Why bother?

• 1. Regulate Sexual behavior• 2. Socialization• 3. Care and Emotional Support• 4. Maintain economic system• 5. Social status of members

Who’s your Daddy?

• Nuclear Family– Monogamy

– Polygamy• Polygyny

• Polyandry

• Extended Family

• Single-Parent

Match-dot what?

• Romantic love is a new concept.

• The Rules…– Exogamy– Endogamy– Homogamy– Hetrogamy

Patterns of Residence• Patrilocality is when the newly married couple

is expected to live with or near the husband’s parents.

• Matrilocality is when the couple is expected to live with or near the wife’s parents.

• Bilocality allows the newly married could to choose whether they will live near the husband’s parents or near the wife’s parents.

• Most societies practice neolocality which allows the married couple to set up their residence apart from both sets of parents

Authority Patterns

• In a patriarchal family, the father holds most of the authority

• In a matriarchal family, the mother holds most of the authority

• In an egalitarian family authority is shared by both the mother and the father

• The vast majority of societies around the world are patriarchal

• The U.S. is moving toward more egalitarian authority patterns

The American Family

•95% of all adults marry at least once during their lifetimes

•The U.S. has one of the highest marriages rates of any industrialized nation

•Marriage rates are declining slightly among younger Americans

1. Delayed Marriage2. Delayed

Childbearing3. Dual –Earner

Marriages4. One-Parent Families5. Remarriages

Happily ever after?

• Having parents who are successfully married• Having known each other for at least two years• Getting married at an older age• Holding traditional values• Having had an engagement that was relatively

free from conflict• Being from the same race and

religion• Having a college education• Having parental approval of

the marriage

The Cycle of Modern American Family Life• 1. Prechildren: DINK• 2. Parenthood• 3. Empty nest

What do our families look like?• Just under 50% of all marriages end in divorce.• 27% of all families are single-parent.• In 2006 67% of children lived in two parent

homes.• From 1978 to 1996 the number of children born

to unwed mothers went from 500,000 to 2,000,000.

• 1 out of 25 children lives with neither parent• Between 35-40% of all American births are to

single women.• 4.5 Million mixed race couples.• 18% of American children live in poverty.• In 2005 47% of high school students reported

having had sex.

• Between 1980 and 2006 the population of Hispanic children went from being 9% of the child population to 20%.

• About 25% of the population is below the age of 18• Between 6-10 million children live with homosexual

parents.• 1/3 of lesbian and 1/5 of gay male households have

children.• 71% of all high school drop outs come from fatherless

homes.• Children from fatherless homes are 5 times more likely

to commit suicide and 20 times more likely to go to jail and 14 times more likely to commit rape.

• 1 in 3 women will experience at least one physical assault by a partner in their life.

• 47% of men who abuse their intimates will do so at least 3 times a year.

• 47% of men who abuse their intimates will do so at least 3 times a year.

• After being abused once 32% of women are abused again.

• 27% of domestic murders are children.• 23% of family murder victims were under the age of 13

and only 3% of non-family murder victims were under 13.• Eight in ten murderers who killed a family member were

male. Males were 83% of spouse murderers and 75% of murderers who killed a boyfriend or girlfriend.

• In homes of domestic abuse children are 1,500 times more likely to also be abused.

• 4 children are killed every day as a result of abuse or neglect.

• 82% of those killed are under 5; 42% are under the age of 1.