That is, racial and ethnic diversity among American families and the diversity result-
ing from immigration have changed the definition of the“typical American family.”
Hence, there is no simple answer to the question we posed:“How do you define the
word‘family’?”We do, however, feel comfortable with a definition advanced by
Lamanna and Riedmann:
A family is any sexually expressive or parent-child or other kin relationship in which
people—usually related by ancestry, marriage, or adoption—(1) form an economic unit
and care for any young, (2) consider their identity to be significantly attached to the
group, and (3) commit to maintaining that group over time.^15
We accept Lamanna and Riedmann’s definition because it is broad enough to
include most types of family configurations found all over the world. In addition,
their definition is descriptive and nonethnocentric, as it focuses on the social-
psychological aspects of family.Forms of Family
Although all cultures deem family one of their most important social institutions,
the form and type of the family manifest the cultural and historical beliefs of each
culture. Yet even with some cultural variations, most people encounter two families
during the course of their lives: (1) the familytheyareborninto(thefamilyofori-
entation) and (2) the family that is formed when and if they take a mate. Once a
person becomes part of either one of these families, he or she also finds him- or her-
self a member of anuclearorextendedfamily. Anuclearfamily is“typically identified
as a parent or parents and a child or children as one unit. Theextendedfamily typi-
cally includes grandparents and relatives.”^16 Let us further examine the two patterns
in greater detail.A single definition of
family is difficult to
construct, since what
constitutes a family,
especially in the
United States, can
take a variety of
configurations.© Jim West/PhotoEditForms of Family 75Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).