Why Marriage and Family?mind-sets.Thefamilyoforiginisthe
strongestinfluenceonachild’s
development—forbetterorforworse.Itis
importanttonoteanincreasingnumberof
peopletodayareraisedinfamiliesinwhich
noteveryoneisbiologicallyrelated.
Family of Procreation.Thefamily of
procreationis the family formed when two
mates have children.These children may
be biological or adopted.In either case,
the parents are a very important influence
on the children.
Single-Parent Families.Single-parent
familiesare formed in a variety of ways.
Some occur following a divorce or after
the death of a spouse.With increasing
frequency today,cohabiting couples are
having children and then splitting up,
creating a single-parent family.In
addition,some women are deciding to
have children outside of marriage.In
2005,one fourth of all children were living
in single-parent homes (Kreider,2008).
Stepfamilies.When two people marryand bring a child into the marriage from a
previous marriage or relationship,they
become astepfamily.In 2004,just under
one tenth of the nation’s children were
living with one stepparent and one
biological parent (Kreider,2008).
Childless Couples.A growing number
of couples are childless,either by choice
or by chance.In 2004,the number of
childless women age 40-44 was 19%.The
higher a woman’s income,the less likely
she is to have children.Nearly one half of
women with annual incomes of $100,000
are childless (Dye,2005).
Fictive Kin Families.Slavesformed
extensivefictivekinfamiliestocarefor
childrenseparatedfromtheirparents.Today,
fictivekintiesareintentionalfamily
relationshipsbetweenfriends.Someare
formedbetweendifferentgendersand
differentsexualorientations(Muraco,2006).
Someareformedamongthehomeless
population,whocreatefamilyrelationshipsWhoever said “You don’t marry the family” was wrong.Fictive kin are intentional relationships formed as a family substitute.SWProductions/Photodisc/GettyImages©iStockphoto.com/TracyHornbrook