Review of Family Types Essay

Single-Parent Families A single-parent family is a family where the parents are divorced or one of the parents died. Children from single parent families tend to have more problems than children from families with two parents. Research has shown that children from single-parent families get lower grades in school. As a result, fewer children from single parent families go to university. They also get in trouble with the police more. When children from single-parent families grow up, they are more likely to commit a crime or go to jail. However, not all children from single-parent families have problems. Single parents can also be very loving and caring. Nuclear Families Nuclear families are families where just parents and their children live together. Traditionally, most people lived in extended families but increasingly people are choosing to live in nuclear families. Research has shown that urbanization is the main reason why people have changed from living in extended families to living in nuclear families. (Urbanization is when people leave the countryside to live in the city). In Japan, for example, most people lived in extended families before WWII. But now most people live in nuclear families. And before WWII only 38% of people lived in cities, but now 80% of the people live in cities. Extended Families Extended families are families where three or more generations are living in the same house. Usually, that means that the grandparents are living with their children and grandchildren. Research has shown that there are several advantages to living in extended families. Extended families are very important in countries where there is no social security net. Extended families help prevent elderly people from becoming poor. Another advantage is that the grandparents can look after the children. During the day, the grandparents watch the children to make sure that they are ok. And they also talk to the children when the parents are busy. This helps the children learn their language. And since the children are well taken care of, both of the parents are free to work on the farm or earn money in jobs. Bicultural Families Bicultural families are families where the parents come from different nationalities or different religions or different races. One advantage to coming from a bicultural family is that the children have more experiences. And so they tend to be more open-minded. Language is another area where bicultural children have an advantage. Research has shown that children can easily learn two languages when they are young. But it is important for the parents to not mix the languages. The father should only use the father’s language when speaking to the child and the mother should only use the mother’s language. However, one disadvantage of living in a bicultural family is that children have an identity problem. They don’t know who they are. Quiz – Four Families What are single-parent families? Do children from single parents tend to have more or fewer problems? What two problems does the article talk about? (1) (2) Do all children from single-parent families have problems? What is an extended family? Where are extended families very important? How do grandparents help children? What is a nuclear family? What is the main reason why more and more people live in nuclear families? How did Japan change after WWII? What is a bicultural family? How are children from bicultural families different from other children? If bicultural parents want to teach their children how to speak two languages what should they do? What problems do bicultural children have?