View source for Family

{{Short description|Group of related people}}
{{about|the group of related people|the taxonomic rank|Family (biology)|other uses}}
{{Redirect-multi|2|Family life|Family member|other uses|Family Life (disambiguation)|the song|Family Member (song)}} 
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{{Anthropology of kinship|concepts}}
[[File:Sauk Indian family by Frank Rinehart 1899.jpg|thumb|right|[[Sauk people|Sauk]] family photographed by [[Frank Rinehart]] in 1899]]
'''Family''' (from {{langx|la|familia}}) is a [[Social group|group]] of [[people]] related either by [[consanguinity]] (by recognized birth) or [[Affinity (law)|affinity]] (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for [[social order]].<ref name="Brown Brown 2014 pp. 2194–2201">{{cite book | last1=Brown | first1=Roy I. | last2=Brown | first2=Ivan | title=Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research | chapter=Family Quality of Life | publisher=Springer Netherlands | publication-place=Dordrecht | year=2014 | doi=10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_1006 | pages=2194–2201 | isbn=978-94-007-0752-8 | quote=family is recognized in cultures around the world and across history as a fundamental unit of social order.}}</ref> Ideally, families offer [[predictability]], structure, and safety as members mature and learn to participate in the community.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Donald Collins |author2=Catheleen Jordan |author3=Heather Coleman |title=An Introduction to Family Social Work |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLQyPwAACAAJ |year=2010 |publisher=Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0-495-80872-5 |pages=28–29 |access-date=2019-08-13 |archive-date=2020-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731081508/https://books.google.com/books?id=SLQyPwAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Historically, most human societies use family as the primary purpose of [[Attachment theory|attachment]], nurturance, and [[socialization]].<ref>Alhussain, Khalid, Shah, Drishti, Thornton, James, Kelly, Kimberly. Familial Opioid Misuse and Family Cohesion: Impact on Family Communication and Well-being. ''Addictive Disorders & Their Treatment'' 2019;18(4):194–204. {{doi |10.1097/ADT.0000000000000165}}.</ref><ref>Lander L, Howsare J, Byrne M. The impact of substance use disorders on families and children: from theory to practice. Soc Work Public Health. 2013;28:194–205.</ref><ref name="Manzi Brambilla 2014 pp. 2167–2168">{{cite book | last1=Manzi | first1=Claudia | last2=Brambilla | first2=Maria | title=Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research | chapter=Family Connectedness | publisher=Springer Netherlands | publication-place=Dordrecht | year=2014 | doi=10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_998 | pages=2167–2168 | isbn=978-94-007-0752-8 | quote=Family connectedness is defined as a particular characteristic of the family bond, also referred as family or parental closeness, support, warmth, or responsiveness. This characteristic of the family can be observed when families maintain emotional connections with each other through encouragement of shared family celebrations, family rituals, and family traditions.}}</ref><ref name="de Jong Reis 2016 pp. 25–32">{{cite book | last1=de Jong | first1=D.C. | last2=Reis | first2=H.T. | title=Encyclopedia of Mental Health | chapter=Love and Intimacy | publisher=Elsevier | year=2016 | doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-397045-9.00107-5 | pages=25–32 | isbn=9780123977533 | quote= Central to intimacy is responsiveness, the process by which relationship partners attend to and respond supportively to each other’s wishes, needs, and concerns. Responsive interactions begin when one person discloses a core aspect of his or her self.}}</ref>

[[Anthropologist]]s classify most family organizations as [[Matrifocal family|matrifocal]] (a mother and her children), [[patrifocal]] (a father and his children), [[wikt:conjugal|conjugal]] (a married couple with children, also called the [[nuclear family]]), [[avuncular]] (a man, his sister, and her children), or [[Extended family|extended]] (in addition to [[parents]], [[spouse]] and [[children]], may include [[Grandparent|grandparents]], [[Aunt|aunts]], [[Uncle|uncles]], or [[Cousin|cousins]]).

The field of [[genealogy]] aims to trace family lineages through history. The family is also an important economic unit studied in [[family economics]]. The word "families" can be used metaphorically to create more inclusive categories such as [[community]], [[nation]]hood, and [[global village (term)|global village]].

==Social==
[[File:Galla Placidia (rechts) und ihre Kinder.jpg|thumb|Detail of a [[gold glass]] medallion with a portrait of a family, from [[Alexandria]] ([[Roman Egypt]]), 3rd–4th century ([[Brescia]], [[Museo di Santa Giulia]])<ref>Jás Elsner (2007). "The Changing Nature of Roman Art and the Art Historical Problem of Style," in Eva R. Hoffman (ed), ''Late Antique and Medieval Art of the Medieval World'', 11–18. Oxford, Malden & Carlton: Blackwell Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-4051-2071-5}}, p. 17, Figure 1.3 on p. 18.</ref>]]One of the primary functions of the family involves providing a framework for the production and [[reproduction]] of persons biologically and socially. This can occur through the sharing of material substances (such as food); the giving and receiving of care and nurture ([[nurture kinship]]); [[jural rights]] and obligations; also moral and sentimental ties.<ref name="Schneider p. 182">Schneider, David 1984 ''A Critique of the Study of Kinship''. Ann Arbor: [[University of Michigan Press]]. p. 182</ref><ref>Deleuze-Guattari (1972). Part 2, ch. 3, p. 80</ref> Thus, one's experience of one's family shifts over time.

There are different perspectives of the term 'family', from the perspective of [[children]], the family is a "family of orientation": the family serves to locate children socially and plays a major role in their [[enculturation]] and socialization.<ref>[[John Russon|Russon, John]], (2003) ''Human Experience: Philosophy, Neurosis, and the Elements of Everyday Life'', Albany: [[State University of New York Press]]. pp. 61–68.</ref> From the point of view of the parent(s), the family is a "family of [[procreation]]", the goal of which is to produce, enculturate and socialize children.<ref>George Peter Murdoch ''Social Structure'' p. 13</ref> However, producing children is not the only function of the family; in societies with a [[sexual division of labor]], [[marriage]], and the resulting relationship between two people, it is necessary for the formation of an economically productive [[household]].<ref>Wolf, Eric. 1982 ''Europe and the People Without History''. Berkeley: [[University of California Press]]. 92</ref><ref>Harner, Michael 1975 "Scarcity, the Factors of Production, and Social Evolution," in ''Population, Ecology, and Social Evolution'', Steven Polgar, ed. Mouton Publishers: [[The Hague]].</ref><ref>Rivière, Peter 1987 "Of Women, Men, and Manioc", ''Etnologiska Studier'' (38).</ref>

C. C. Harris notes that the western conception of a family is ambiguous and confused with the [[household]], as revealed in the different contexts in which the word is used.<ref>"We have seen that people can refer to their relatives as 'the family'. 'All the family turned up for the funeral... But of course, my brother didn't bring his family along— they're much too young.' Here the reference is to the offspring (as distinct from 'all' the family). The neighbors were very good, too. 'The Jones came, and their two children. It was nice, the whole family turning up like that.' Here the usage is more restricted than 'relatives' or 'his relatives,' but includes just both parents and offspring. 'Of course, the children will be leaving home soon. It's always sad to see the family break up like that.' Here the reference is not only to parents and children but to their co-residence, that is, to the household." The Family and Industrial Society", 1983, George Allen Unwin, London, p. 30</ref> [[Olivia Harris]] states this confusion is not accidental, but indicative of the familial ideology of [[capitalist]], [[Western world|western]] countries that pass social legislation that insists members of a [[nuclear family]] should live together, and that those not so related should not live together. Despite the ideological and legal pressures, a large{{how much?|date=August 2024}} percentage of families do not conform to the ideal [[nuclear family]] type.<ref>{{cite book |title=Of Marriage and the Market: Women's Subordination Internationally and its Lessons |publisher=Routeledge |location=London |page=138 |first=Olivia |last=Harris |editor-first1=Kate |editor-last1=Young |editor-first2=Carol |editor-last2=Wolkowitz |editor-first3=Roslyn |editor-last3=McCullagh }}</ref>

===Size===
{{Further|Fertility factor (demography)}}
[[File:Mennonite siblings Montana 1937.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mennonite]] siblings, Montana, United States, 1937]]
The [[total fertility rate]] of women varies from country to country, from a high rate of 6.76 children born per woman in [[Niger]] to a low rate of 0.81 in [[Singapore]] (as of 2015).<ref name="cia.gov">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html |title=The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency |website=Cia.gov |access-date=12 April 2017 |archive-date=28 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028133713/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Fertility is [[Sub-replacement fertility|below replacement]] in all [[Eastern European]] and [[Southern European]] countries, and particularly high in [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]n countries.<ref name="cia.gov"/>

In some cultures, the mother's preference of family size influences that of the children's through early adulthood.<ref name="AxinnClarkberg1994">{{cite journal |last1=Axinn |first1=William G. |last2=Clarkberg |first2=Marin E. |last3=Thornton |first3=Arland |title=Family Influences on Family Size Preferences |journal=Demography |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=65–79 |year=1994 |issn=0070-3370 |doi=10.2307/2061908|pmid=8005343 |jstor=2061908 |s2cid=7787872 |doi-access=free }}</ref> A parent's number of children strongly correlates with the number of children that their children will eventually have.<ref name="Murphy2013">{{cite journal |last1=Murphy |first1=Michael |title=Cross-National Patterns of Intergenerational Continuities in Childbearing in Developed Countries |journal=Biodemography and Social Biology |volume=59 |issue=2 |year=2013 |pages=101–126 |issn=1948-5565 |doi=10.1080/19485565.2013.833779 |pmid=24215254 |pmc=4160295 }}</ref>

=={{anchor|Family types}}Types==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-A0808-0008-001, Berlin, Passanten.jpg|thumb|A German mother with her children in the 1960s]]
Although early western [[cultural anthropologist]]s and [[sociologist]]s considered family and [[kinship]] to be universally associated with relations by "blood" (based on ideas common in their own cultures) later research<ref name="Schneider p. 182"/> has shown that many societies instead understand family through ideas of living together, the sharing of food (e.g. [[milk kinship]]) and sharing care and [[nurture kinship|nurture]]. [[Sociologist]]s have a special interest in the function and status of family forms in stratified (especially [[Capitalism|capitalist]]) societies.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Little |first=William |date=2014-11-06 |title=Chapter 1. An Introduction to Sociology |url=https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter1-an-introduction-to-sociology/ |language=en |journal= |access-date=2022-07-15 |archive-date=2022-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715120027/https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter1-an-introduction-to-sociology/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to the work of scholars [[Max Weber]], [[Alan Macfarlane]], [[Steven Ozment]], [[Jack Goody]] and [[Peter Laslett]], the huge transformation that led to modern marriage in Western democracies was "fueled by the religio-cultural value system provided by elements of [[Judaism]], early [[Christianity]], [[Roman Catholic]] [[Canon law of the Catholic Church|canon law]] and the [[Protestant Reformation]]".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3322 |website= Religion-online.org |title= The Collapse of Marriage by Don Browning – The Christian Century |date= February 7, 2006 |pages= 24–28 |access-date= 2007-07-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181232/http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3322 |archive-date= September 30, 2007 }}</ref>

Much sociological, [[historical]] and [[cultural anthropology|anthropological]] research dedicates itself to the understanding of this variation, and of changes in the family that form over time. Levitan claims:

{{Blockquote|Times have changed; it is more acceptable and encouraged for mothers to work and fathers to spend more time at home with the children. The way roles are balanced between the parents will help children grow and learn valuable life lessons. There is [the] great importance of communication and equality in families, in order to avoid role strain.<ref>{{cite web |last=Levitan |first=Sara |date=2010 |title=Working wives and mothers: what happens to family life? |url=http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1981/09/art4full.pdf |access-date=January 8, 2014 |archive-date=August 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819042724/http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1981/09/art4full.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Nonetheless, the results of [[Steven Ruggles]]' assessment of world census data suggest "nineteenth-century Northwest Europe and North America did not have exceptionally simple or nuclear family structure."<ref name="Ruggles">{{cite journal |last1=Ruggles |first1=Steven |title=Reconsidering the Northwest European Family System: Living Arrangements of the Aged in Comparative Historical Perspective |journal=National Library of Medicine |date=9 August 2010 |pmid=20700477 |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2917824/ |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>

=== Multigenerational family ===
Historically, the most common family type was one in which grandparents, parents, and children lived together as a single unit. For example, the household might include the owners of a farm, one (or more) of their adult children, the adult child's spouse, and the adult child's own children (the owners' grandchildren). Members of the extended family are not included in this family group. Sometimes, "skipped" generation families, such as a grandparents living with their grandchildren, are included.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2010-03-18|title=The Return of the Multi-Generational Family Household|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2010/03/18/the-return-of-the-multi-generational-family-household/|access-date=2021-02-20|website=Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228135239/https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2010/03/18/the-return-of-the-multi-generational-family-household/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Settled_sami_vasterbotten_sweden_publ_1926.jpg|thumb|Settled Sami (Lapplander) family of farmers in [[Stensele]], [[Västerbotten]], Sweden, early 20th century|left]]

In the US, this arrangement declined after [[World War II]], reaching a low point in 1980, when about one out of every eight people in the US lived in a multigenerational family.<ref name=":0" /> The numbers have risen since then, with one in five people in the US living in a multigenerational family as of 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-04-05|title=Record 64 million Americans live in multigenerational households|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/05/a-record-64-million-americans-live-in-multigenerational-households/|access-date=2021-02-20|website=Pew Research Center|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221114431/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/05/a-record-64-million-americans-live-in-multigenerational-households/|url-status=live}}</ref> The increasing popularity is partly driven by [[demographic change]]s and the economic shifts associated with the [[Boomerang Generation]].<ref name=":0" />

Multigenerational households are less common in Canada, where about 6% of people living in Canada were living in multigenerational families as of 2016, but the proportion of multigenerational households was increasing rapidly, driven by increasing numbers of Aboriginal families, immigrant families, and high housing costs in some regions.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-08-02|title=The Daily — Families, households and marital status: Key results from the 2016 Census|url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/170802/dq170802a-eng.htm?HPA=1|access-date=2021-02-20|website=[[Statistics Canada]]|archive-date=2021-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415000117/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/170802/dq170802a-eng.htm?HPA=1|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Conjugal (nuclear) family===
The term "[[nuclear family]]" is commonly used to refer to conjugal families. A "[[Marriage|conjugal]]" family includes only the spouses and unmarried children who are not of age.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth370/gloss.html|title= Definitions of Anthropological Terms|first= Court|last= Smith|website= Oregonstate.edu|access-date= 12 April 2017|archive-date= 7 February 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150207201248/http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth370/gloss.html|url-status= dead}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=June 2018}} Some sociologists{{which|date=June 2018}} distinguish between conjugal families (relatively independent of the kindred of the parents and of other families in general) and nuclear families (which maintain relatively close ties with their kindred).<ref>Compare: {{cite book | editor1-last = Scott | editor1-first = John | editor1-link = John Scott (sociologist) | title = A Dictionary of Sociology | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2zr_AwAAQBAJ | series = Oxford paperback reference | edition = 4 | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 2014 | page = 237 | isbn = 978-0-19-968358-1 | access-date = 2018-06-30 | quote = The conjugal family refers to a family system of spouses and their dependent children. [...] The term nuclear family is used to refer to a unit consisting of spouses and their dependent children. [...] | archive-date = 2020-08-01 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200801133622/https://books.google.com/books?id=2zr_AwAAQBAJ | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>Compare: {{cite book | last1 = Lee | first1 = Gary R. | year = 1999 | chapter = 4: Comparative Perspectives | editor1-last = Sussman | editor1-first = Marvin B. | editor2-last = Steinmetz | editor2-first = Suzanne K. | editor3-last = Peterson | editor3-first = Gary W. | title = Handbook of Marriage and the Family | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0GjmBwAAQBAJ | edition = 2 | location = New York | publisher = Springer Science & Business Media | publication-date = 2013 | page = 96 | isbn = 978-1-4757-5367-7 | access-date = 2018-06-30 | quote = [...] the nuclear family (consisting of parents and dependent children) [...] the conjugal family (defined as nuclear in structure) [...]. | archive-date = 2020-08-01 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200801124406/https://books.google.com/books?id=0GjmBwAAQBAJ | url-status = live }}</ref>

[[File:Wm. Riley Blankinship, miner, with his children. Koppers Coal Division, Kopperston Mine, Kopperston, Wyoming County... - NARA - 540984.jpg|thumb|left|A father with his children in the United States in the 1940s]]

Other family structures – with (for example) [[Blended families|blended parents]], [[single parent]]s, and [[domestic partnership]]s – have begun to challenge the normality of the nuclear family.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/22/less-than-half-of-u-s-kids-today-live-in-a-traditional-family/|title= Fewer than half of U.S. kids today live in a 'traditional' family|date= 22 December 2014|website= Pewresearch.org|access-date= 12 April 2017|archive-date= 11 April 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170411223443/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/22/less-than-half-of-u-s-kids-today-live-in-a-traditional-family/|url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1= Staff writers|title= The Kids will be alright, even without the Nuclear Family|url= https://psmag.com/the-kids-will-be-all-right-even-without-the-nuclear-family-d658459112ad|access-date= 22 April 2017|publisher= Pacific Standard magazine|date= March 2014|archive-date= 30 July 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220730072626/https://psmag.com/social-justice/kids-will-right-even-without-nuclear-family-74877|url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Bryant|first1= L.E. |title= Encyclopedia of Family Studies |date= March 2016|pages= 1–3 |doi= 10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs490 |chapter= Nuclear Families |isbn= 978-0-470-65845-1 }}</ref>

===Single-parent family===
A ''[[single-parent family]]'' consists of one parent together with their children, where the parent is either widowed, divorced (and not remarried), or never married.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dowd |first1=Nancy E. |title=In Defence of Single Parent Families |date=1997 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York and London |isbn=0-8147-1869-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Zc-AAAAQBAJ&dq=single+parent+families&pg=PR3 |access-date=19 November 2022}}</ref> The parent may have [[sole custody]] of the children, or separated parents may have a [[shared parenting|shared-parenting]] arrangement where the children divide their time (possibly equally) between two different single-parent families or between one single-parent family and one [[blended family]]. As compared to sole custody, physical, mental and social well-being of children may be improved by shared-parenting arrangements and by children having greater access to both parents.<ref>Sanford L. Braver and Michael E. Lamb, [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sanford_Braver/publication/324422710_Shared_Parenting_After_Parental_Separation_The_Views_of_12_Experts/links/5ad8c563aca272fdaf81f6fb/Shared-Parenting-After-Parental-Separation-The-Views-of-12-Experts.pdf Shared Parenting After Parental Separation: The Views of 12 Experts], ''Journal of Divorce & Remarriage'', April 2018: "The empirical evidence currently available supports the view that children of divorce, on average, benefit substantially from SP [shared parenting] arrangements in which they live with each parent at least 35% of the time. Findings from well over 50 individual studies indicate that children whose parents have SP fare better than those with sole physical custody [...]."</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baude |first1=Amandine |last2=Pearson |first2=Jessica |last3=Drapeau |first3=Sylvie |title=Child Adjustment in Joint Physical Custody Versus Sole Custody: A Meta-Analytic Review |journal=Journal of Divorce & Remarriage |date=27 June 2016 |volume=57 |issue=5 |pages=338–360 |doi=10.1080/10502556.2016.1185203|s2cid=147782279 }}</ref> The number of single-parent families have been increasing due to the divorce rate climbing drastically during the years 1965–1995, and about half of all children in the United States will live in a single-parent family at some point before they reach the age of 18. Most single-parent families are headed by a mother, but the number of single-parent families headed by fathers is increasing.<ref>American Psychological Association, [https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/single-parent.aspx Single parenting and today's family] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130221000/https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/single-parent.aspx |date=2019-01-30 }}</ref><ref>Kathryn M. Feltey, [https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-social-reform/sociology-general-terms-and-concepts/single-parent-families Single-Parent Families] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131040033/https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-social-reform/sociology-general-terms-and-concepts/single-parent-families |date=2019-01-31 }}, International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family</ref>

===Matrifocal family===
{{Main|Matrifocal family}}
A "matrifocal" family consists of a [[mother]] and her children.<ref name="Randolph 1964 628–631">{{Cite journal |last=Randolph |first=Richard R. |date=1964 |title=The "Matrifocal Family" as a Comparative Category |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=66 |issue=3 |pages=628–631 |doi=10.1525/aa.1964.66.3.02a00130 |jstor=668860 |issn=0002-7294 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Generally, these children are her biological offspring, although adoption of children occurs in nearly every society. This kind of family occurs commonly where women have the resources to rear their children by themselves, or where men are more [[Mobility (disambiguation)|mobile]] than women. As a definition, "a family or domestic group is matrifocal when it is centred on a woman and her children. In this case, the father(s) of these children are intermittently present in the life of the group and occupy a secondary place. The children's mother is not necessarily the wife of one of the children's fathers."<ref>
Godelier, Maurice, trans. Nora Scott, ''The Metamorphoses of Kinship'' (London: Verso, 2011 ({{ISBN|978-1-84467-746-7}})), p. 568 (''Glossary'', entry ''matrifocal'') (trans. from ''Métamorphoses de la parenté'' (Librarie Arthème Fayard (apparently), 2004)) (author prof. anthropology, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris).
</ref> The name, matrifocal, was coined in Guiana but it is defined differently in other countries. For Nayar families, the family have the male as the "center" or the head of the family, either the step-father/father/brother, rather than the mother.<ref name="Randolph 1964 628–631"/>

===Extended family===
[[File:Family_eating_meal.jpg|thumb|right|[[Hispanic]] family eating a meal]]
[[File:Basankusu - typical fired brick house.jpg|thumb|left|A family from Basankusu, [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]]]
[[File:Coloured-family.jpg|thumb|Extended family with roots in Cape Town, Kimberley and Pretoria, South Africa|left]]

The term "[[extended family]]" is also common, especially in the United States. This term has two distinct meanings:

# It serves as a synonym of "consanguineal family" (consanguine means "of the same blood").
# In societies dominated by the conjugal family, it refers to "[[Kinship|kindred]]" (an egocentric network of relatives that extends beyond the domestic group) who do not belong to the conjugal family.

These types refer to ideal or normative structures found in particular societies. Any society will exhibit some variation in the actual composition and conception of families.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Little |first=William |date=2014-11-06 |title=Chapter 4. Society and Social Interaction |url=https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter4-society-and-social-interaction/ |language=en |access-date=2022-07-18 |archive-date=2022-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521004316/https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter4-society-and-social-interaction/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Historically, ''[[Extended family|extended families]]'' were the basic family unit in the [[Catholic culture]] and [[Catholic countries|countries]] (such as [[Southern Europe]] and [[Latin America]]),<ref name="Pritchard 2006">{{cite book|title=Mental Health Social Work: Evidence-Based Practice| first= Colin Pritchard|last=Pritchard|year= 2006| isbn= 978-1134365449| page =111 |publisher=Routledge|quote=in cultures with stronger 'extended family traditions', such as Asian and Catholic countries}}</ref> and in Asian, [[Middle Eastern]] and [[Eastern Orthodoxy by country|Eastern Orthodox]] countries.<ref name="Pritchard 2006"/>

=== Family of choice ===
The term [[family of choice]], also sometimes referred to as "chosen family" or "found family", is common within the [[LGBT community]], veterans, individuals who have suffered abuse, and those who have no contact with their biological parents. It refers to the group of people in an individual's life that satisfies the typical role of family as a support system. The term differentiates between the "family of origin" (the biological family or that in which people are raised) and those that actively assume that ideal role.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.algbtical.org/2A%20GLOSSARY.htm |title= ALGBTICAL LGBT Glossary of Terminology |date= 2005–2006 |website= ALGBTICAL Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling of Alabama |access-date= May 4, 2016 |archive-date= May 6, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160506160448/http://www.algbtical.org/2A%20GLOSSARY.htm |url-status= dead }}</ref>

The family of choice may or may not include some or all of the members of the family of origin. This family is not one that follows the "normal" familial structure like having a father, a mother, and children. This is family as a group of people that rely on each other like a family of origin would.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dewaele |first1=Alexis |last2=Cox |first2=Nele |last3=Van den Berghe |first3=Wim |last4=Vincke |first4=John |date=February 2011 |title=Families of Choice? Exploring the Supportive Networks of Lesbians, Gay Men, and Bisexuals1: FAMILIES OF CHOICE |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00715.x |journal=Journal of Applied Social Psychology |language=en |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=312–331 |doi=10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00715.x |access-date=2022-05-04 |archive-date=2022-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504034706/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00715.x |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> This terminology stems from the fact that many [[LGBT]] individuals, upon [[coming out]], face rejection or shame from the families they were raised in.<ref name="Stitt">{{Cite book|title=ACT For Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide |last=Stitt |first=Alex |pages=372–376|date=2020 |publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers|isbn=978-1785927997 |location=London|oclc=1089850112}}</ref> The term family of choice is also used by individuals in the [[Twelve-step program|12 step communities]], who create close-knit "family" ties through the recovery process.

As a family system, families of choice face unique issues. Without legal safeguards, families of choice may struggle when medical, educational or governmental institutions fail to recognize their legitimacy.<ref name="Stitt"/> If members of the chosen family have been disowned by their family of origin, they may experience surrogate grief, displacing anger, loss, or anxious attachment onto their new family.<ref name="Stitt"/>

===Blended family===
The term ''blended family'' or ''[[stepfamily]]'' describes families with mixed parents: one or both parents remarried, bringing children of the former family into the new family.<ref>[http://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/blended-family Blended and Blessed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104161546/http://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/blended-family |date=2017-11-04 }} – Encouraging Step-Families, blendedandblessed.com</ref> Also in sociology, particularly in the works of social psychologist [[Michael Lamb (psychologist)|Michael Lamb]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sdp.cam.ac.uk/contacts/staff/profiles/mlamb.html |title=Department of Social and Developmental Psychology: PPSIS Faculty, Academic Profile |website=Sdp.cam.ac.uk |access-date=2011-03-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125163148/http://www.sdp.cam.ac.uk/contacts/staff/profiles/mlamb.html |archive-date=2011-11-25 }}</ref> ''traditional family'' refers to "a middle-class family with a bread-winning father and a stay-at-home mother, married to each other and raising their biological children," and ''nontraditional'' to exceptions to this rule. Most of the US households are now non-traditional under this definition.<ref>[http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/gill-v-office-of-personnel-management/2009-11-17-doma-aff-lamb.pdf Civil Action No. 1:09-cv-10309] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225193923/http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/gill-v-office-of-personnel-management/2009-11-17-doma-aff-lamb.pdf |date=2010-12-25 }} paragraph 17</ref> Critics of the term "traditional family" point out that in most cultures and at most times, the [[extended family]] model has been most common, not the nuclear family,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/05/13/610777733/parenting-myths-and-facts|title=Parenting Myths And Facts|website=NPR.org|access-date=2018-05-14|archive-date=2019-04-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413132941/https://www.npr.org/2018/05/13/610777733/parenting-myths-and-facts|url-status=live}}</ref> though it has had a longer tradition in England<ref>see {{section link|History of the family|Evolution of household}}</ref> than in other parts of Europe and Asia which contributed large numbers of immigrants to the Americas. The nuclear family became the most common form in the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-06-23|title=The Evolution of American Family Structure|url=https://online.csp.edu/blog/family-science/the-evolution-of-american-family-structure/|access-date=2021-06-10|website=Concordia University, St. Paul Online|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-06-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610091111/https://online.csp.edu/blog/family-science/the-evolution-of-american-family-structure/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In terms of communication patterns in families, there are a certain set of beliefs within the family that reflect how its members should communicate and interact. These family communication patterns arise from two underlying sets of beliefs. One being conversation orientation (the degree to which the importance of communication is valued) and two, conformity orientation (the degree to which families should emphasize similarities or differences regarding attitudes, beliefs, and values).<ref>{{cite book |last=McCornack |first=Steven |title=Reflect & Relate an introduction to interpersonal communication |year=2010 |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |location=Boston/NY |pages=369–370}}</ref>

Blended families is complex, ranging from stepfamilies to cohabitating families (an individual living with guardians who are not married with step or half siblings). While it is not too different from stepfamilies, cohabiting families pose a prevalent psychological effect on youths.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Portrie |first1=Torey |last2=Hill |first2=Nicole R. |date=October 2005 |title=Blended Families: A Critical Review of the Current Research |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1066480705279014 |journal=The Family Journal |language=en |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=445–451 |doi=10.1177/1066480705279014 |s2cid=32353012 |issn=1066-4807 |access-date=2022-05-04 |archive-date=2022-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504041610/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1066480705279014 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Some adolescents would be prone to "acts of delinquency," and experiencing problems in school ranging from a decrease in academic performance to increased problematic behavior. It coincides with other researches on the trajectories of stepfamilies where some experienced familyhood, but others lacking connection. Emotional detachment from members within stepfamilies contributes to this uncertainty, furthering the tension that these families may establish.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Braithwaite |first1=Dawn |last2=Olson |first2=Loreen |last3=Golish |first3=Tamara |last4=Soukup |first4=Charles |last5=Turman |first5=Paul |date=2001-01-01 |title="Becoming a family": developmental processes represented in blended family discourse |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00909880128112 |journal=Journal of Applied Communication Research |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=221–247 |doi=10.1080/00909880128112 |s2cid=14220043 |issn=0090-9882|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The transition from an old family to a new family that falls under blended families would also become problematic as the activities that were once performed in the old family may not transfer well within the new family for adolescents.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Braithwaite |first1=Dawn O. |last2=Baxter |first2=Leslie A. |last3=Harper |first3=Anneliese M. |date=1998-06-01 |title=The role of rituals in the management of the dialectical tension of "old" and "new" in blended families |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10510979809368523 |journal=Communication Studies |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=101–120 |doi=10.1080/10510979809368523 |issn=1051-0974 |access-date=2022-05-04 |archive-date=2022-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730072634/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10510979809368523 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Monogamous family===
A monogamous family is based on a legal or social [[monogamy]]. In this case, an individual has only one (official) partner during their lifetime or at any one time (i.e. [[Monogamy#Serial monogamy|serial monogamy]]).<ref name="BRIT">Cf. "Monogamy" in ''Britannica World Language Dictionary'', R.C. Preble (ed.), Oxford-London 1962, p. 1275:''1. The practice or principle of marrying only once. opp. to digamy now ''rare'' 2. The condition, rule or custom of being married to only one [[person]] at a time (opp. to polygamy or bigamy) 1708. 3. [[Zoology|Zool.]] The habit of living in pairs, or having only one mate''; The same text repeats ''The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', W. Little, H.W. Fowler, J. Coulson (ed.), C.T. Onions (rev. ed.) Oxford 1969, 3rd edition, vol. 1, p. 1275; [http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00314586 OED Online]. March 2010. Oxford University Press. 23 Jun. 2010 Cf. [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monogamy Monogamy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623232650/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monogamy |date=2015-06-23 }} in Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref> This means that a person may not have several different legal spouses at the same time, as this is usually prohibited by [[bigamy]] laws, (the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|bigamy}}
</ref>) in jurisdictions that require monogamous marriages.

===Polygamous family===
[[File:Kwong Sue Duk with his three wives and fourteen children, Cairns, 1904 (9623512597).jpg|thumb|Chinese immigrant with his three wives and fourteen children, [[Cairns]], Australia, 1904]]
[[Polygamy]] is a marriage that includes more than two partners.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scienceofrelationships.com/home/2012/8/17/opening-up-challenging-myths-about-consensual-non-monogamy.html |title=Opening Up: Challenging Myths about Consensual Non-Monogamy |website=Scienceofrelationships.com|access-date=12 April 2017 |date=2012-08-17|archive-date=2017-04-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404174445/http://www.scienceofrelationships.com/home/2012/8/17/opening-up-challenging-myths-about-consensual-non-monogamy.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Zeitzen|2008|p=3}} When a man is married to more than one wife at a time, the relationship is called [[polygyny]]; and when a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called [[polyandry]]. If a marriage includes multiple husbands and wives, it can be called [[polyamory]],<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = McCullough | first1 = Derek | last2 = Hall | first2 = David S. | title = Polyamory – What it is and what it isn't | journal = [[Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality]] | volume = 6 | date = February 27, 2003 | url = http://www.ejhs.org/volume6/polyamory.htm | access-date = March 14, 2015 | archive-date = December 10, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201210093927/http://www.ejhs.org/volume6/polyamory.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> [[group marriage|group or conjoint marriage]].{{sfnp|Zeitzen|2008|p=3}}

[[Polygyny]] is a form of plural marriage, in which a man is allowed more than one wife.{{sfnp|Zeitzen|2008|p=9}} In modern countries that permit polygamy, polygyny is typically the only form permitted. Polygyny is practiced primarily (but not only) in parts of the Middle East and Africa; and is often associated with [[Islam]], however, there are certain conditions in Islam that must be met to perform polygyny.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://study.com/learn/lesson/polygamy-polygyny-polyandry-group-marriage.html |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=study.com |title=Polygamy &#124; Polygyny, Polyandry & Group Marriage – Video & Lesson Transcript |archive-date=2022-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730072635/https://study.com/learn/lesson/polygamy-polygyny-polyandry-group-marriage.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Polyandry]] is a form of marriage whereby a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time.<ref name="Starkweather/Hames 2012">{{cite journal |last1=Starkweather |first1=Katherine E. |last2=Hames |first2=Raymond |title=A survey of non-classical polyandry |journal=[[Human Nature (journal)|Human Nature]] |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=149–172 |doi=10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x |pmid=22688804 |date=June 2012 |s2cid=2008559 |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=anthropologyfacpub |access-date=2018-11-14 |archive-date=2019-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204020235/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=anthropologyfacpub |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Fraternal polyandry, where two or more brothers are married to the same wife, is a common form of polyandry. Polyandry was traditionally practiced in areas of the Himalayan mountains, among Tibetans in [[Nepal]], in parts of China and in parts of northern India. Polyandry is most common in societies marked by high male mortality or where males will often be apart from the rest of the family for a considerable period of time.<ref name="Starkweather/Hames 2012"/>

==Kinship terminology==

===Degrees of kinship===
{{main|Coefficient of relationship}}
[[File:Albumen photograph of an Indian family with children in the 1870s.jpg|thumb|Family in India, 1870s]]
[[File:Family in a wagon, Lee County, Mississippi, 1935.jpg|thumb|Family in a wagon, Lee County, Mississippi, United States, August 1935]]
A first-degree relative is one who shares 50% of your DNA through direct inheritance, such as a full sibling, parent or progeny.

There is another measure for the degree of relationship, which is determined by counting up generations to the first common ancestor and back down to the target individual, which is used for various genealogical and legal purposes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Family |url=https://hy.w3we.com/wiki/Grandchild |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=hy.w3we.com |language=hy |archive-date=2022-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718091920/https://hy.w3we.com/wiki/Grandchild |url-status=live }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Kinship
! Degree of relationship <br />by coefficient
! [[Coefficient of relationship|Coefficient of<br />relationship]]
! Degree of relationship <br />by counting generations to common ancestor
|-
| identical twins || 0 || 100%<ref>By replacement in the definition of the notion of "generation" by [[meiosis]]". Since identical twins are not separated by meiosis, there are no "generations" between them, hence ''n''=0 and ''r''=1. See [http://www.genetic-genealogy.co.uk/Toc115570135.html genetic-genealogy.co.uk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224210418/http://www.genetic-genealogy.co.uk/Toc115570135.html |date=2021-02-24 }}.</ref> || second-degree
|-
| sister / brother || first-degree || 50% (2×2<sup>−2</sup>) || second-degree
|-
| mother / father / daughter / son<ref>{{cite web|url=http://taumoda.com/web/PD/library/kin.html|title=Kin Selection|publisher=Benjamin/Cummings|access-date=2007-11-25|archive-date=2015-05-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517065247/http://www.taumoda.com/web/PD/library/kin.html|url-status=live}}</ref> || first-degree || 50% (2<sup>−1</sup>) || first-degree
|-
| half-sister / half-brother || second-degree || 25% (2<sup>−2</sup>) || second-degree
|-
| grandmother / grandfather / granddaughter / grandson || second-degree || 25% (2<sup>−2</sup>) || second-degree
|-
| aunt / uncle / niece / nephew || second-degree || 25% (2×2<sup>−3</sup>) || third-degree
|-
| half-aunt / half-uncle / half-niece / half-nephew || third-degree || 12.5% (2<sup>−3</sup>) || third-degree
|-
| first-cousin || third-degree || 12.5% (2×2<sup>−4</sup>) || fourth-degree
|-
| half-first-cousin || fourth-degree || 6.25% (2<sup>−4</sup>) || fourth-degree
|-
| great-grandmother / great-grandfather / great-granddaughter / great-grandson || third-degree || 12.5% (2<sup>−3</sup>) || third-degree
|-
| first-cousin-once-removed || fourth-degree || 6.25% (2⋅2<sup>−5</sup>) || fifth-degree
|-
| second-cousin ||fifth-degree || 3.125% (2<sup>−6</sup>+2<sup>−6</sup>) || sixth-degree
|}

===Terminologies===
{{Main|Kinship terminology}}
[[File:Family (english).jpg|thumb|600px|Family tree with some family members]]
[[File:Family (english).png|thumb|600px|Family tree with other family members]]
[[File:Kinship (english).jpg|thumb|600px|Table of degrees of kinship]]
[[File:Middagsmåltid i folkstugan. Oxie härad, Västra Klagstorps socken, Skåne - Nordiska Museet - NMA.0033405.jpg|thumb|Swedish family eating, 1902]]

In his book ''[[Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family]]'', anthropologist [[Lewis H. Morgan|Lewis Henry Morgan]] (1818–1881) performed the first survey of kinship terminologies in use around the world. Although much of his work is now considered dated, he argued that [[kinship]] terminologies reflect different sets of distinctions. For example, most kinship terminologies distinguish between sexes (the difference between a brother and a sister) and between generations (the difference between a child and a parent). Moreover, he argued, kinship terminologies distinguish between relatives by blood and [[marriage]] (although recently some anthropologists have argued that many societies define kinship in terms other than "blood").

Morgan made a distinction between kinship systems that use ''classificatory'' terminology and those that use ''descriptive'' terminology. Classificatory systems are generally and erroneously understood to be those that "class together" with a single term relatives who actually do not have the same type of relationship to ego. (What defines "same type of relationship" under such definitions seems to be genealogical relationship. This is problematic given that any genealogical description, no matter how standardized, employs words originating in a folk understanding of kinship.) What Morgan's terminology actually differentiates are those (classificatory) kinship systems that do not distinguish lineal and collateral relationships and those (descriptive) kinship systems that do. Morgan, a lawyer, came to make this distinction in an effort to understand [[Seneca tribe|Seneca]] inheritance practices. A Seneca man's effects were inherited by his sisters' children rather than by his own children.<ref>Tooker, Elisabeth. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2741877 "Another View of Morgan on Kinship."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922140118/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2741877 |date=2018-09-22 }} ''Current Anthropology'' 20, no. 1 (March 1979): 131–134.</ref> Morgan identified six basic patterns of kinship terminologies:
* [[Hawaiian kinship|Hawaiian]]: only distinguishes relatives based upon sex and generation.
* [[Sudanese kinship|Sudanese]]: no two relatives share the same term.
* [[Eskimo kinship|Eskimo]]: in addition to distinguishing relatives based upon sex and generation, also distinguishes between lineal relatives and collateral relatives.
* [[Iroquois kinship|Iroquois]]: in addition to sex and generation, also distinguishes between siblings of opposite sexes in the parental generation.
* [[Crow kinship|Crow]]: a matrilineal system with some features of an Iroquois system, but with a "skewing" feature in which generation is "frozen" for some relatives.
* [[Omaha kinship|Omaha]]: like a Crow system but patrilineal.

==Roles==
{{redirect|Grandson}}
[[File:Paus family portrait NFB-18645.jpg|thumb|Group photograph of a Norwegian family by [[Gustav Borgen]] {{Circa|1900}}: Father, mother, three sons and two daughters.]]
[[File:Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson og barnebarnet Bjørnstjerne Albert Bjørnson-Langen, 1900.jpg|thumb|[[Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson]] with grandchild, 1900]]
[[File:Father and child, Dhaka.jpg|thumb|Father and child, Dhaka, Bangladesh]]{{Redirect2|Pibling|Aunt and uncle|aunts|Aunt|uncles|Uncle}}
Most Western societies employ [[Eskimo kinship]] terminology.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Systematic Kinship Terminologies |url=https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/kinterms/termsys.html |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=www.umanitoba.ca |archive-date=2019-12-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224152852/http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/kinterms/termsys.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This kinship terminology commonly occurs in societies with strong [[conjugal family|conjugal]], where families have a degree of relative mobility. Typically, societies with conjugal families also favor [[neolocal]] residence; thus upon marriage, a person separates from the nuclear family of their childhood (family of orientation) and forms a new nuclear family (family of procreation). Such systems generally assume that the mother's husband is also the biological father. The system uses highly descriptive terms for the nuclear family and progressively more [[Classificatory kinship|classificatory]] as the relatives become more and more collateral.

===Nuclear family===
{{Main|Nuclear family}}
[[File:Alberto Henschel - A Familia Imperial.jpg|thumb|The main members of the [[Brazilian imperial family]] in 1875]]
[[File:Juho kusti paasikivi family 1906.jpg|thumb|The family of Finnish statesman [[J. K. Paasikivi]] (''right'') in 1906]]
The system emphasizes the nuclear family. Members of the nuclear family use highly descriptive kinship terms, identifying directly only the husband, wife, mother, father, son, daughter, brother, and sister. All other relatives are grouped together into categories. Members of the nuclear family may be lineal or collateral. Kin, for whom these are family, refer to them in descriptive terms that build on the terms used within the nuclear family or use the nuclear family term directly.

Nuclear family of orientation
* '''[[Brother]]''': the male child of a parent.
* '''[[Sister]]''': the female child of a parent.
* '''[[Father]]''': a male parent.
** '''[[Grandfather]]''': the father of a parent.
* '''[[Mother]]''': a female parent.
** '''[[Grandmother]]''': the mother of a parent.

Nuclear conjugal family
* '''[[Husband]]''': a male spouse.
* '''[[Wife]]''': a female spouse.
* '''[[Son]]''': a male child of the subject.
** '''Grandson''': a child's son.
* '''[[Daughter]]''': a female child of the subject.
** '''Granddaughter''': a child's daughter.

Nuclear non-lineal family
* '''[[Spouse]]''': husband or wife
** '''[[Stepparent]]''': a spouse of a parent that is not a biological parent
* '''Sibling''': sister or brother
** '''[[Half-sibling]]''': a sibling with whom the subject shares only one biological parent
** '''[[Step-sibling]]''': a child of a parent that is not a biological parent

===Collateral relatives===
A sibling is a collateral relative with a minimal removal. For collateral relatives with one additional removal, one generation more distant from a common ancestor on one side, more classificatory terms come into play. These terms ([[Aunt]], [[Uncle]], [[Niece]], and [[Nephew]]) do not build on the terms used within the nuclear family as most are not traditionally members of the household. These terms do not traditionally differentiate between a collateral relatives and a person married to a collateral relative (both collateral and aggregate). Collateral relatives with additional removals on each side are [[Cousin]]s. This is the most classificatory term and can be distinguished by '''degrees of collaterality''' and by generation ('''removal''').

When only the subject has the additional removal, the relative is the subject's parents' siblings, the terms '''Aunt''' and '''Uncle''' are used for female and male relatives respectively. When only the relative has the additional removal, the relative is the subjects siblings child, the terms '''Niece''' and '''Nephew''' are used for female and male relatives respectively. The spouse of a biological aunt or uncle is an aunt or uncle, and the nieces and nephews of a spouse are nieces and nephews. With further removal by the subject for aunts and uncles and by the relative for nieces and nephews the prefix "grand-" modifies these terms. With further removal the prefix becomes "great-grand-," adding another "great-" for each additional generation. For large numbers of generations a number can be substituted, for example, "fourth great-grandson", "four-greats grandson" or "four-times-great-grandson".

When the subject and the relative have an additional removal they are cousins. A cousin with minimal removal is a first cousin, i.e. the child of the subjects uncle or aunt. '''Degrees of collaterality''' and '''removals''' are used to more precisely describe the relationship between cousins. The '''degree''' is the number of generations subsequent to the common ancestor before a parent of one of the cousins is found, while the '''removal''' is the difference between the number of generations from each cousin to the common ancestor (the difference between the generations the cousins are from).<ref name="DictGen">{{cite encyclopedia |title =A Dictionary of Genetics |year =2013 |publisher =Oxford University Press |id =8}}</ref><ref name="DictWebster">{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cousin |title=Definition of Cousin |publisher=Merriam-Webster |access-date=2020-04-20 |archive-date=2021-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201164904/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cousin |url-status=live }}</ref>

Cousins of an older generation (in other words, one's parents' first cousins), although technically first cousins once removed, are often classified with "aunts" and "uncles".

===Aggregate relatives===
English-speakers mark relationships by marriage (except for wife/husband) with the tag "-in-law". The mother and father of one's spouse become one's mother-in-law and father-in-law; the wife of one's son becomes one's daughter-in-law and the husband of one's daughter becomes one's son-in-law. The term "[[sister-in-law]]" refers to two essentially different relationships, either the wife of one's brother, or the sister of one's spouse. "[[Brother-in-law]]" is the husband of one's sister, or the brother of one's spouse. The terms "half-brother" and "half-sister" indicate siblings who share only one biological parent. The term "[[aunt-in-law]]" refers to the aunt of one's spouse. "[[Uncle-in-law]]" is the uncle of one's spouse. "[[Cousin-in-law]]" is the spouse of one's cousin, or the cousin of one's spouse. The term "[[niece-in-law]]" refers to the wife of one's nephew. "[[Nephew-in-law]]" is the husband of one's niece. The grandmother and grandfather of one's spouse become one's grandmother-in-law and grandfather-in-law; the wife of one's grandson becomes one's granddaughter-in-law and the husband of one's granddaughter becomes one's grandson-in-law.

In [[Indian English]], a sibling in law who is the spouse of your sibling can be referred to as a co-sibling (specificity a co-sister<ref name="Ca-CoS">{{cite web |title=Co-Sister |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/co-sister |website=Cambridge Dictionary |access-date=18 April 2020 |archive-date=13 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113011221/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/co-sister |url-status=live }}</ref> or co-brother<ref name="Ca-CoB">{{cite web |title=Co-Brother |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/co-brother |website=Cambridge Dictionary |access-date=18 April 2020 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225083600/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/co-brother |url-status=live }}</ref>).

==Types of kinship==

===Patrilineal===
[[Patrilineality]], also known as ''the male line'' or ''agnatic kinship'', is a form of kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is traced through his or her father's [[Lineage (anthropology)|lineage]].<ref>Benokraitis, N.V. ''Marriages and Families.'' 7th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc., 2011</ref> It generally involves the [[inheritance]] of property, rights, names, or titles by persons related through [[male]] kin.

A patriline ("father line") is a person's father, and additional [[ancestor]]s that are traced only through males. One's patriline is thus a record of descent from a man in which the individuals in all intervening generations are male. In [[cultural anthropology]], a patrilineage is a [[Consanguinity|consanguineal]] male and female [[Kinship|kinship group]], each of whose members is descended from the common ancestor through male forebears.

===Matrilineal===
[[File:Queen_Victoria_the_Princess_Royal_Victoria_c1844-5.png|thumb|[[Queen Victoria]], with her eldest daughter]]
[[Matrilineality]] is a form of kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is traced through his or her mother's [[Lineage (anthropology)|lineage]].

It may also correlate with a [[societal system]] in which each person is identified with their matriline—their mother's [[Lineage (anthropology)|lineage]]—and which can involve the [[inheritance]] of property and titles. A matriline is a [[line of descent]] from a [[female]] [[ancestor]] to a descendant in which the individuals in all intervening generations are mothers{{spndash}}in other words, a "mother line".

In a matrilineal descent system, an individual is considered to belong to the same [[descent group]] as her or his mother. This matrilineal descent pattern is in contrast to the more common patrilineal descent pattern.

===Bilateral descent===
[[Bilateral descent]] is a form of kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is traced through both the paternal and maternal sides. The relatives on the mother's side and father's side are equally important for emotional ties or for transfer of property or wealth. It is a family arrangement where descent and inheritance are passed equally through both parents.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shepard |first1=Jon <!-- |author-link=Jon M. Shepard--> |last2=Greene |first2=Robert W. |title=Sociology and You |publisher=Glencoe McGraw-Hill |year=2003 |location=Ohio |page=A-22 |url=http://www.glencoe.com/catalog/index.php/program?c=1675&s=21309&p=4213&parent=4526 |isbn=978-0-07-828576-9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308100024/http://www.glencoe.com/catalog/index.php/program?c=1675&s=21309&p=4213&parent=4526 |archive-date=2010-03-08 }}</ref> Families who use this system trace descent through both parents simultaneously and recognize multiple ancestors, but unlike with [[cognatic]] descent it is not used to form descent groups.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stone |first=Linda |author-link=Linda Stone |title=Kinship and Gender: An Introduction |publisher=Westview Press |year=2006 |location=Boulder, Colorado |pages=[https://archive.org/details/kinshipgenderint0000ston_k8m0/page/168 168–169] |isbn=978-0-8133-4302-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/kinshipgenderint0000ston_k8m0/page/168 }}</ref>

Traditionally, this is found among some groups in West Africa, India, Australia, Indonesia, [[Melanesia]], Malaysia and [[Polynesia]]. Anthropologists believe that a tribal structure based on bilateral descent helps members live in extreme environments because it allows individuals to rely on two sets of families dispersed over a wide area.<ref name="scientificamerican2001">{{cite journal |last=Ezzell |first=Carol |title=The Himba and the Dam |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=0005596A-DE68-1C6F-84A9809EC588EF21 |journal=Scientific American |date=June 2001 |volume=284 |issue=6 |pages=80–90 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0601-80 |pmid=11396346 |bibcode=2001SciAm.284f..80E |access-date=2015-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012142329/http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=0005596A-DE68-1C6F-84A9809EC588EF21 |archive-date=2007-10-12 |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==History of theories==
{{Main|History of the family}}

Early scholars of family history applied [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s biological [[theory of evolution]] in their theory of evolution of family systems.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Sociology/Founding the discipline |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=2009-07-26 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551887/sociology/222961/Founding-the-discipline#ref=ref748622 |archive-date=2009-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091223213531/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551887/sociology/222961/Founding-the-discipline#ref=ref748622 |url-status=live }}</ref> American anthropologist [[Lewis H. Morgan]] published ''[[Ancient Society]]'' in 1877 based on his theory of the three stages of human progress from [[Primitive culture|Savagery]] through [[barbarian|Barbarism]] to [[Civilization]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/morgan-lewis/ancient-society/index.htm | title=Ancient Society by Lewis H. Morgan 1877 }}</ref> Morgan's book was the "inspiration for [[Friedrich Engels]]' book" ''[[The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State]]'' published in 1884.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Cultural Anthropology |access-date=2009-07-22 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/146165/cultural-anthropology/38786/Marxism-and-the-collectors#ref=ref423234 |archive-date=2009-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815222603/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/146165/cultural-anthropology/38786/Marxism-and-the-collectors#ref=ref423234 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Engels expanded Morgan's hypothesis that economical factors caused the transformation of primitive community into a class-divided society.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Marxists Internet Archive |access-date=2009-07-17 |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm |archive-date=2006-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060425070029/http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Engels' theory of [[resource]] control, and later that of [[Karl Marx]], was used to explain the cause and effect of change in family structure and function. The popularity of this theory was largely unmatched until the 1980s, when other sociological theories, most notably [[structural functionalism]], gained acceptance.

===The nuclear family in industrial society===
[[File:Families US.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Family arrangements in the United States have become more diverse with no particular household arrangement representing half of the United States population.<ref name="Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships">{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Brian |last2=Sawyer |first2=Stacey C. |last3=Wahlstrom |first3=Carl M. |year=2005 |title=Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships |publisher=Pearson |location=Boston, MA |id=0-205-36674-0}}</ref>]]
Contemporary society generally views the family as a haven from the world, supplying absolute fulfillment. Zinn and Eitzen discuss the image of the "family as haven ... a place of [[intimacy]], [[love]] and [[Trust (social sciences)|trust]] where individuals may [[Escapism|escape]] the competition of dehumanizing forces in modern society".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zinn |first1=Maxine Baca |last2=Eitzen |first2=D. Stanley |title=Diversity in families |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PertAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2012-01-06 |edition=6 |year=2002 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |isbn=978-0-205-33522-0 |page=557 |quote=This 'family as haven' image of a refuge from an impersonal world characterizes the family as a place of intimacy, love, and trust in which individuals may escape the competition of dehumanizing forces in modern society. Christopher Lasch (1977:8) has named this image a 'haven in a heartless world' and described it as a glorification of private life made necessary by the deprivations experienced in the public world. |archive-date=2013-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130329013617/http://books.google.com/books?id=PertAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

During [[industrialization]], "[t]he family as a repository of warmth and tenderness (embodied by the mother) stands in opposition to the competitive and aggressive world of commerce (embodied by the father). The family's task was to protect against the outside world."{{sfnp|Zinn|Eitzen|1987|p=3}} However, Zinn and Eitzen note, "The protective image of the family has waned in recent years as the ideals of family fulfillment have taken shape. Today, the family is more compensatory than protective. It supplies what is vitally needed but missing in other social arrangements."{{sfnp|Zinn|Eitzen|1987|p=3}}

Unhappily married couples are at 3–25 times the risk of developing clinical depression.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Tatiana D. Gray |author2=Matt Hawrilenko |author3=James V. Cordova |date=2019 |title=Randomized Controlled Trial of the Marriage Checkup: Depression Outcomes |url=https://arammu.com/assets/research/MC%20Depression%20Outcomes.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fink |first1=Brandi C. |last2=Shapiro |first2=Alyson F. |date=March 2013 |title=Coping Mediates the Association Between Marital Instability and Depression, but Not Marital Satisfaction and Depression |journal=Couple & Family Psychology |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1037/a0031763 |issn=2160-4096 |pmc=4096140 |pmid=25032063}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author1=Maria R. Goldfarb |author2=Gilles Trudel |date=2019 |title=Marital quality and depression: a review |journal=Marriage & Family Review |volume=55 |issue=8 |pages=737–763 |doi=10.1080/01494929.2019.1610136 |s2cid=165116052}}</ref>

"The popular wisdom", according to Zinn and Eitzen, sees the family structures of the past as superior to those today, and families as more stable and happier at a time when they did not have to contend with problems such as illegitimate children and [[divorce]]. They respond to this, saying, "there is no golden age of the family gleaming at us in the far back historical past."{{sfnp|Zinn|Eitzen|1987|p=8}} "Desertion by spouses, illegitimate children, and other conditions that are considered characteristics of modern times existed in the past as well."{{sfnp|Zinn|Eitzen|1987|p=8}}

===The postmodern family===
[[File:Percentage of birth to unmarried women, selected countries, 1980 and 2007.png|upright=2|thumb|Percentage of births to unmarried women, selected countries, 1980 and 2007<ref name="non_mar1">{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db18.htm |title=Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States |work=CDC/National Center for Health Statistics |date=May 13, 2009 |access-date=September 24, 2011 |archive-date=September 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906063823/http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db18.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
Others argue that whether or not one views the family as "declining" depends on one's definition of "family". "Married couples have dropped below half of all American households. This drop is shocking from traditional forms of the family system. Only a fifth of households were following traditional ways of having married couples raising a family together."<ref>{{cite news |last=Tavernise |first=Sabrina |date=2011 |title=Married Couples Are No Longer a Majority, Census Finds |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/us/26marry.html?_r=1# |access-date=January 8, 2014 |archive-date=March 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325130308/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/us/26marry.html?_r=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the Western World, marriages are no longer [[arranged marriage|arranged]] for economic, social or political gain, and children are no longer expected to contribute to family income. Instead, people choose mates based on [[love]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Family Revolution |url=https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_family_revolution |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=Greater Good |language=en |archive-date=2022-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315184821/https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_family_revolution |url-status=live }}</ref> This increased role of love indicates a societal shift toward favoring emotional fulfilment and relationships within a family, and this shift necessarily weakens the institution of the family.<ref>Coontz, Stephanie. 2005. ''Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage''. New York: Viking/Penguin Books.</ref>

Margaret Mead considers the family as a main safeguard to continuing human progress. Observing, "Human beings have learned, laboriously, to be human", she adds: "we hold our present form of humanity on trust, [and] it is possible to lose it" ... "It is not without significance that the most successful large-scale abrogations of the family have occurred not among simple savages, living close to the subsistence edge, but among great nations and strong empires, the resources of which were ample, the populations huge, and the power almost unlimited"<ref>''Male and Female'', New York, 1949. pp. 193–194</ref>

Many countries (particularly Western) have, in recent years, changed their [[family law]]s in order to accommodate diverse family models. For instance, in the United Kingdom, in Scotland, the ''Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006'' provides cohabitants with some limited rights.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/law/17867/fm-couples-root/fm-couples-cohabitation|title=Family Matters – Couples – Cohabitation|publisher=Scottish Government, Edinburgh|date=27 April 2006|website=Scotland.gov.uk|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=24 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024082441/http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/law/17867/fm-couples-root/fm-couples-cohabitation|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2010, Ireland enacted the [[Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010]]. There have also been moves at an international level, most notably, the [[Council of Europe]] ''European Convention on the Legal Status of Children Born out of Wedlock''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/085.htm|title=Full list|website=Coe.int|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=2 October 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001002094646/http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/Treaties/Html/085.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> which came into force in 1978. Countries which ratify it must ensure that children born outside marriage are provided with legal rights as stipulated in the text of this convention. The convention was ratified by the UK in 1981 and by Ireland in 1988.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=085&CM=&DF=&CL=ENG|title=Full list|website=Coe.int|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402091742/http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=085&CM=&DF=&CL=ENG|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the United States, one in five mothers has children by different fathers; among mothers with two or more children the figure is higher, with 28% having children with at least two different men. Such families are more common among Blacks and Hispanics and among the lower socioeconomic class.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42364656/ns/health-childrens_health/t/us-moms-have-kids-multiple-dads-study-says/#.VaJYA7XD_Ao|title=1 in 5 US moms have kids with multiple dads, study says|date=1 April 2011|website=Nbcnews.com|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=22 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622083111/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42364656/ns/health-childrens_health/t/us-moms-have-kids-multiple-dads-study-says/#.VaJYA7XD_Ao|url-status=dead}}</ref>

However, in western society, the single parent family has been growing more accepted and has begun to make an impact on culture. Single parent families are more commonly single mother families than single father.<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Children's Family Structure: Single-Parent Families |url=https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/eickmeyer-single-parent-families-fp-17-17.html |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=Bowling Green State University |language=en |archive-date=2021-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620125849/https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/eickmeyer-single-parent-families-fp-17-17.html |url-status=live }}</ref> These families sometimes face difficult issues besides the fact that they have to rear their children on their own, for example, low income making it difficult to pay for rent, child care, and other necessities for a healthy and safe home.

Furthermore, there are families that consist of [[LGBTQ|two mothers, two fathers, non-binary, trans, and queer folks]] raising children. This is made possible due to surrogacy, [[IVF]], [[IUI]], adoption, and other processes.

==Domestic violence==
{{Main|Domestic violence}}
Domestic violence (DV) is violence that happens within the family. The legal and social understanding of the concept of DV differs by culture. The definition of the term "domestic violence" varies, depending on the context in which it is used.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/defdomvio.cfm |title=Definitions of Domestic Violence – Child Welfare Information Gateway |website=Childwelfare.gov |access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215012201/https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/defdomvio.cfm |archive-date=15 December 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> It may be defined differently in medical, legal, political or social contexts. The definitions have varied over time, and vary in different parts of the world.

The [[Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence]] states that:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/210.htm|title=Full list|website=Coe.int|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923210455/http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/210.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|"domestic violence" shall mean all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim.}}

In 1993, the United Nations [[Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women]] identified domestic violence as one of three contexts in which [[violence against women]] occurs, describing it as:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm|title=A/RES/48/104. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women|date=20 December 1993|publisher=[[United Nations]]|access-date=28 June 2017|archive-date=16 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816082450/https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, [[dowry]]-related violence, [[marital rape]], [[female genital mutilation]] and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation.}}

===Family violence===
Family violence is a broader definition, often used to include [[child abuse]], [[elder abuse]], and other violent acts between family members.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wallace |first=Harvey |year=2004 |title=Family Violence: Legal, Medical, and Social Perspectives |publisher=Allyn & Bacon |isbn=0-205-41822-8 |page=2}}</ref>

Child abuse is defined by the [[World Health Organization|WHO]] as:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/topics/child_abuse/en/ |title=Child maltreatment |publisher=World Health Organization |access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-date=17 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017235616/http://www.who.int/topics/child_abuse/en/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Child maltreatment, sometimes referred to as child abuse and neglect, includes all forms of physical and emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, and exploitation that results in actual or potential harm to the child's health, development or dignity. Within this broad definition, five subtypes can be distinguished – physical abuse; sexual abuse; neglect and negligent treatment; emotional abuse; and exploitation.}}

There exists legislation to prevent and punish the occurrence of these offences. There are laws regarding familial sexual activity, which states that it is a criminal offence to have any kind of sexual relationship between one's grandparent, parent, sibling, aunt or uncle.<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.1057/9781137476159_5|chapter = When Yes Actually Means Yes|year = 2015|last1 = Roffee|first1 = James A.|title=Rape Justice | pages=72–91 |isbn=978-1-137-47615-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1093/hrlr/ngu023|url=http://www.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/33349.pdf|title=No Consensus on Incest? Criminalisation and Compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights|volume=14|issue=3|year=2014|journal=Human Rights Law Review|pages=541–572|last1=Roffee|first1=J. A.|access-date=2018-10-30|archive-date=2018-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030170425/http://www.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/33349.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Elder abuse is, according to the WHO: "a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/ageing/projects/elder_abuse/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026062106/http://www.who.int/ageing/projects/elder_abuse/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 26, 2007|title=Elder abuse|publisher=[[World Health Organization]]|access-date=23 October 2017}}</ref>

====Parental abuse of children (child abuse)====
{{See also|Adverse childhood experiences|Child abuse}}
Child abuse is the physical, sexual or emotional maltreatment or neglect of a child or children.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Child+abuse|title=Child abuse – definition of child abuse by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia|website=Thefreedictionary.com|access-date=15 September 2010|archive-date=9 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609124754/http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Child+Abuse|url-status=live}}</ref> In the United States, the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] (CDC) and the Department for Children and Families (DCF) define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.<ref name=CDC>{{cite web |last1=Leeb |first1=R.T. |first2=L.J. |last2=Paulozzi |first3=C. |last3=Melanson |first4=T.R. |last4=Simon |last5=Arias |first5=I. |url=https://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/CMP/CMP-Surveillance.htm |access-date=20 October 2008 |publisher=[[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] |title=Child Maltreatment Surveillance: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements |date=1 January 2008 |archive-date=16 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016225901/http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/CMP/CMP-Surveillance.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Child abuse can occur in a child's home, or in the organizations, schools or communities the child interacts with. There are four major categories of child abuse: [[child neglect|neglect]], [[physical abuse]], [[psychological abuse|psychological or emotional abuse]], and [[child sexual abuse|sexual abuse]].

====Parental abuse by children====
{{Main|Parental abuse by children}}
[[Abuse]] of parents by their children is a common but under reported and under-researched subject. A factor why this subject is under-researched is because of the overshadowing effect caused by parents abusing their children instead. Parents are quite often subject to levels of [[childhood aggression]] in excess of normal childhood aggressive outbursts, typically in the form of [[verbal abuse|verbal]] or [[physical abuse|physical]] abuse. Parents feel a sense of [[shame]] and [[humiliation]] to have that problem, so they rarely seek help and it is usually little or no help available anyway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://parentlineplus.org.uk/default.aspx?page=viewarticle&module=articles-view&id=686&tags=25|title=Parenting and Family Support – Family Lives (Parentline Plus)|website=Parentlineplus.org.uk|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=21 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221082325/http://parentlineplus.org.uk/default.aspx?page=viewarticle&module=articles-view&id=686&tags=25|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://familylives.org.uk/sites/default/files/When%20family%20hurts%202010.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619160335/http://familylives.org.uk/sites/default/files/When%20family%20hurts%202010.pdf|url-status=dead|title=WHEN FAMILY LIFE HURTS: Family experience of aggression in children – Parentline plus 31 October 2010|archive-date=June 19, 2012}}</ref>

====Elder abuse====
{{Main|Elder abuse}}
Elder abuse is "a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person".<ref>[http://www.elderabuse.org.uk elderabus.org.uk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820165643/https://www.elderabuse.org.uk/ |date=2019-08-20 }}, accessed October 12, 2007.</ref> This definition has been adopted by the [[World Health Organization]] from a definition put forward by Action on Elder Abuse in the UK. Laws protecting the elderly from abuse are similar to, and related to, laws protecting [[dependent adult]]s from abuse.

The core element to the harm of elder abuse is the "expectation of trust" of the older person toward their abuser. Thus, it includes harms by people the older person knows or with whom they have a relationship, such as a spouse, partner or family member, a friend or neighbor, or people that the older person relies on for services. Many forms of elder abuse are recognized as types of domestic violence or family violence.

===Forced and child marriage===
{{Main|Forced marriage|Child marriage}}
Forced and child marriages are practiced in certain regions of the world, particularly in Asia and Africa, and these types of marriages are associated with a high rate of domestic violence.<ref name="hrw.org"/><ref name="who.int"/><ref name="bbc.co.uk"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://plan-uk.org/about/our-work/child-marriage|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312222100/http://www.plan-uk.org/early-and-forced-marriage/|url-status=dead|title=Early and forced marriage – facts, figures and what you can do|archive-date=March 12, 2014 |website=Plan International UK}}</ref>

A [[forced marriage]] is a marriage where one or both participants are married without their freely given consent.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/forcedmarriage/introduction_1.shtml|title=Ethics – Forced Marriages: Introduction|website=Bbc.co.uk|access-date=12 April 2017 |archive-date=3 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903060233/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/forcedmarriage/introduction_1.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> The line between forced marriage and consensual marriage may become blurred, because the social norms of many cultures dictate that one should never oppose the desire of one's parents/relatives in regard to the choice of a spouse; in such cultures it is not necessary for violence, threats, intimidation etc. to occur, the person simply "consents" to the marriage even if they do not want it, out of the implied social pressure and duty. The customs of [[bride price]] and [[dowry]], that exist in parts of the world, can lead to buying and selling people into marriage.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/slavery/modern/modern_1.shtml#section_2|title=Ethics – Slavery: Modern slavery|website=Bbc.co.uk|access-date=12 April 2017 |archive-date=6 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106012011/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/slavery/modern/modern_1.shtml#section_2 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session21/A-HRC-21-41_en.pdf|title=Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences|author=Gulnara Shahinian|website=Ohchr.org|access-date=23 October 2017|archive-date=21 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060954/http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session21/A-HRC-21-41_en.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

A child marriage is a [[marriage]] where one or both spouses are under 18.<ref name="unicef.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html|title=Child marriage|website=UNICEF|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=7 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907061839/https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html|url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="hrw.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/14/q-child-marriage-and-violations-girls-rights|title=Q & A: Child Marriage and Violations of Girls' Rights|date=14 June 2013|website=Human Rights Watch|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=20 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620105605/https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/14/q-child-marriage-and-violations-girls-rights|url-status=live}}</ref> Child marriage was common throughout history but is today condemned by international human rights organizations.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art16.shtml|work=I have a right to|publisher= BBC World Service |title=Article 16: Right to marriage and family and to equal rights of men and women during and after marriage |access-date=7 October 2014|archive-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406125350/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art16.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Factsheet: Child Marriage |url=http://www.girlup.org/assets/pdfs/factsheet1-about-child-marriage.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909152040/http://www.girlup.org/assets/pdfs/factsheet1-about-child-marriage.pdf |archive-date=2013-09-09 |access-date=2014-07-20 |website=GirlUp |publisher=United Nations Foundation}}</ref><ref name="who.int">{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/child_marriage_20130307/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314073138/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/child_marriage_20130307/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 14, 2013|title=Child marriages: 39,000 every day|website=WHO |date=7 March 2013 |access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> Child marriages are often arranged between the families of the future bride and groom, sometimes as soon as the girl is born.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> Child marriages can also occur in the context of [[marriage by abduction]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>

==The concept of family honour==
{{Main|Family honor}}
{{Further|Culture of honor|Honor killing}}
Family honor is an abstract concept involving the perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects the social standing and the self-evaluation of a group of related people, both corporately and individually.<ref name="Malina2001">{{cite book |last=Malina |first=Bruce J. |title=The New Testament world: insights from cultural anthropology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek3fSY7jRDcC&pg=PA42 |access-date=7 November 2011 |date= 2001 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-22295-6 |page=42 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225103408/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek3fSY7jRDcC&pg=PA42 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="spain">{{cite journal |last2=Manstead |first2=Antony S.R. |last3=Fischer |first3=Agneta H. |last1=Mosquera |first1=Patricia M.R. |title=Honor in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe |journal=Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology |date=January 2002 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=16–36 |url=http://jcc.sagepub.com/content/33/1/16.short |access-date=17 October 2011 |doi=10.1177/0022022102033001002 |citeseerx=10.1.1.1006.591 |s2cid=55174724 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225103411/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022022102033001002 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The family is viewed as the main source of [[honor]] and the community highly values the relationship between honor and the family.<ref name="Family">{{cite book |last=Berns |first=Roberta |title=Child, family, school, community: socialization and support |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AD3e7Xdn2NMC&q=family+honor+in+different+cultures&pg=PA528 |year=2007 |publisher=Thompson Learning |page=139 |isbn=978-0-495-00758-6 |access-date=2020-10-31 |archive-date=2021-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415005944/https://books.google.com/books?id=AD3e7Xdn2NMC&q=family+honor+in+different+cultures&pg=PA528 |url-status=live }}</ref> The conduct of family members reflects upon family honor and the way the family perceives itself, and is perceived by others.<ref name="spain"/> In [[culture of honor|cultures of honor]] maintaining the family honor is often perceived as more important than either [[individual freedom]], or individual achievement.<ref name="McGoldrickGiordano2005">{{cite book |last1=McGoldrick |first1=Monica |last2=Giordano |first2=Joseph |last3=Garcia-Preto |first3=Nydia |title=Ethnicity and family therapy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Al1kB_6GyMC |access-date=24 October 2011 |date= 2005 |publisher=Guilford Press |page=445 |isbn=978-1-59385-020-3 |archive-date=16 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316101153/http://books.google.com/books?id=6Al1kB_6GyMC |url-status=live }}</ref> In extreme cases, engaging in acts that are deemed to tarnish the honor of the family results in [[honor killing]]s. An honor killing is the [[homicide]] of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the perpetrators' belief that the victim has brought shame or dishonor upon the family or community, usually for reasons such as refusing to enter an [[arranged marriage]], being in a relationship that is disapproved by their relatives, having [[sex outside marriage]], becoming the victim of [[rape]], dressing in ways which are deemed inappropriate, or engaging in [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] relations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/honourcrimes/ |title=Ethics: Honour Crimes |publisher=BBC |date=1 January 1970 |access-date=23 December 2013 |archive-date=19 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140619163216/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/honourcrimes/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honor%20killing |title=Honor killing: Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary |website=Merriam-webster.com |date=31 August 2012 |access-date=23 December 2013 |archive-date=22 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222161404/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honor%20killing |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/honor+killing?s=t |title=Honor killing definition |website=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=23 December 2013 |archive-date=2 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231426/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/honor+killing?s=t |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/13/world/europe/turkey-gay-killing |title=Shocking gay honor killing inspires movie |website=CNN |access-date=16 August 2013 |archive-date=29 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929031542/http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/13/world/europe/turkey-gay-killing |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/23/arizona.iraqi.father/index.html |title=Iraqi immigrant convicted in Arizona 'honor killing' awaits sentence |website=CNN |access-date=16 August 2013 |date=23 February 2011 |archive-date=29 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929031535/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/23/arizona.iraqi.father/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Economic issues==
A family is often part of a [[sharing economy]] with [[common ownership]].

===Dowry, bride price and dower===
{{Further|Dowry|Bride price|Dower}}
[[File:Thai Bride Price 2008.jpg|thumb|left|A traditional, formal presentation of the bride price at a Thai engagement ceremony]]
Dowry is property (money, goods, or estate) that a wife or wife's family gives to her husband when the wife and husband marry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dowry|title=Definition of DOWRY|website=Merriam-webster.com|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=22 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222025031/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dowry|url-status=live}}</ref> Offering dowry was common in many cultures historically (including in Europe and North America), but this practice today is mostly restricted to some areas primarily in the [[Indian subcontinent]].

Bride price, (also bride wealth or bride token), is property paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage of their daughter to the groom. It is practiced mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of South-East Asia ([[Thailand]], [[Cambodia]]), and parts of Central Asia.

Dower is property given to the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage, and which remains under her ownership and control.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goody |first=Jack |title=Production and Reproduction: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain |year=1976 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |page=8}}</ref>

===Property regimes and taxation===
In some countries married couples benefit from various taxation advantages not available to a single person or to unmarried couples. For example, spouses may be allowed to average their combined incomes. Some jurisdictions recognize [[common law marriage]] or ''[[de facto]]'' relations for this purposes. In some jurisdictions there is also an option of [[civil partnership]] or [[domestic partnership]].

Different property regimes exist for spouses. In many countries, each marriage partner has the choice of keeping their property [[community property|separate]] or combining properties. In the latter case, called [[community property]], when the marriage ends by divorce each owns half. In lieu of a [[will (law)|will]] or [[trust law|trust]], property owned by the deceased generally is inherited by the surviving spouse.

==Rights and laws==
===Family rights===
The [[Right to family life|right to family]] is enshrined in the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] of 1948 by the [[United Nations]]:
{{Blockquote
|text=The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
|multiline=yes
|source=[https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 16.3]
}}

[[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Georg Hegel]]'s view of families as [[legal person]]s<ref name="o509">{{cite book | last=Hegel | first=Georg Wilhelm Fredrich | title=Hegel: Elements of the Philosophy of Right: | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=25 October 1991 | isbn=978-0-521-34438-8 | doi=10.1017/cbo9780511808012 | page=}}</ref> is reflected in the legal system of some countries.<ref name="p817">{{cite journal | last=Carney | first=Michael | last2=Gedajlovic | first2=Eric | last3=Strike | first3=Vanessa M. | title=Dead Money: Inheritance Law and the Longevity of Family Firms | journal=Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice | volume=38 | issue=6 | date=2014 | issn=1042-2587 | doi=10.1111/etap.12123 | pages=1261–1283}}</ref>

===Reproductive rights===
{{Main|Reproductive rights}}
{{Further|Forced sterilization|Forced pregnancy|Forced abortion}}
[[File:Total Fertility Rate Map by Country.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Map of countries by fertility rate (2020), according to the [[Population Reference Bureau]]]]
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and [[reproductive health]]. These include the right to decide on issues regarding the number of children born, family planning, contraception, and private life, free from [[coercion]] and [[discrimination]]; as well as the right to access health services and adequate information.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/hhr/activities/GRR/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030829044430/http://www.who.int/hhr/activities/GRR/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 29, 2003|title=Gender, equity, human rights|website=Who.int|access-date=12 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/english/ch3/ch3_box9.htm|title=State of World Population 2005|website=UNFPA – United Nations Population Fund|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=1 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301232916/http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/english/ch3/ch3_box9.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/gender_rights/sexual_health/en/|title=WHO – Gender and human rights|website=Who.int|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=23 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223213827/https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/gender_rights/sexual_health/en/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns/stop-violence-against-women/issues/implementation-existing-laws/srr|title=Get Involved|website=Amnesty.org|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=17 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117014102/http://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns/stop-violence-against-women/issues/implementation-existing-laws/srr|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[UNFPA]], reproductive rights "include the right to decide the number, timing and spacing of children, the right to voluntarily marry and establish a family, and the right to the highest attainable standard of health, among others".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unfpa.org/rights/rights.htm|title=Supporting the Constellation of Reproductive Rights|website=UNFPA – United Nations Population Fund|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=30 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730095817/http://www.unfpa.org/rights/rights.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Family planning]] refers to the factors that may be considered by individuals and couples in order for them to control their fertility, anticipate and attain the desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/topics/family_planning/en/|title=Family planning|website=Who.int|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=18 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318195523/http://www.who.int/topics/family_planning/en/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unfpa.org/family-planning|title=Family planning|website=UNFPA – United Nations Population Fund|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330132526/https://www.unfpa.org/family-planning|url-status=live}}</ref>

The state and church have been, and still are in some countries, involved in controlling the size of families, often using coercive methods, such as bans on contraception or abortion (where the policy is a [[natalist]] one—for example through [[tax on childlessness]]) or conversely, discriminatory policies against large families (e.g., China's [[one-child policy]] in place from 1978 to 2015) or even [[forced abortion]]s. [[Forced sterilization]] has often targeted ethnic minority groups, such as Roma women in Eastern Europe,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stopvaw.org/forced_coerced_sterilization|title=Forced/Coerced Sterilization|website=Stopvaw.org|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=13 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213022059/http://www.stopvaw.org/forced_coerced_sterilization|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8375960.stm|title=Czech regret over sterilisation|website=BBC News|access-date=12 April 2017|date=2009-11-24|archive-date=2018-10-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013150955/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8375960.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> or indigenous women in Peru (during the 1990s).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-15891372|title=Peru women fight for justice over forced sterilisation|first=Mattia|last=Cabitza|date=6 December 2011|access-date=12 April 2017|work=[[BBC News]]|archive-date=8 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708075032/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-15891372|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Parents' rights===
The [[Parents' rights movement|parents' rights]] movement is a movement whose members are primarily interested in issues affecting parents and children related to family law, specifically parental rights and obligations. [[Mothers' rights]] movements focus on [[maternal health]], workplace issues such as [[labor rights]], [[breastfeeding]], and rights in [[family law]]. The [[fathers' rights]] movement is a movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to [[family law]], including [[child custody]] and [[child support]], that affect fathers and their [[child]]ren.{{sfnp|Collier|Sheldon|2006|pp=1–26}}

===Children's rights===
{{Main|Children's rights}}
Children's rights are the human rights of children, with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors, including their right to association with both parents, their right to human identity, their right to be provided in regard to their other basic needs, and their right to be free from violence and abuse.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_protecting.html|title=Protecting children's rights |website=UNICEF|access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-date=6 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306162541/https://www.unicef.org/crc/index_protecting.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights|title=Children's Rights|website=Hrw.org|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406151206/https://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/children|title=Children and human rights|publisher=Amnesty International|access-date=23 October 2017|archive-date=19 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219233024/http://www.amnesty.org/en/children|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Marriage rights===
{{Main|Marriage law}}
Each jurisdiction has its own [[marriage law]]s. These laws differ significantly from country to country; and these laws are often controversial. Areas of controversy include [[women's rights]] as well as [[same-sex marriage]].

===Legal reforms===
====Gender equality====
Legal reforms to [[family law]]s have taken place in many countries during the past few decades. These dealt primarily with [[gender equality]] within marriage and with [[divorce law]]s. Women have been given equal rights in marriage in many countries, reversing older family laws based on the dominant legal role of the husband. [[Coverture]], which was enshrined in the [[common law]] of England and the US for several centuries and throughout most of the 19th century, was abolished. In some European countries the changes that lead to gender equality were slower. The period of 1975–1979 saw a major overhaul of [[family law]]s in countries such as Italy,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2014/493052/IPOL-FEMM_NT%282014%29493052_EN.pdf|title=The Policy on Gender Equality in Italy|website=Europarl.europa.eu|access-date=23 October 2017|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924004439/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2014/493052/IPOL-FEMM_NT%282014%29493052_EN.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session20/A-HRC-20-16-Add2_en.pdf|title=Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences|author=Rashida Manjoo|website=Ohchr.org|access-date=23 October 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042843/http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session20/A-HRC-20-16-Add2_en.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Spain,<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url = http://countrystudies.us/spain/43.htm | chapter = Social Values and Attitudes | editor-first = Eric | editor-last = Solsten | editor2-first = Sandra W. | editor2-last = Meditz | title = Spain: A Country Study | location = Washington | publisher = Government Printing Office for the Library of Congress | year = 1988 | access-date = 2016-02-26 | archive-date = 2011-05-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110520160528/http://countrystudies.us/spain/43.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> Austria,<ref name="Contemporary Western European Feminism pp. 133">''Contemporary Western European Feminism'', by [[Gisela Kaplan]], p. 133</ref> West Germany,<ref>Reconciliation Policy in Germany 1998–2008, Construing the 'Problem' of the Incompatibility of Paid Employment and Care Work, by Cornelius Grebe; p. 92: ''"However, the 1977 reform of marriage and family law by Social Democrats and Liberals formally gave women the right to take up employment without their spouses' permission. This marked the legal end of the 'housewife marriage' and a transition to the ideal of 'marriage in partnership'."''[https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-531-91924-9] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416053908/http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-531-91924-9|date=2017-04-16}}</ref><ref>Further reforms to parental rights law in 1979 gave equal legal rights to the mother and the father. ''Comparative Law: Historical Development of the Civil Law Tradition in Europe'', Latin America, and East Asia, by John Henry Merryman, David Scott Clark, John Owen Haley, p. 542</ref> and Portugal.<ref>''Women in Portugal'', by Commission of the European Communities, Directorate-General Information, p. 32</ref> In 1978, the [[Council of Europe]] passed the ''Resolution (78) 37 on equality of spouses in civil law''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=596422&SecMode=1&DocId=662346&Usage=2 |format=PDF|title=On Equality of Spouses in Civil Law|website=Wcd.coe.int|access-date=23 October 2017|archive-date=21 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121025014/https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=596422&SecMode=1&DocId=662346&Usage=2|url-status=live}}</ref> Among the last European countries to establish full [[gender equality]] in marriage were Switzerland. In 1985, a referendum guaranteed women legal equality with men within marriage.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17988450 |title=Switzerland profile|date=24 July 2017|access-date=23 October 2017|website=Bbc.com|archive-date=17 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617053429/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17988450|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html|title=The Long Way to Women's Right to Vote in Switzerland: a Chronology|website=History-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch |access-date=23 October 2017|archive-date=21 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121120734/http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The new reforms came into force in January 1988.<ref>''Women's movements of the world: an international directory and reference guide'', edited by Sally Shreir, p. 254</ref> In Greece, in 1983, legislation was passed guaranteeing equality between spouses, abolishing [[dowry]], and ending legal discrimination against illegitimate children.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/26/world/around-the-world-greece-approves-family-law-changes.html |title=AROUND THE WORLD; Greece Approves Family Law Changes|date=23 October 1983|access-date=23 October 2017|newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=16 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616093929/http://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/26/world/around-the-world-greece-approves-family-law-changes.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Demos, Vasilikie. (2007) "The Intersection of Gender, Class and Nationality and the Agency of Kytherian Greek Women." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. August 11</ref> In 1981, Spain abolished the requirement that married women must have their husbands' permission to initiate judicial proceedings<ref name="wbl.worldbank.org">{{Cite web |date=2013 |vauthors=((International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank))|title=Women, Business and the Law 2014: Removing Restrictions to Enhance Gender Equality |url=http://wbl.worldbank.org/~/media/FPDKM/WBL/Documents/Reports/2014/Women-Business-and-the-Law-2014-Key-Findings.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824032832/http://wbl.worldbank.org/~/media/FPDKM/WBL/Documents/Reports/2014/Women-Business-and-the-Law-2014-Key-Findings.pdf |archive-date=2014-08-24 |access-date=2014-08-25 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |location=London}}</ref> the Netherlands,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168045ae0e |format=PDF|title=Dutch gender and LGBT-equality policy : 2013 – 2016|website=Rm.coe.int|access-date=23 October 2017|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141037/https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168045ae0e|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/Gender/publication/Netherlands_2015_Review_BPFA_Report_of_the_Netherlands_Government.pdf|title=2015 Review Report of the Netherlands Government in the context of the twentieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action|website=Unece.org|access-date=23 October 2017|archive-date=5 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005144755/http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/Gender/publication/Netherlands_2015_Review_BPFA_Report_of_the_Netherlands_Government.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and France{{refn|group=note|Although married women in France obtained the right to work without their husbands' permission in 1965,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Virtual Special Issue: Modern & Contemporary France: Women in France |url=http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092212/http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 |access-date=2016-04-03}}</ref> and the paternal authority of a man over his family was ended in 1970 (before that parental responsibilities belonged solely to the father who made all legal decisions concerning the children), it was only in 1985 that a legal reform abolished the stipulation that the husband had the sole power to administer the children's property.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ferrand |first=Frédérique |title=National Report: France |url=http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/France-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf |website=Commission on European Family Law |access-date=2016-02-26 |archive-date=2014-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811145534/http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/France-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>}} in the 1980s. In recent decades, the [[marital power]] has also been abolished in African countries that had this doctrine, but many African countries that were former [[French colonies]] still have discriminatory laws in their marriages regulations, such regulations originating in the [[Napoleonic Code]] that has inspired these laws.<ref name="wbl.worldbank.org" /> 

====Divorce====
In some countries (predominantly Roman Catholic) divorce was legalized only recently (e.g. [[Italy]] (1970), [[Portugal]] (1975), [[Brazil]] (1977), [[Spain]] (1981), [[Argentina]] (1987), [[Ireland]] (1996), [[Chile]] (2004) and [[Malta]] (2011)) although [[annulment]] and [[legal separation]] were options. The [[Philippines]] still does not allow divorce. (see [[Divorce law by country]]). The laws pertaining to the situation of children born outside marriage have also been revised in many countries (see [[Legitimacy (family law)]]).

==Health==
[[File:Maternal mortality rate worldwide.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Global maternal mortality rate per 100 000 live births, (2010)<ref name=CIA>[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2223rank.html Country Comparison: Maternal Mortality Rate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418113820/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2223rank.html |date=2015-04-18 }} in [[:en:The World Factbook|The CIA World Factbook]].</ref>]]

===Family medicine===
{{Main|Family medicine}}
Family medicine is a medical specialty devoted to comprehensive health care for people of all ages; it is based on knowledge of the patient in the context of the family and the community, emphasizing disease prevention and health promotion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://familymedicine.bsd.uchicago.edu/OurDepartment/WhatIsFamilyMedicine|title=What is Family Medicine?|website=Uchicago.edu – Department of Family Medicine|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=7 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507232549/http://familymedicine.bsd.uchicago.edu/OurDepartment/WhatIsFamilyMedicine|url-status=live}}</ref> The importance of family medicine is being increasingly recognized.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2013/family_medicine_20130626/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307030845/http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2013/family_medicine_20130626/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 7, 2014|title=The rising importance of family medicine|website=Who.int|access-date=12 April 2017}}</ref>
[[File:2012 Infant mortality rate per 1000 live births, under-5, world map.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|World infant mortality rates in 2012<ref>[http://www.childmortality.org/files_v16/download/UNICEF%202013%20IGME%20child%20mortality%20Report_Final.pdf Infant Mortality Rates in 2012] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714153724/http://www.childmortality.org/files_v16/download/UNICEF%202013%20IGME%20child%20mortality%20Report_Final.pdf |date=July 14, 2014 }}, [[UNICEF]], 2013.</ref>]]

===Maternal mortality===
{{Main|Maternal mortality}}
Maternal mortality or maternal death is defined by [[World Health Organization|WHO]] as "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes."<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/indmaternalmortality/en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507115424/http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/indmaternalmortality/en/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 7, 2013 |title= Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births)|website= Who.int |access-date=12 April 2017}}</ref> Historically, maternal mortality was a major cause of women's death. In recent decades, advances in healthcare have resulted in rates of maternal mortality having dropped dramatically, especially in Western countries. Maternal mortality however remains a serious problem in many African and Asian counties.<ref name="autogenerated1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs348/en/|title=Maternal mortality|website=Who.int|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=30 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930184330/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs348/en/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Infant and child mortality===
{{Main|Infant mortality|Child mortality}}
Infant mortality is the death of a child less than one year of age. Child mortality is the death of a child before the child's fifth birthday. Like maternal mortality, infant and child mortality were common throughout history, but have decreased significantly in modern times.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/gho/child_health/mortality/neonatal_infant_text/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324141053/http://www.who.int/gho/child_health/mortality/neonatal_infant_text/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 24, 2014|title= Infant mortality|website=Who.int|access-date=12 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs178/en/|title=Children: reducing mortality|website=Who.int|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=18 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418155122/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs178/en/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Politics==
[[File:Parents_with_child_Statue_Hrobakova_street_Bratislava.JPG|thumb|Parents with child statue, Hrobákova street, Petržalka, [[Bratislava]]]]
[[File:The_Family_sculpture_by_Robert_Thomas,_Cardiff_Queen_Street_-_geograph.org.uk_-_624471.jpg|thumb|''The Family'', a sculpture by [[Robert Thomas (sculptor)|Robert Thomas]], in [[Cardiff, Wales]]]]

While in many parts of the world family policies seek to promote a gender-equal organization of the family life, in others the male-dominated family continues to be the official policy of the authorities, which is also supported by law. For instance, the Civil Code of [[Iran]] states at Article 1105: "In relations between husband and wife; the position of the head of the family is the exclusive right of the husband".<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 March 2017 |title=The Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran |url=http://www.alaviandassociates.com/documents/civilcode.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311161504/http://www.alaviandassociates.com/documents/civilcode.pdf |archive-date=11 March 2017 |access-date=23 October 2017}}</ref>

In some parts of the world, some governments promote a specific form of family, such as that based on traditional [[family values]]. The term "family values" is often used in political discourse in some countries, its general meaning being that of traditional or cultural values that pertain to the family's structure, function, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and ideals, usually involving the "traditional family"—a [[middle class|middle-class]] family with a breadwinner father and a homemaker mother, raising their biological children. Any deviation from this family model is considered a "nontraditional family".<ref>{{cite journal |last=N |first=Panasenko |title=Czech and Slovak Family Patterns and Family Values in Historical, Social and Cultural Context |journal=Journal of Comparative Family Studies |date=2013 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=79–98 |doi=10.3138/jcfs.44.1.79 }}</ref> These family ideals are often advanced through policies such as [[marriage promotion]]. Some jurisdictions outlaw practices which they deem as socially or religiously unacceptable, such as [[fornication]], [[cohabitation]] or [[adultery]].

== Work–family balance ==
{{Further|Work–family balance in the United States}}
Work–family balance is a concept involving proper prioritizing between work/career and family life. It includes issues relating to the way how work and families intersect and influence each other. At a political level, it is reflected through policies such [[maternity leave]] and [[paternity leave]]. Since the 1950s, social scientists as well as feminists have increasingly criticized gendered arrangements of work and care, and the male breadwinner role, and policies are increasingly targeting men as fathers, as a tool of changing gender relations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bjørnholt |first1=M. |author-link1=Margunn Bjørnholt |year=2014 |title=Changing men, changing times; fathers and sons from an experimental gender equality study |url=http://www.margunnbjornholt.no/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Changing-men-changing-times-fathers-and-sons-from-an-experimental-gender-equality-study.pdf |journal=[[The Sociological Review]] |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=295–315 |doi=10.1111/1467-954X.12156 |s2cid=143048732 |access-date=2014-09-11 |archive-date=2018-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021020857/http://www.margunnbjornholt.no/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Changing-men-changing-times-fathers-and-sons-from-an-experimental-gender-equality-study.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Protection of private and family life===
Article 8 of the [[European Convention on Human Rights]] provides a right to respect for one's "private and family life, his home and his [[privacy of correspondence|correspondence]]", subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "[[necessary in a democratic society]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Art. 8 ECHR Right to private life – Introduction |url=http://echr-online.com/art-8-echr/introduction |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021162524/http://echr-online.com/art-8-echr/introduction |archive-date=2014-10-21 |access-date=2014-10-20 |website=ECHR online}}</ref>

{{cquote|'''Article 8 – Right to respect for private and family life'''

1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedom of others.}}

==Criticism==

The Russian-American [[Rationalism|rationalist]] and [[Individualism|individualist]] philosopher, novelist and playwright [[Ayn Rand]] compared partiality towards [[consanguinity]] with [[racism]], as a small-scale manifestation of the latter.<ref name="rand">{{Cite book |title=Ayn Rand and the World She Made |last=Heller |first=Anne C. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/aynrandworldshem0000hell/page/320 320–321] |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-385-51399-9 |oclc=2290274371 |title-link=Ayn Rand and the World She Made }} Said in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4JWE7mp8nI one of the lectures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703203614/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4JWE7mp8nI |date=2015-07-03 }} Ayn Rand delivered.</ref> "The worship of the family is merely racism, like a crudely primitive first installment on the worship of the tribe. It places the accident of birth above a man's values and duty to the tribe above a man's right to his own life."<ref>Said in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4JWE7mp8nI one of the public lectures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703203614/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4JWE7mp8nI |date=2015-07-03 }} Ayn Rand delivered</ref> Additionally, she spoke in favor of [[childfree]] lifestyle, while following it herself.<ref name="rand"/>

==The family and social justice==
One of the controversies regarding the family is the application of the concept of [[social justice]] to the private sphere of family relations, in particular with regard to the [[rights of women]] and [[children's rights|children]]. Throughout much of the history, most philosophers who advocated for social justice focused on the public political arena, not on the family structures; with the family often being seen as a separate entity which needed to be protected from outside state intrusion. One notable exception was [[John Stuart Mill]], who, in his work ''[[The Subjection of Women]]'', advocated for greater rights for women within marriage and family.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/feminism-family/|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |first=Debra |last=Satz|editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|date=1 January 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=12 April 2017|via=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|archive-date=18 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318120921/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/feminism-family/|url-status=live}}</ref> Second wave feminists argued that [[the personal is political]], stating that there are strong connections between personal experiences and the larger social and political structures. In the context of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, this was a challenge to the [[nuclear family]] and [[family values]], as they were understood then.<ref name="Harutyunyan2009p50">Angela Harutyunyan, Kathrin Hörschelmann, Malcolm Miles (2009) ''Public Spheres After Socialism'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=4tSjNwjax4YC&pg=PA50 pp. 50–51] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313153054/https://books.google.com/books?id=4tSjNwjax4YC&pg=PA50 |date=2022-03-13 }}</ref> Feminists focused on [[domestic violence]], arguing that the reluctance—in law or in practice—of the state to intervene and offer protection to women who have been abused within the family, is in violation of women's [[human rights]], and is the result of an ideology which places family relations outside the conceptual framework of human rights.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/568117|title=Domestic Violence: A Violation of Human Rights of Women by Dr. Vibhuti Patel, Director, P.G.S.R.|first=Vibhuti|last=Patel|website=Academia.edu|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=17 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417101231/https://www.academia.edu/568117|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Global trends in family composition==
Statistics from an infographic by Olivier Ballou showed that,<ref name="AEI_2015_Eberstadt">{{citation |url=https://www.aei.org/multimedia/global-flight-family/ |title=The global flight from the family |author=Nicholas Eberstadt |date=February 23, 2015 |access-date=February 26, 2017 |publisher=[[American Enterprise Institute]] |location=Washington |quote=keywords Economic Development, Foreign and Defense Policy, International Economics, Infographic by Olivier Ballou global trends in family composition |archive-date=September 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908054850/http://www.aei.org/multimedia/global-flight-family/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{blockquote|In 2013, just over 40% of US babies were born outside marriage. The Census bureau estimated that 27% of all children lived in a fatherless home. Europe has seen a surge in child-free adults. One in five 40-something women are childless in Sweden and in Switzerland, in Italy one in four, in Berlin one in three. So-called traditional societies are seeing the same trend. About one-sixth of Japanese women in their forties have never married and about 30% of all women that age are childless.|[https://www.aei.org/multimedia/global-flight-family Infographic Olivier Ballou (AEI)]}}

However, Swedish statisticians reported in 2013 that, in contrast to many countries, since the 2000s, fewer children have experienced their parents' separation, childlessness had decreased in Sweden and marriages had increased. It had also become more common for couples to have a third child suggesting that the nuclear family was no longer in decline in Sweden.<ref name="unece_2013">{{cite report |url=https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/documents/ece/ces/ge.11/2013/WP_8.2.pdf |series=Joint Eurostat/UNECE Work Session on Demographic Projections |date=October 2013 |location=Rome, Italy |title=Assumptions on future fertility: New family values and increased childbearing in Sweden? |publisher=[[United Nations Economic Commission for Europe]] |last1=Tollebrant |first1=Johan |last2=Persson |first2=Lotta |access-date=February 26, 2017 |archive-date=February 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228004709/https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/documents/ece/ces/ge.11/2013/WP_8.2.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|10}}

==See also==
* [[Childlessness]]
* [[Familialism]]
* [[Family economics]]
* [[Household]]
* [[Nepotism]]
* [[Parent]]
* [[Stepfamily]]
* [[Voluntary childlessness]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* Race, Class, & Gender: An Anthology, 9th edition. Editors: Margaret L. Anderson and Patricia Hill Collins. Cengage Learning.
{{refend}}

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* {{cite journal |first1=I. |last1=Tabak |first2=J. |last2=Mazur |first3=M.C. |last3=Granado |first4=Á. |last4=Örkenyi |last5=Zaborskis |first5=A. |last6=Aasvee |first6=K. |last7=Moreno |first7=C. |date=2012 |title=Examining trends in parent-child communication in Europe over 12 years |journal=The Journal of Early Adolescence |volume=32 |number=1 |pages=26–54 |doi=10.1177/0272431611419509 |s2cid=206496782 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Chevallier |first=Denis |url=http://terrain.revues.org/document2874.html |title=Famille et parenté: une bibliographie |journal=Terrain |issue=4 |pages=77–82 |language=fr |access-date=January 8, 2014 |doi=10.4000/terrain.2874 |year=1985 |doi-access=free |archive-date=July 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724171236/http://terrain.revues.org/document2874.html |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Zeitzen |first=Miriam Koktvedgaard |year=2008 |title=Polygamy: a cross-cultural analysis |publisher=Berg |isbn=978-1-84520-220-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WIzHjpTJgdQC |access-date=2015-11-19}}
* {{cite book |last1=Zinn |first1=Maxine Baca |last2=Eitzen |first2=D. Stanley |year=1987 |title=Diversity in American families}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=bS9HAAAAMAAJ&q=protection p. 3] [https://books.google.com/books?id=bS9HAAAAMAAJ&q=%22age+of+the+family+gleaming%22 p. 8]
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{wiktionary}}
{{wikiquote|Family}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Family |volume=10 |short=x}}

{{Family}}
{{Family rights}}
{{Parenting}}
{{Particular human rights}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Family| ]]
[[Category:Society]]