not a new phenomenon. It has, however, developed into a novel family form in contrast with conventional marriage. Part of this change is associated with the absolute rise in cohabitational relationships. Since the 1970s,…
Comparative Analysis - General Strategies Of Comparative Methods, Comparative Methods In The Study Of Kinship, The Family, And Marriage
The comparative method has taken many forms since Augustus Comte first employed the concept in 1853 in his foundational Cours de philosophie positive. Subsequently a variety of comparative methods have emerged in the social sciences with different goals, units of comparison, and types of data that reflect a variety of theoretical assumptions and interests. Comparison has formed the core of anthrop…
Singles/Never Married Persons - Social And Historical Context Of Singlehood, Psychosocial Characteristics Of The Never Married, Culture, Ethnicity, And The Never Married
Just as the age at first marriage has increased over the past few decades, so too has the proportion of adults living together outside of traditional marriage, as well as the number of men and women who are delaying or forgoing marriage. This has resulted in a great number of men and women spending a significant amount of their adult years single. The U.S. Census Bureau (1999) reports that between…
Primogeniture
Primogeniture has two closely related meanings: (1) a principle of seniority and authority whereby siblings are ranked according to their ages, with the eldest coming first; and (2) a principle of inheritance, in which the firstborn child receives all or his parents' most significant and valuable property upon their death. In most cases, the rules have been applied primarily or exclusively …
Human Ecology Theory - The Origins Of Human Ecological Theory, The Family As A System, Research Framework, Conclusion
Theories of human interaction should provide a way of making sense of events that have happened in the past, and then allow us to make predictions about what may happen in the future. Human ecology theory is a way of looking at the interactions of humans with their environments and considering this relationship as a system. In this theoretical framework, biological, social, and physical aspects of…
Family Policy - Welfare State Development, Welfare Regimes, Feminist Critiques Of Welfare Regimes, Demographic Trends And Family Policy
All social and economic policies affect families, but the term family policy usually refers to social programs, laws, and public directives designed to promote and enhance marriage, reproduction, and raising children. Family policy also ensures child protection and child and spousal support and attempts to resolve conflicts between work and family. The state usually initiates such policies, but em…
Family Roles - Cultures And Role Restriction, Personal Identity And Roles, Role Expectations And Demands
People throughout history depended on families and the kinship system for their survival. This dependence permitted and required that they conform to expected family roles depending on their living circumstances. This gave a family strong control over its members, a circumstance that is changing in the modern world because people no longer always need families for economic survival. Intentional an…
Immigration - Reasons For Immigration, Policy, Pathways To Immigration, Immigration's Effect On Families
Immigration is the term used to describe the process of a person entering and settling as a permanent resident in another country; emigration is the process of leaving one's country of origin. When the term immigration is used, emigration is assumed to have occurred first. Emigrating is the beginning and immigrating is the end of the process of international migration. International migrati…
Family Strengths - The Family Strengths Perspective, The Qualities Of Strong Families, Family Strengths And Universal Values
"Nothing in the world could make human life happier than to greatly increase the number of strong families," according to David R. Mace (1985). Family strengths are those relationship qualities that contribute to the emotional health and well-being of the family. Families who define themselves as strong commonly say they love each other, find life together satisfying, and live in hap…
Family Systems Theory - Basic Concepts/propositions, Challenges And Future Directions
Family systems theory's heritage emerged from the work of Ludwig Von Bertalanffy's work on general systems theory which offered the world of the mid-twentieth century a different way of viewing science. Instead of the mechanistic models of the time, von Bertalanffy's general systems theory argued that organisms are complex, organized, and interactive. Such an approach shifted …
Marital Typologies - Elements Of A Good Typology Of Marriage, The Proliferation Of Marriage-related Typologies, Using Logical Methods To Create Typologies
Part of the process of science is description. As an aid in this description process, some scholars have classified marriages into different typologies. Typologies, used in all fields of science, are artificial categories developed to demonstrate the similarities that exist within a group and highlight the differences between groups. Typologies enable marriage scholars to develop a shared language…
Family Theory - Philosophies Of Family Science, Purposes Of Family Theory, Meaning Of Family, Level Or Scope Of Family Theories
Suppose a couple is recently divorced. A friend may wonder why this happened and develop several hunches. Perhaps they argued a lot, and one or both may have frequently seemed upset. The friend may begin thinking about why the couple got married in the first place. Perhaps their dating relationship was unusual, or perhaps their upbringing as children offers clues. Using information about their pas…
Decision Making - Family Decision-making Processes, Authority And Status, Rules, Values, Discussion And Consensus
Decision making is a term used to describe the process by which families make choices, determine judgments, and come to conclusions that guide behaviors. That the process is called family decision-making implies that it requires more than one member's input and agreement (Scanzoni and Polonko 1980). The family decision-making process is a communication activity—it rests on the making…
Stress - Exposure And Responses To Stressors, Effects Of Economic Stressors On Marital Behaviors, Societal Differences, Demographic Factors, And Family Stressors
Stress research includes attention to events or conditions that may cause harm and to the responses aroused by those stressful events or conditions. These outcomes include felt distress, disrupted interaction, and poorer health. The overall stress process includes both stressful agents and stress outcomes (see Pearlin et al. 1981). This process also includes two other major sets of variables: soci…
Structural-Functional Theory
Jennie McIntyre (1966) was the first scholar to discern the curious paradox of structural functionalism (SF) within the realm of research and theory about families. Although only a relatively few researchers in the 1960s labeled themselves as SF-types, the great bulk of published work in the study of families was, she noted, shaped by SF assumptions, perspectives, and views of the social world. Sh…
Research - Family Measurement, Methodology
Multiple-item measures are emphasized in this entry because they are more likely to be valid than single-item measures. Although one good question or observation may be enough and thirty bad ones are useless, there are reasons why multiple-item measures are more likely to be valid. One reason is that most phenomena of interest to family researchers have multiple facets that can be adequately repre…
Intentional Communities - Historic Commual Utopias, Contemporary Intentional Communities, Family And Intentional Communities
Intentional communities, utopian communities, communes, alternative communities, collectives, cooperatives, experimental communities, communal societies, and communitarian utopias are some of the more popular terms used to describe what many consider to be nonconventional living arrangements. The definitions of these terms vary from study to study but, for the most part, the term intentional commu…
Rich/Wealthy Families
F. Scott Fitzgerald observed that "The very rich are different from you and me." His friend Ernest Hemingway quipped "Yes, they have more money" (Hemingway 1936). Hemingway envied the rich and coveted their money, but Fitzgerald knew wealth was not an unmixed blessing. Money, as he had learned from his flamboyantly spoiled wife Zelda, is only the starting point for a di…