2.4 Changing Family Patterns

• Why is marriage less popular? (3)

  -Cost

  -Changing attitiudes

  -Secularisation
• Why did people marry? (4)

  -Economic reasons

  -Social expectations

  -Social status

  -Childbearing/sexual activity
• Decline of the extended family

  charles (2008) - in swansea the three-generation family is now 'all but extinct' with the only exception being the bangladeshi community
• Evidence for the extended family

  Young & Willmott - Extended families were still common in East London in the 70s
• Extended family

  finch and mason - over 90% of people had given or received financial help from their extended family and about 1/2 had cared for a sick relative.
• The beanpole family

  brannen - the beanpole family can be described as 'long and thin
• British south asian family patterns

  berthoud ~

  more traditional family life with high marriage rates and low cohabitation and divorce rates

  arranged marriage was reasonably common among sikhs and muslims but there was very little intemarriage

  bangladeshi and pakistani wives were usually full-time housewives
• White british family patterns

  berthoud ~

  comparatively lower marriage and fertility rates, later marriages, smaller family sizes and higher rates of cohabitation and divorce

  arranged marriages were almost unknown and intermarriage to people from other ethnic groups was relatively common

  separate households being set up after marriage were the norm
• Black british caribbean family patterns

  berthoud ~

  lowest marriage rates than the other two groups and fertility rate similar to white british families

  higher rates of lone parenthood and high rates of intermarriage with other ethnic groups, particularly to white british partners
• Changes in British asian families

  bhatti - there are signs of changing attitudes among young family members that cause conflict with their elders, particularly when sons wish to marry out of their ethnic group
• Childbearing statistics

  nearly half (48.5%) of children are born outside of marriage - twice as many as 1986

  women are having children later - the average age of a woman when she has her first child is 30.7

  women are having fewer children (1.58 per woman in 2020)
• Lone-parent families statistics

  lone-parent families make up 24% of all families so 1 in 5 children live in lone-parent families

  about 90% of lone-parent families are headed by mothers
• Single by choice

  cashmore - some working-class mothers with less earning power chose to live on benefits because they had experienced abuse from the father of the child
• Lone parenthood & the welfare state

  murray views the growth of lone-parent families as resulting from an overly-generous welfare state and the benefits it provides unmarried mothers.
• Stepfamilies

  allan and crow - stepfamilies may deal with divided loyalties in cases where there is contact with the non-resident parent
• Cohabitating couples & marriage

  Coast - 75% of cohabiting couples say they expect to marry one another
• Criticism of cohabitating couples & marriage

  bejin - some young people use cohabitation in a conscious attempt to create a more negotiated and equal relationship and don't get married because of it
• Same-sex couples

  stonewall estimates 5-7% of the adult population are in same-sex relationships
• Chosen families

  weeks - increased social acceptance of same-sex couples led to a trend similar to monogamous heterosexual relationships but gay and lesbian couples also create found families of 'friendship as kinship' to replace the stability of heterosexual families
• What percentage of marriages in 2017 were religious?

  22%
• What was the decrease of marriage from 2016-17?

  2.8%
• What were the average ages for marriage in 2017?

  38 for men & 36 for women
• What 4 things to do with marriage have increased?

  -Average age

  -Delaying

  -Cohabiting

  -Divorce
• Cause of rising divorce rates

  fletcher - the higher expectations people place on marriage is a major cause of rising divorce rates as couples are less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage
• Divorces requested by women

  bernard - as a radical feminist she believes that women feel a growing dissatisfaction with patriarchal marriages, which explains why most divorces are requested by women
• Working women & divorce

  cooke and gash - there is no evidence for working women having higher divorce rates, perhaps because working is now the norm for women
• What are 3 reasons people divorce?

  -Ease of divorce (secularisation)

  -Increasing conflict between spouses

  -Values attached to marriage are too high
• What percentage of marriages end in divorce?

  40%
• What percentage of divorces were sought by women?

  69%
• What was the main piece of legislation for divorce?

  1969 Divorce Law Reform- divorce allowed after 2 years of agreed separation
• What was another piece of legislation for divorce?

  1996 Family Law Act- allows divorce by agreement after a 'period of reflection
• What is more likely to happen to remarriages?

  More likely to end in divorce
• What proportion of marriages are remarriages?

  1/3
• Which class have a higher divorce rate?

  Working class
• Which age have a higher divorce rate?

  Lower the age of marriage, higher the divorce rate
• Which gender is more likely to remarry?

  Men
• What are the negative impacts of divorce on different family members?

  -Men- contact with children (50% make no contact after 2 years)

  -Women- finances

  -Children- anxiety, more likely to divorce
• Why did Mitchell & Goody say there's more divorce?


  Due to a decrease in stigma