Chapter 1: Family, Family forms, and Family theories
Family: Any group of people united by ties of marriage, bold, or adoption or
any sexually expressive relationship in which (1) the adults cooperate
financially for their mutual support, (2) the people are committed to one
another in an intimate interpersonal relationship, (3) the members see their
individual identities as importantly attached to the group, and(4) the group
has an identity of its own.
Family Forms
Voluntarily childless family: A couple who decide not to have
children.
Single-parent family: A parent (who may or may not have been
married) and one or more children.
Nuclear family: A father, a mother, and their children.
Family of origin: The family into which you are born and in which you
are raised.
Family of procreation: The family you establish if you have children
of your own.
Extended family: An individual, possibly a partner, any children the
individual might have, and other relatives who live in the household or
near by.
Blended, or reconstituted, family: A family formed when a
widowed or divorced person, with or without children, remarried
another person who may or may not have been married before and
who may or may not have children.
Stepfamily: A remarried man and/or women plus children from a
former marriage.
Binuclear family: An original family divided into two families by
divorce.
Polygamous family: A single-family unit based on the marriage of
one person to two or more mates.
Polygynous family: A man married to more than one man/husband.
Patriarchal family: A family in which the father is head of the
household, with authority over other family members.
Matriarchal family: A family in which the mother is head of the
household, with authority over other family members.
Family: Any group of people united by ties of marriage, bold, or adoption or
any sexually expressive relationship in which (1) the adults cooperate
financially for their mutual support, (2) the people are committed to one
another in an intimate interpersonal relationship, (3) the members see their
individual identities as importantly attached to the group, and(4) the group
has an identity of its own.
Family Forms
Voluntarily childless family: A couple who decide not to have
children.
Single-parent family: A parent (who may or may not have been
married) and one or more children.
Nuclear family: A father, a mother, and their children.
Family of origin: The family into which you are born and in which you
are raised.
Family of procreation: The family you establish if you have children
of your own.
Extended family: An individual, possibly a partner, any children the
individual might have, and other relatives who live in the household or
near by.
Blended, or reconstituted, family: A family formed when a
widowed or divorced person, with or without children, remarried
another person who may or may not have been married before and
who may or may not have children.
Stepfamily: A remarried man and/or women plus children from a
former marriage.
Binuclear family: An original family divided into two families by
divorce.
Polygamous family: A single-family unit based on the marriage of
one person to two or more mates.
Polygynous family: A man married to more than one man/husband.
Patriarchal family: A family in which the father is head of the
household, with authority over other family members.
Matriarchal family: A family in which the mother is head of the
household, with authority over other family members.
