Family Structure

The family consists of two or more people born, married, adopted, and living in the same house. The definition of "family" is expanding and there are a single parent, a mixed family, an unrelated individual, a couple of gays. Unfortunately, family guidelines are slow to keep up with modern lifestyle trends (Crawford, 1999). Prior to the Industrial Revolution, structures of families involving complicated families, or three or more adults were common.

The structure of the family is the foundation of American society. Traditional family composition, two homosexuals, biological parents of married children are the most historical family composition. However, this structure has changed to various forms, such as a parent, gay parents, parents raising children. The most common modern transformation among traditional families is a single parent family. According to the US Census Bureau, in 2011, 27.2% of children under the age of 18 had only one parent.

In the United States, the most common family composition was a family with a nuclear structure composed of only two parents and their children. The core family is primarily responsible for educating the norms and expectations of children's society. However, since the middle of the 20th century, as many factors including more types of people change, family factors in the United States are beginning to change. As the number of stepmen and parents increased, the family also began to take older generations into the family's private environment. Elderly people, mainly grandparents, were not like families in daily life, but their lives were short lived. Families in the United States are more likely to establish closer relationships with more generations as life expectancy increases and expectations for grandchildren's participation in life change.

The family structure changes with industrialization. Sociologist Talcott Parsons pointed out that in society before industrialization there were huge family structures of many generations that could stay in the same place for generations. In an industrialized society, nuclear families consisting only of parents and their growing children are dominant. Adults and children are more mobile and tend to move to the workplace. Big family ties will be more vulnerable

Aboriginal people have strong familial values. The family system has an extended family composition rather than a core or immediate family composition that is common in Western society. Because this broad family concept is rarely recognized or understood by government authorities, workers need to understand this when working in indigenous communities. In indigenous communities, the concept of extended families and "family communities" encompass the notion that children are not only concerns of parents but also concerns of the entire community. Parenting, nursing, education, and training are the responsibilities of everyone - men, women, young people and the elderly. The extended family structure is based on the following.