1. Families, home and childhood
Chapter 8
Families, home and childhood

2. Family structure
The Office for National Statistics’ Statistical Bulletin Families and Households: 2015 describes some of the changing aspects of family life in the UK. The information variously reveals:
40% of young adults aged 15–34 were living with their parents;
of the 27.0 million households in the UK in 2015, 35% were two person households;
38% of married couple families had dependent children compared with 41% of opposite sex cohabiting couple families;
8% of civil partner couple families had dependent children within the family along with 3% of same sex cohabiting couple families;
19% of same sex married couple families had dependent children within the family.
Figure 8.1 Statistics taken from the National Statistics Office
Source: Adapted from the Office for National Statistics, 2015

3. Source: Adapted from the Office for National Statistics, 2015
The Office for National Statistics’ Statistical Bulletin Families and Households: 2015 also enables us to draw on demographic information to look at the many dimensions of families in the UK today. It shows that:
Married couple and civil partner couple families
the decrease in married couple families which took place between 1996 and 2005 has been reversed. The number of married couple families increased between 2005 and by 187,000 to 12.5 million;
the number of civil partner couple families has declined from a peak of 67,000 in 2012 to 48,000 in One reason for this decline is likely to have been caused by the introduction of same sex marriage;
married couples with dependent children have more children on average than other family types and only 39% have one dependent child.
Cohabiting couple families
Cohabiting couple families account for 17% of all families in the UK;
55% of opposite sex cohabiting couple families have no children in the household
Figure 8.1 Statistics taken from the National Statistics Office, continued
Source: Adapted from the Office for National Statistics, 2015

4. Source: Adapted from the Office for National Statistics, 2015
Lone parent families
the number of lone parents with dependent children has grown from 1.6 million in 1996 to nearly 2.0 million in 2015;
lone parents with dependent children represented 25% of all families with dependent children in compared to 22% in 1996;
women accounted for 90% of lone parents with dependent children, a figure little changed since 1996;
57% of lone parents with dependent children have only one child, higher than any other family type.
Dependent children
13.8 million dependent children were living in families in 2015, about 658,000 more than in 2005;
dependent children living in cohabiting couple families rose significantly from 11% of dependent children in 2005 to 15% in 2015;
in the same period the number of dependent children living in married couple families declined by 4% to 62% in 2015;
23% of children lived in lone parent families in 2015;
45% of families with dependent children had only one dependent child at the time of the 2015 survey.
Figure 8.1 Statistics taken from the National Statistics Office, continued
Source: Adapted from the Office for National Statistics, 2015

5. Figure 8.2 Baumrind’s taxonomy of parenting
Authoritarian parenting. Parents are in power and control and direct their children. They expect unquestioning obedience and may use scare tactics to control, and force and punishment if the child does not obey. They can appear cold and mocking. They do not consult their children and rarely give praise or show pleasure in the children’s achievements.
Permissive parenting. Parents allow themselves to be used as a resource by the children. They exercise limited control but are noticeably loving and affectionate. They may be inconsistent about discipline and generally consult with the children over family decisions and rules. These parents are usually less active in taking responsibility for the children’s behaviour. These parents can appear over-indulgent or inattentive to their child.
Authoritative parenting. Parents show high levels of warmth and achievement demands. They have firm control over the children but in a way which encourages verbal give and take and mutual respect. Good levels of communication are evident and children are always clear about what is expected and why. Parents are more likely to reason with the children and show more warmth than in other groups. These parents are high in acceptance and involvement, responsive, attentive and sensitive to the child’s needs.
Rejecting–neglecting parenting. Parents show an essentially disengaged style and appear emotionally detached. Child rearing barely exceeds the minimum effort to feed and clothe the child. Parents are neither responsive to nor demanding of their child. They do not monitor or support their child’s activities and provide little structure for understanding the world or the social rules required to live in it. At its extreme parents can be guilty of neglect. They may actively reject their child-rearing responsibilities and have a combination of low acceptance and low involvement with little control and general indifference to issues of autonomy (decision- making).
Figure 8.2 Baumrind’s taxonomy of parenting
Source: Based on Baumrind, 1971