1. FAMILY

2. The Importance of Family
Reproduction
Regulate sexual activity
Transmit social status
Economic resources
Develop a person’s self-concept
Socialization

3. Family and Marriage in America
Nuclear families
Bilateral heritage (traced through mother and father)
Democratic families (equality in decision making)
Neolocal
Monogamous

4. Love and Marriage
“Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage.”

5. Rank your top 10 characteristics for a marriage partner…
Honest and truthful
Fun to be with
Same educational background
Will take care of me
Wants to have children
Communicates well with me
Will share household jobs and tasks
Is a good friend with whom I can talk
Is of the same religious background
Makes decisions
Earns good money
Is physically attractive
13. Is in love with me and I with him/her
Encourages me to be my own person
Has interests like mine in money and having fun
Makes me feel important
Is faithful
Shares mutual interests in home, children, romantic love, and religion.
Has had a happy childhood with happily married parents
Is emotionally mature
Is prepared to support a family
Is interested in waiting to marry until age 22 or older
Wants a six-month to two-year engagement period

6. Divorce

7. What are the causes of divorce?
Age of people when they married (20-24)
How many years the people have been married
Nature and quality of the relationship (respect and flexibility)

8. What factors affect divorce?
The economy
Bad economy= low divorce rate, good economy= high divorce rate
Stigma of divorce
Financial independence of women
Values and attitudes about marriage and divorce

9. Marriage in the US Average age of first marriage is increasing
Average age of population is increasing (Baby Boomers)
American couples are having fewer children  less pressure on marriage

10. When the family doesn’t work…
Almost ¼ of American adults report being abused as children.
1 of every 4 girls and 1 of every 10 boys are victims of sexual aggression.
47 of every 1000 children are victims of child maltreatment each year
At least 4 million women are battered by their husbands each year.
¾ of spousal abuse occurs during separation or after divorce
Husband abuse is just as common, but is usually the result of wife abuse.
Not limited to physical abuse.
Most frequent and most tolerated family violence- sibling violence

11. Changes in Marriage and Family
Blended family- creates a new type of extended family
Money difficulties
Stepchildren’s antagonism
Unclear roles
Single-parent families
1 of every four families (90% headed by female)
Childless Marriages (19% of married women do not have children -2000)
Dual-Employed Marriages
Cohabitation (over ¼ of adults in US have cohabitated)
Same-sex domestic partners
Single life (increased 150% since 1970)
Boomerang Kids (more than ¼ of adults live with parents)

12. Future Trends The nuclear family is not disappearing
Over 90% of men and women marry sometime in their life
Family life is changing- traditional stay-at-home-mom families make up only ¼ of all families
Parental supervision is declining