Section 5.1 Families Today
Families Today
Objectives
Explain why healthy family relationships are
important.
Identify three main factors that have changed
the form of families.
Describe some family forms that exist today.
Summarize the division of responsibilities
within a family.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Health Stats How have the number of households with a married
couple and their children changed over time?
What might have caused the trend you identified?
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Section 5.1 Families Today
The Family and Social Health
• The family is often called the “basic unit of society.”
• If the relationships with family members are healthy,
a child learns to love, respect, and get along with
others, and to function as part of a group.
• Lasting relationships must be based on mutual
caring, trust, and support.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
The Changing Family
Three main factors account for changes in the
American family
• more women in the work force
• a high divorce rate
• an increase in the age at which people marry
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Section 5.1 Families Today
More Women in the Work Force
• More than half of all mothers with preschool children
are in the work force.
• When parents work outside the home, families spend
less time together.
• The parents have to trust other people to care for
their children.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
High Divorce Rate
• A divorce is a legal agreement to end a marriage.
• Since 1990, the divorce rate has gradually
decreased.
• Divorce affects a family’s structure, finances, and
health—emotional and physical.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Postponing Marriage
• Today many young people delay marriage and
parenthood until later in life.
• Most women have two children, and a growing
number have none.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Family Forms
• Families reflect the diverse circumstances, needs,
values, and cultures of the people in them.
• Children can live in nuclear, single-parent, extended,
blended, or foster families.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Nuclear Family
• A nuclear family consists of a
couple and their child or
children living together in one
household.
• Adoption is the legal process
by which parents take another
person’s child into their family
to be raised as their own.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Single-Parent Family
• A single-parent family is a family in which only one
parent lives with the child or children.
• Mothers head about 90
percent of single-parent
families.
• Financial worries are often a
major problem in
single-parent families.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Extended Family
• An extended family is a group of close relatives
living together or near each other.
• In extended families, family responsibilities are
shared among all members.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Blended Family
• A blended family consists of a biological parent, a
stepparent, and the children of one or both parents.
• At least seven million children under the age of 18
live in blended families.
• Successful blended
families say that it is
important to be flexible.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Foster Family
• In a foster family, an adult or couple cares for
children whose biological parents are unable to care
for them.
• The foster family provides a temporary home for the
children.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Other Families
• A married couple without any children
• A group of unrelated people who choose to live
together and support and care for one another
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Section 5.1 Families Today
For: More on families
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Responsibilities Within the Family
• For a family to function effectively, each member of
the family must do his or her part.
• Often there are some responsibilities that clearly
belong to the adults, some that clearly belong to the
children, and some that can be shared.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Adults’ Responsibilities
• The heads of families are expected to provide for their
children’s basic needs.
• food
• clothing
• shelter
• education
• health care
• security
• love
• Adult family members are responsible for teaching children to
behave in a way that is acceptable to the family and to society.
• This process is called socialization.
• Adult family members set rules to protect their children’s safety and
to maintain order within the family.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Children’s Responsibilities
• As a young child, you may have been responsible for
dressing yourself, tidying up your room, and doing your
homework.
• Today, you may have to do household chores, care for
your younger brothers or sisters, or add to the family
income.
• You are also responsible for following family rules and for
showing respect for all family members.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Shared Responsibilities
• Many families divide up the responsibilities.
• There are benefits to sharing household chores.
• Children who are trusted with important tasks
develop a sense of responsibility and higher selfesteem.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Vocabulary
divorce
nuclear family
adoption
single-parent
family
extended family
A legal agreement to end a marriage.
A couple and their child or children living
together in one household.
The legal process by which parents take
another person’s child into their family to be
raised as their own.
A family in which only one parent lives with the
child or children.
A group of close relatives living together or near
each other.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
Vocabulary
blended family
Consists of a biological parent, a stepparent,
and the children of one or both parents.
foster family
A family in which an adult or a couple cares for
children whose biological parents are unable to
care for them.
socialization
The process by which children are taught to
behave in a way that is acceptable to family and
society.
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Section 5.1 Families Today
QuickTake Quiz
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Section 5.1 Families Today
End of Section 5.1
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