The United States Census Bureau defines a family as two or more people who are related by blood, adoption or marriage, living together. Most American families include members of just two generations: parents and their children, though many extended families do include more than two generations. There are about 65.8 million families in the United States. What is the purpose of a family? Experts agree that the family structure should provide emotional, physical and educational support. The role of the family in a young person's life has changed in the past 100 years.
Families 100 years ago were large, partly because children were needed to
work and earn additional money for the family. Now, young children no longer
work and earn wages; in addition, providing an education and life's necessities
for children is very expensive. As one result, American families are much
smaller than in previous decades. In 1989, the average size of a family was 3.16
people.
In what types of families are children growing up? In 1989, the United States
Census Bureau reported that while most families retain the traditional
structure, including a father, a mother, children and sometimes a grandparent,
22 percent of all families with children under 18 years old are one-parent
families (families with only a father or only a mother; the other parent not
living with the family). Why? High divorce rates, separation and birth of
children to unmarried women are a few reasons. In cases of separation or divorce
of the parents, the parent not living with the children usually provides
child-support payments. Most of the families in this category—five out of
six—are headed by women. And one-parent families headed by women are usually
poorer than other families. In 1989 the median family income in the United
States was $32,191. For families headed by women, the median income was less
than half—$15,346.
Some of these difficulties are relieved by government programs providing help
to low-income families. One such program, Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC), helps poor parents with school-aged children. Another, the
Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children, provides food
to low-income women before and after childbirth. Still, poverty affects the way
in which the children in these families grow up. Another change in family life
is that more wives and mothers work outside the home. In 1988, women made up 45
percent of the national work force. And 65 percent of those women had children
under 18.
What do American teenagers think about their families? According to a
national survey taken during the mid-1980s, between one-half and two-thirds of
all American youths have a "comfortable" or "happy" relationship with their
parent or parents. Their traditional disagreements are over such things as:
curfew (time to come home at night), whether or not to attend religious
services; doing work around the house; and the friends with whom the young
person spends his/her leisure time. A survey entitled, "The Mood of American
Youth," published by the National Association of Secondary School Principals,
also indicates that the majority of young people agree with the opinions and
values of their parents.