Outline and explain the reasons for the rise in single parent families in UK society British people are increasingly likely to live in single-parent families, stay at home for longer, marry later and struggle to afford a house. The Office of National Statistics said children in the UK were three times more likely to live in one-parent households than they were in 1972. According to the ONS, since 1971 the proportion of all people living in "nuclear" family households of married couples with children has fallen from 52% to 37%. There are several reasons to why there is a rise in single parent families. More children are born in Britain today outside of marriage than in most other European countries.
The verse that I feel is the most profound is “I wanna hold you baby right or wrong” (22). Being there for someone right or wrong. Standing by their side through thick or thin. If someone truly loves someone they will be there for them no matter what. When she states “when you’re gone/ I wanna go too” (19-20) means to me that if you love someone this much, that you can not bare the thought of going on with your life without them.
Because they found each other a little later than the average couple does, they were older than most parents when they decided to have me. My father was 38 when I was born while my mother was 33. They are now 59 and 54 respectively and apart from our dog, who I sometimes consider to be my little sister, our nuclear household consists of three members. Being an only child has affected my upbringing in many ways and I find there to be many benefits but even more drawbacks. The first perspective I’m going to analyze my family of origin with is the structural-functional perspective.
The traits I have chosen for my personal character are applicable to me because I have always looked upon the characteristics of a successful person and I believe my personal character possesses the traits. I am the oldest of my four siblings and it is necessary for me to be a role model and pave the path for each of them. My parents must depend on me to be responsible to look over them at times. I show my siblings my self-confidence so they can take that and overcome any challenges they might face and not to fear them. When they struggle on homework I’m there to navigate them through it until they are capable of doing it on their own.
Nuclear families consist of both adult male and female with mutually conceived dependants and is always made up of two generations. Extended families, where more prevalent during the first half of the 20th Century include the nuclear family plus vertical lineage, where one or more older generations are included. Occasionally aunts, uncles and cousins are part of the extended family, this type is generally classed as horizontally extended. The reconstituted family, is one where either one or both of the household adults have had children through previous relationships and have brought them into a new family environment meaning there is a presence of step parents and children. This type is becoming more common due to the change in society where divorce is more common and accepted.
Generally, the family is regarded as a major social institution and a major part of a person’s social activity (1). Typical families are created by marriage, blood, adoption, etc. The modern families basic model was the nuclear family, a pair of adult partners living together with their children forming a group, or family (2). The nuclear modern family is extremely well known and is the most common family that comes to mind. Although the modern family is the most well known, it may not be the most common family in the United States anymore.
For example according to the paper in the 1950s 53 percent of Americans in their 20s read newspaper coverage of national politics, while today only about 30 percent watch any kind of news coverage and 24 percent don’t even care to watch at all. This shows that the argument of a decaying news audience is well supported by studies and statistics. Another big source of information for this essay is Nielsen/ NetRatings. Nielsen is a company that mainly focuses on providing companies such as NBC, CBS, and ABC numbers on many things including the number of viewers at a determined hour, peak times, primetime information and results on new shows. Although there are problems with Nielsen methods, for example they only survey people by phone calls and do not
Cohabitation and single sex families have all started to become the norm in Britain today. Decades ago it was very rare to see any other family than a nuclear family. In Britain today there is much more diversity in families and this has partly been caused by the different ethnic group population that are now living here in Britain such as the Asian families and the Afro Caribbean. Furthermore, the rate of single parent families has also increased. Research shows that 28% of homes are single person households.
The family structure is considered a traditional family support system involving two married individuals providing care and stability for their biological offspring. However, this two- parent, nuclear family has become less prevalent, and alternative family forms have become more common. The family is created at birth and establishes ties across generations. Those generations, the extended family of aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins, can hold significant emotional and economic roles for the nuclear family. Over time, the traditional structure has had to adapt to very influential changes, including divorce and the introduction of single- parent families, teenage pregnancy and unwed mothers, homosexuality and same-sex marriage, and increased interest in adoption.
Studies done by Sara McLanahan and Gary D. Sandefur, they had found that children raised by single parents were worse off in life than children that were raised by both parents regardless of race, educational background or if the parent was remarried. The same would hold true for teenagers that were raised by a single parent or only lived with one parent at one point during