Family 

Monogamy - Polygamy

• Of several hundred present day societies, 80 % permitted more than one spouse.
• Cohabitation
• why marry?
• legal treatment of unmarried long term couples
  
  

Nuclear Family

Wife & Husband & Dog (?) (I took this picture in Konstanz, Germany)

Extended family

Historical Development in the U.S.

Colonial Families

• strict punitive authority of parents over children
• children were used to talk about sex
• partly because of the living conditions children were much more exposed to nudity and sexual behavior than today
  

Victorian Families (1850)

• Wives were firmly confined to the household
• double sexual standard: males visited prostitutes (more than 70%, according to Kinsey)
• personal contact between spouses often was minimal
• children often left their families in their teen to work
• extended families (if individuals survived)
  
  

1950s

• still, double sexual standard
• women who went into employment in the WWII period went back into the household
• male dominance was often backed up by physical force

Today's North American family

• extension of children's rights
• the child as the center of the family
  
  

Violence

• Although some researchers still argue that it is the male who uses violence within the family, others begin to realize that violence is used by females as well.

According to Straus and Gelles 1988

• 4.4% of all wives reported that they were severely violent towards their men
• only 3 % of husbands reported that they were severely violent towards their wives
  
  

The most dangerous place to be in modern society is

(a) the car.

(b) the workplace.

(c) the home.

(d) amusement parks.

(e) outside.

Divorce

• Divorces are highest in the world (about double compared to the closest followers, Canada, France, and Germany)
• 60% of all marriages we do today will end in divorce 10 years from now
• Is this a problem?
• Divorce rates are declining

Homosexual marriage

• what about the rights for bisexuals and transgendered people?
• what are the alternatives?
• who profits from the institution of marriage?

Overhead

Nontraditional families in the U.S. 44%

• single parent households 26%
• stepparent 15%
• no parent 3%
  
  
  

Single parent households 26%

• Black families 48%
• Hispanics 25%
• White families 14%

Seven out of eight single-parent families are headed by women

The likelihood to win a contested custody case is lower than 5% for males.

Families with stepparent(s)

• 60% will life in step families over their life course
  

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Disclaimer: The documents linked to other sources on the WWW, others than http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Schneider/ and its subdirectories, do not necessarily express the views of Texas Tech University or Dr. Andreas Schneider. @Copyright 2004 Andreas Schneider