Family types and statistics

• Household


  The people that you live with
• Family


  The emotional bonds that you have with people and the people you are biologically related to
• Nuclear family


  • People who are united by ties of partnership and parenthood
  • Have both female and male role models
  • Could become isolated from other family members
  • Could see conflict between parents when making big decisions
• Reconstituted family


  • When two families join together after one or both partners have divorced their previous partners
  • Have a bigger support system
  • Conflict between adults over parenting style
  • Can cause sibling rivalry
  • Confusion of identity
• Symmetrical Family


  • Where a family divides all responsibilities equally between partners
  • Have two parents financially supporting the income to the household
  • Takes away traditional gender roles
  • With the lack of gender roles this could lead to a lack of identity for children
• Lone parent families


  • Containing only one parent with their children/child
  • Showing a strong independent role model
  • Less conflict over parenting styles
  • Less financial support
  • Lack a mother/father figure
• Beanpole


  • A multi-generational family that gets smaller over time so less children are being born
  • Will have less financial struggles due to not having as many children to support
  • Have a lack of companionship with siblings
  • May lack the abilities to share
• Same-sex parents


  • A homosexual couple living together with children
  • Have a diverse household
  • May lack other gender role models
• Extended family


  • A family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and children so have other relatives that live in the same household
  • Have a big support system
  • May cause conflict between parenting styles
• In 2009, 13 per cent of both men and woman aged 16 to 59 were cohabiting
• 1.9 million families consisting of a single parent and dependent children
• Both men and woman in cohabiting relationship are more likely to be unfaithful to their partners than married people
• The percentage of the families that are headed by a lone mother increased from 7 per cent in 1971 to 20 per cent in 2009
• 70% of people still live in a nuclear family