Family structures are becoming more diverse. what evidence is there to Essay

Family structures are becoming more diverse. what evidence is there to support the trends - Essay Example rding to MacIver and Page a family is â€Å"a definite and long term group defined by sexual relationships that reproduce and bring up children†¦ formed by the living together of man, woman and their children.† (Dubey p. 123) So the structure of the nuclear family consisted of the husband wife and children. In other words family structure was based on 1)The relationship between husband and wife. 2) The procreation of children 3)Common residence. But if we examine the reality of today’s growing rates of divorce, single parent families as well as the trend towards gay or ‘same sex marriages’ then we can conclude that there is an increased trend towards blended families, binuclear families and single parent families. This has led the Sociologists William J. Goode to state that the institution of the family as we know it is vanishing altogether; while others state that the term nuclear family is inadequate in explaining the different contemporary household arrangements. Hence the new term ‘postmodern family’ is used to refer to the different forms of family structure including couples minus children as well as single-parent families and blended families. This diversity could be due to the following prevailing trends: Trend 1: There is a growing tendency amongst couples to live together rather than get married. The majorities of such couples have sexual relationships but do not choose to have offspring due to work and other pressures. Trend 2: There is a trend to divorce. This has resulted in children being granted living custody with either their father or mother. As a result the child moves between the homes of the two separated parents so the third element of a families structure, based on residence has also changed. Ogburn and Nimkoff’s give a more modern definition of a family by seeing the family â€Å"†¦as an association formed by the sex relations of husband and wife, with or without children.† Trend 3: There is a growing