Chapter 1

MPU 2072 -FAMILY ISSUES
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO FAMILY
Thamil Selvi Dorasingam 2013
How Do You Define Family?
Overview About Definition of Family
The definition of family over time has changed
especially when you think of the ideal family which is
the 1950's model. This is no longer expected and
there are many different types of families such as
blended family, serial fatherhood families, divorce is
common and others.

Definition of family

Closely related people blood, marriage, adoption,
live together.
Family Members
Members of family have so many roles to play.
In your family there are the roles that given to
you by birth such as :
Daughter/ son
Sister / brother
Niece/nephew
as time goes than roles that you choose as a ;
Husband / wife
Parents
Worker


Family Types
Two-parent biological family
Parents and their biological
children
Defining factors: blood ties and
marriage
This Leave It to Beaver family
is no longer the norm.
Only 12% of families fit this
stereotype.
Single-parent family
One parent and one or more children
No involvement of other parent
Death, abandonment, single-parent adoption
Primary parent family
More than one parent takes responsibility for
children, although usually unequal.

Blended family
Stepfamily
Adoptive family
Extended family
Intentional (or voluntaristic) family
Committed partners

Stages and Developmental in the
Family Life Cycle

Stage 1: Beginning family

Married couple establish home but no children.
Developmental Tasks: Establishing a satisfying
home and marriage relationship and preparing
for childbirth.

Stage 2: Childbearing Family
From birth of 1
st
child until that child is 2
years old
Developmental Task: Adjusting to increased
family size and providing a positive
developmental environment
Stage 3: Family with Preschoolers

Oldest child is between 2 and 6
Developmental tasks (DT): coping with
demands on energy and attention with less
privacy at home
Stage 4: Family with School Children
When oldest child is between ages of 6 and 13
DT: Promoting educational achievement and
fitting in with the community of families with
school-age children
Stage 5: Family with Teenagers
Oldest child is between ages of 13 and 20
DT: Allowing and helping children to become
more independent

Stage 6: Launching Centre

When oldest child leaves family until the
youngest leaves home
DT: Releasing young adults and accepting new
ways of relating to them; maintaining a
supportive home base

Stage 7: Empty Nest
From time children are gone till couple retires
DT: Renewing and redefining marriage
relationship; preparing for retirement years

Stage 8: Aging Family
From retirement till death of the marriage
partner
DT: Adjusting to retirement; coping with
death and living alone.

Benefits living in family
Family provides physical needs such as food,
shelter, clothing and health care.
Family can protect you from harmful or
dangerous situation.
Family can give you sense of belonging through
the life long relationship that you have with
your family members.( you always will be a
sister , brother, aunty , uncle and others ).You
share a lot of common things with them.

Family can be source of love and affection.

Family can be source of encouragement and
support.

Family can play an important role in socializing
you in a manner of educating or teaching you
how to behave in a way which is acceptable,
provide you with value beliefs and custom of
your particular family.
Trends in Families
adoption becoming more common
families are more equal in the sense of who makes
the rules, women more equal to their spouse
blended families
single parents
cohabitation before marriage

Adoption
over time became more popular
husbands and their wives that couldn't have kids
adopted
children left in the dark about being adopted until
later on
grey market of adoption

Adoption
stage 2: children know they're adopted/ open adoptions.

stage 3: legitimate ways to adopt besides agencies past 20
years growth of international adoption have increased.

Reasons for changes in trends in families
later marriage
13% teen pregnancy
same sex relationships
adoption within those relationships
8% interracial

college: adolescence; returning home ,leaving later,
male more likely than female (25-29)
Number of kids decreasing 1.9 children (during
early 1900s more kids in rural areas to help with
the farm and males especially important to take
care of parents when they grow old)
fictive kin: not actually blood related but
considered family
MASLOWS
HIERARCHY
AND
FAMILIES
Abraham Maslow a humanistic psychologist
had given us a useful way to look at human
needs.

Maslow classified human needs into five levels
and he represented that in a form of pyramid.

According to Maslow human must satisfy
their lower or basic needs in order to them to
go the next level of their needs.
BUT HOW DOES
MASLOWS THEORY AND
FAMILY RELATIONSHIP
ARE CONNECTED ..

ISSUES IN NOWADAYS
FAMILIES
BEFORE WE GO FURTHER
WHAT DO YOU THINK
ONE OF THE COMMON
ISSUE IN TODAYS
FAMILIES.

Changing Demographics
People continue to marry.
52% of households are married
couples
Median age: 25 years

Divorce rate is stabilizing
43% of first marriages end within15 years.
Remarriage rates are dropping
5 out of 6 men and 3 out of 4 women
eventually remarry after a first divorce.
The mean length of time between divorce and
remarriage is four years.

Stepfamilies continue to increase through
remarriage .
One out of every three people is now a step
parent, a stepchild, a step sibling, or some
other member of a step family.


The number of single-parent families
continues to increase.
Families continue to be constructed
through adoption.
scientific technologies

Economic Issues
Two income couples are becoming the
norm.
Yet 70% of all parents do not feel they spend
enough time with their children (Families and
Work Institute, 1998).
Over 70% of single mothers are working.

Ethnic Issues
Ethnic heritage has a long term effect on
family functioning

Remember..
Everyone comes to this course with some
understanding (and opinions) of how families
function and interact. However, no two
people have the same familial experiences.
Each person has something to offer AND
something to learn.

THANK YOU

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MPU 2072 -FAMILY ISSUES

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