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

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 Family Life

• 1. Prechildren• 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.• 50% of children will live with only one parent.• 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• 550,000 children live in foster care.• 4.5 Million mixed race couples.

• 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.• 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.