Chapter Summary

Is the Family Doomed? (pp. 436-440)

The popular and professional literature continue to forecast the death of the family, but most sociologists view alternate forms of family as different ways for people to express their intimacy needs. Among the important changes in American families are increases in the age at first marriage, the proportion of young adults remaining single, divorced adults, adults living alone, unmarried couples, families maintained by adults with no spouse present, children living with only one parent, wives and mothers working, and dual-career families. The functions of family have also changed over time.

The family becomes a problem when it does not fulfill its purposes, particularly its purpose as a primary group. Structural problems relate to the breaking up of husband and wife or parent and child. Supportive problems or failure involve the emotional support or lack of support of each family member. Although these problems are difficult to measure, divorce rates, family violence, and parental rejection by youth are useful indicators. Poverty, deviant behavior, antisocial conduct, interpersonal difficulties, and low self-esteem may be by-products of a disturbed family life characterized by structural or supportive failure.

How family problems affect the quality of life is sometimes obvious and sometimes not. There are various physical and emotional difficulties that are rooted in family arrangements. Most single-headed families have a female head, and these broken homes are much more likely to be affected by poverty than other homes. There are various deviant behaviors associated with disturbed family life. People who come from disturbed families tend to have various difficulties that may be subsumed under the category of maladjustment.

In terms of social structural factors, many of the social norms surrounding family have changed; for example, the norms concerning divorce. A number of role problems have been identified as important in marital dissatisfaction, for they can contribute to both structural and supportive problems. Family continuity is another consideration since many problems, like family violence, tend to be continued from one generation to the next. As with all problems, there are differences among families depending on the socioeconomic level: Divorce, for example, is more common in the lower strata than in the middle and upper. Rapid change of the social structure creates its own problems; for example, certain kinds of change can affect the divorce rate. Among the social psychological factors are attitudes toward various family forms and in terms of people's behavior (as in cases of abuse), values, and homogamy. The American value of success can lead to supportive failure in the family. The American ideology of the "good" family generates a set of expectations; when those expectations are not met, the result may be stress and dissatisfaction.

The authors suggest both therapeutic and preventive measures in dealing with family problems. Among the therapeutic measures are traditional counseling services and small-group settings. Among the preventive measures are experimentation with new family forms, good family life education, marriage enrichment programs, and women's shelters for victims of battering.