This assignment will critically reflect upon what constitutes family in a contemporary world reflecting upon whether families are still an important concept in today’s society. We will begin by exploring the meaning of the term ‘family’ with the main focus being on child and childless families whilst making links to international and UK issues with child policy, referring to the One Child Policy in China, the troubled family programme, as well as looking at the approach of both Labour and Conservative parties. Next, we will compare both heterosexual and same sex relationships and marriage as it is important to consider how family structure has changed in recent years this will be supported with relevant statistics and legislation. Intergenerational, and boomerang families will be mentioned whilst focusing on the risk and resilience of families, concluding with several thoughts on how the life of families can be improve.

Giving the term family a clear definition is almost impossible, the term family is a complex term with a wide range of diverse definitions. Everyone will have their own concepts of what constitutes a family; how one person portrays a family may be very different to another. For many, family is a set of individuals who offer love, support and security, for others a family would typically consist of two children, and a biological mother and father (Edwards, 2009). Throughout the years the definition of family has changed several times, during the 1900s family was defined as a ‘social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction’ (Murdock, 1949). Though by 2009 family was considered ‘The people we are related to by blood or marriage, the family of origin is the family we are born into’ (Lawson and Garrod, 2009). When reflecting upon the term family we must consider the various types of family. 

Social norms regarding what is considered family are relative to the context and culture (Shah, 2016). With the change in social norms comes the change in family structure. Today we are seeing more varied family structures normalised for example same sex, multigenerational and co-habiting (ONS, 2016). During the 1950s the ‘ideal’ family was known as a nuclear family (Maltezos, 2011). A typical nuclear family would consist of two young heterosexual individuals, married and who had conceived their children naturally. A fundamental part of a nuclear family was the assumption of sexual interaction between the male and female within a legal frame (Cutas & Chan, 2012). 

Although varied family structure is becoming normalised, The Chinese government are challenging this idea and have a unique approach on family, Chinas one child policy was first introduced in 1979, The policy was presented with the purpose of reducing the countries birth rate and to slow down the population rate. The policy allowed couples to have just one child. Previously the Chinese government encouraged couples to have several children in order to increase the country’s work force, however by the 1970s the population growth rate was increasing so rapidly that it was quickly becoming unsustainable (BBC, 2014). 

Though the policy would dramatically decrease the birth and population rate, enforcing the policy came with many challenges, the policy was often resisted in rural areas due to the tradition of having large families with multiple children, also many women claim that after they had become pregnant with one child they were often forced to have an abortion, and many were unwantedly sterilised.  With several negative implications, the recent change in the policy allowed couples to apply for a second child, only if their first child is a girl, or if both parents are only children, With the policy being successful in decreasing the population rate. China face several new difficulties including the decreasing birth rate leading to the increase in the number of elderly individuals, with fewer individuals of working age to support the increasing rate of elderly dependants China is likely to have an ageing population (BBC, 2014). 

Unlike the Chinese government, The UK government (2015) provide support for all families, in particular those who are troubled due to the challenges they bring to their surrounding community and the high cost they bring to the public sector. The UK government is committed to working with local authorities and their partners to help 120,000 troubled families in England, confirming a better life for the children in these families and at the same tie to bring down the cost of the taxpayer. As a part of the Troubled Families programme the government aim to work along with local authorities to, get children back into school, and reduce the high costs these families place on the public sector each year (Gov, 2015). 

The UK’s conservative party are also dedicated to improving the lives of families in the UK. The party’s manifesto outlines six different goals which they believe will secure a better live for families in Britain. The first goal is dedicated to increasing the spending on the NHS, providing seven-day week access to a GP, ensuring everyone has access to free, high quality health services. The next promise is to extend the Right to Buy Housing Association tenants by building 200,000 new starter homes for first time buyers as well as providing 30 hours of free childcare to working parents of three and four-year-old kids ensuring families can work whilst having a secure home. The manifesto also assures to maintain the amount of money that follows each child into school, guaranteeing a suitable primary school place for each child. (Conservatives, 2015). The labour party however have a slightly different approach to families in the UK, the labour manifesto firstly promises to guarantee people with a GP appointment within 48 hours or on the same day for those who need it the most, they also promise to create a cancer treatments fund so that patients have access to the latest drugs, surgery and radiotherapy. Labour assure that they will support individuals in their older stages in life they support measures to cap the costs of care and will prioritise improving the quality of care services, Like the conservative party, labour promise to build at least 200,000 new built homes by 2020 (Labour, 2015).

As previously stated family structure is becoming more diverse, and as result of the recent change in marriage legislations there has been a rise in family patterns and norms associated with same sex partnership and parenting. The Same Sex Couple’s Marriage Act (2013) was introduced in July 2013, the Act makes same sex marriage lawful in both England and Wales. The government believe that introducing the Act will demonstrate society’s respect for all individuals regardless of their sexuality. The same sex couples act enables same sex couples to marry in civil ceremonies, enables civil partners to convert their partnership to marriage if they wish to do so (Gov, 2013) 

Though the change in marriage legislation, there are few individua’s who continue to challenge the idea of same sex partnership. One particular article used rhetorically informed thematic analysis to critically examine conservative arguments against same sex marriage, Several opposition arguments were recognised within the article, the first argument being that marriage is by definition and tradition a union between man and woman, another stated that marriage is designed as a framework for raising children and that same sex marriage relationships would be going against nature (Jowett, 2014). 
 
Although the support for same sex marriage has increased over the past decade, public opinion remains divided (REF). Many would argue that the political divide over same sex marriage signifies a deeper divide between contradictory coupling approaches (Flores, 2015). It is suggested that opposition to same sex marriage can be explained in two terms, the first being individual dissimilarities in short term mating orientation and the second being mental associations between homosexuality and promiscuity (Pinsof, 2016). Regarding these proposals a novel ‘implicit association test’ was created to measure mental associations between homosexuality and promiscuity; the findings found that metal connections between homosexuality and promiscuity at both implicit and exact level interacted among short term coupling orientation (Pinsof & Haselton, 2016). Though there are different positions on same sex marriages/families across the world. The UK the government have not always respected individuals for their sexuality, in fact gay marriage was illegal for centuries, According to Smart (1991) psychoanalytic theories in the past labelled homosexuality as a ‘deviant psychiatric trait’ 

Initiatives such as the enactment of the Employment Equality Act (2004) were introduced to outlaw discrimination to ensure gender equality for gay and lesbian individuals (Equality Authority, 2002). On the 24th June (2008) the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr Dermot Ahern, announced that the government has approved the Heads of the Civil partnership Bill, the bill proposed to set up a system for registration of same sex partnership. Under this proposal, same sex couples will have the right to be considered for joint adoption, (Department of Justice, Equality and Law reform, 2008). 

“Same Sex relationships are relationships between two individua’s often concerning romantic and sexual relationships” (Farlex, 2003) Though same sex relationships are becoming an increasing norm. Same sex relationships however often come with several challenges, these being biological, social orientation and philosophical

“When the family form is less traditional, difficulties of definition arise.  Informal families in which the parents are not married or same gender relationships for which formal marriage is not available create problems” (Little, 2013). 

Despite the growing support for same sex parenting proportionally fewer same sex couples report having children today than in 2000, With the reduced stigma towards LGBT individuals, more same sex couples are adopting children or using reproductive technologies to have children, In contrast to previous years same sex couples today will be less probable to have children, yet those who do are more likely to have children who are born with same sex parents and who are in a stable relationship (Gates, 2015).

Internationally there has been many concerns about how being brought up in a same sex parent household could affect a child’s academic engagement, as a result a Canadian report was issued in 2013 analyzing both academic engagement and the graduation rate of those who were brought up by two same sex parents. Interestingly the report revealed that children of gay and lesbian couples were only 65% as likely to graduate from high school than the children of opposite sex couples, the report also stated that the daughters of lesbian parents achieved dramatically lower graduation rates than boys of lesbian parents. (Fitzgibbons, 2013). A similar study ‘The journal of marriage and family’ found that children in same sex parent families scored lower than those living in married, biological parent households on more than two academic results (Potte, 2012). 

With the rise in more diverse family structure there has been a substantial decline in traditional family structures in the UK (OECD, 2011). Due to the constant alterations, we are now seeing a continuous change in the way ‘families’ co-habit, divorce, marry and birth patterns (ONS, 2017). Statistics from the Office of National Statistics (2016) suggest fewer married couples are choosing to conceive today. Statistics show that there were only 5,746 families in 1996 who were married couples with no children (ONS, 1996). By 2017 the figure has increased to 6,166, suggesting that fewer married couples are choosing to become parents when married.  There has also been a noticeable increase in the number of families having three or more children, statistics show that in 1996 a family with three or more children was 4,243 where as in 2017 it has deceased to just 3,998, meaning more families are choosing to have fewer children. (Office for National Statistics, 2017).









Graph 1: Married Couples and Children 
 
 
                                                                                                                (ONS, 2018).


Statistics from ONS (2016) show that the UK population reached an all-time high in 2016 reaching its record of 65.6 million, yet the UK population has not always been as high, in fact research shows that in 1976 the UK population was at just 56,216 in comparison to 65, 648 in 2016. Though there has been an increase in the amount of married couples without children, there has also been an increase in the UK’s population and therefore the amount of individua’s who are married without children may not be as substance as assumed by looking at statistics due to the change in the population rate. 

Socialization is a lifelong process of inheriting norms and ideologies providing individuals with the skills necessary for participating within society. Primary socialization is especially important for young children as it sets the base for any future socialization that they are likely to face. Socialization generally occurs when a child absorbs attitudes, values and actions, often influenced by those around the for example immediate family and friends (Hiron, 2015). 

The return of the extended family is becoming increasingly popular. A report from the Telegraph states “Millions of middle-aged people have had to find room in their homes both for their grown-up children and their elderly parents as traditional large households make a comeback, a study shows.” (Bingham J, 2012). The report states that the effects of increasing property prices and the increasing costs of care for the old and young have compelled the practice of several generations to be living under the same roof, otherwise known as a multigenerational family. Statistics confirm there are almost 36 million individuals who have experienced some form of multigeneration in their family (ONS, 2015). 

Numerous studies show that the benefits of multigenerational families overshadow the negative outcomes, one study implies individual from a multigenerational background being at an increased risk of dropping out of school (Ibid, 2013). Though there are little disadvantages to several generational families the benefits and the importance today is extremely valuable, the first importance of multigenerational families being the demographic changes of increasing population ageing, resulting in increased years of shared lives between younger members and older members of the family (Bengston, 2001). 

As well as multigenerational families, the boomerang generation is another increasing family structure.  The boomerang generating are generally young adults who have move out of the family home for a time and then moved back in. The pew research survey found that amount all adults aged 18-32, 24% moved back in with their parents in recent years after living on their own due to economic struggles. Overall 39% of all adults aged 18-34 say they either live with their parents now or have moved back temporarily in recent years. Parents who say their adults children have moved back in with them are just as satisfied with their family life and housing situation as are those parents whose adult children have not moved back home, an estimate 68% of young adults aged 18-34 who are living with their parents or moved back in temporarily due to economic conditions say they were satisfied with their family life (Parker, 2010).

Traditionally research and practice concerning child wellbeing has focused the investigation on risk factors, Resilience concerns the capacity to ‘bounce back’ it refers to doing well against the odds, coping and recovering (Rutter & Stein, 2005). Discussions of risk are typically associated with risk, Risk suggests any factors which increases the possibility of an unwanted outcome affecting a person (Newman, 2004). There are many factors which cause a child to become resilient during early childhood, Certain factors likely to increase a child’s resilience include, A close bond with at least one family member, Lack of separation, Sibling attachment, Four or fewer children, Adequate financial resources, Lack of parental mental health or addiction problems and finally a close bond with grandparents (Action for Children, 2007).
More recent studies in resilience aim to understand how these factors may lead to positive outcome s and what mechanisms are involved, A dynamic view of resilience suggests individuals adapt consequences from interactive processes including the factors associated with the child, family and the community (Yates & Mansten, 2003). Encouraging resilience enables enhanced, positive long-term outcomes by increasing a child’s possibility of positive adjustment in the future (Newman, 2004). Some processes thought to play an important role in promoting resilience include managed exposure to risk, since it can deliver opportunity for coping mechanisms to be developed.  

Demographic and social changes in recent years have resulted in a more complex structure within families, more couples are cohabiting and becoming parents, divorce rates have increased as well as the number of stepfamilies, as a result child now have a higher risk of experiencing parental separation, being part of a stepfamily or being raised by a lone parent. (ONS, 2016). On numerous occasions including educational achievement, behaviour and mental and long term health there is a noticeable difference between children who have experienced parental separation compared to those who have not, Alcohol and drug abuse, mental health and wellbeing problems, lower educational attainment and problems with relationships are just some problems likely to be faced by those who have experienced parental separation during childhood (Mooney & Smith, 2009).

Wellbeing is a term used for ‘happiness’ which covers both physical and psychological wellbeing. (White, 2008). There are many influences which can impact on the happiness of both parents and children. The first influence is the type of family, whether a child is living in a one or two parent household and whether the parents are separated or married, Family processes are another notable influence especially concerning any conflict, intergenerational history of family relationship or attitudes to parenting and family roles. (NIH, 2005). 

To establish why some families are happier than others a study was conducted involving surveying an estimate of 1,500 household where there was at least one child under the age of 18 with the intention of identifying the different types of family in Ireland. The study found that the psychical and psychological wellbeing of both parents were primarily influenced by three main factors personality characteristics, family process and socio economic environment, The research also found that the key family process which has the most impact on physical and psychological well-being of parents are the mother-child relationship or the couple relationship. The final finding of the study that there are both indirect and direct t influences on well-being, the indirect influences have very little impact on wellbeing whilst direct influence have serious impact, parents, support networks, grandparents, age and job satisfaction are all indirect influences whereas parent child relationships, couple relationships, conflict, family income and negative emotionality are all influences which cause a negative impact on a family’s happiness. (McKeown, 2003).

To conclude, When ensure happiness for all families there are three main aspects which we must consider, the first being policy, The UK government promise to ensure a better live for all families ensuring affordable housing for first time byers to offer them and their family security and stability as well as providing free childcare to working families to guarantee families can work whilst securing a home. The UK government also promise to safeguard those who are seen to be troubled families, reducing the high costs these families place on the public sector each year and finally must protect and safeguard those who are at risk of facing discrimination and exclusion in today’s society.

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