The American family: Past and Present

American marriage pattern, its types, statistics and trends among different social groups and ages. The reasons of marriage and divorce and analyzing the statistics of divorce and it’s impact on people. The position of children in American family.
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The American family: Past and Present

Introduction

The last decades of the XX century are marked by the unprecedented growth of interest in the study of family and marriage institutions. America's family values are very important to their citizens. For many years the American family and its values have been one of the top priorities of the USA. The family is even an essential part of the «American Dream» that all the world is so fond of. The basic idea of success in America is measured by how well man or woman can provide for their family.

But what does the government and the society with family values? It determines these values and sets a standard for the whole of America's people. Family values are of the highest importance to the American citizen.

Family values are basically the core of not only American but even Belorussian way of living. They have been important since, and even before, the very beginning of our civilization, and certainly since the founding of the United States of America. Many scientists suggest that even the primitive caveman was very loyal and respectful to his family. People of our time have followed these beginnings of the ideas of family values up until the present day.

Today however people are more separated in their lives but they all share similar values and views on the family. Even America itself with it's «melting pot» functions like one family. Civilization, over time, has brought about values which have become essential to all. Family values have brought considerable amounts of happiness to any group of people of any stage of history. Without love and family we would probably be in worldwide chaos. And without family there even wouldn't be world to live. People would only regard each other as just soulless beings, there would be no friends, lovers, or married people anywhere without family values.

All people desire family values, such as love, care, intimacy, acceptance, commitment, and shared responsibility. This is why people from all religious, political, and social groups are interested in making families.

Family life is very meaningful. For the greater common good a society must have adequate family values to prevent chaos. America seems to be gradually losing these very important values which are of immeasurable cost. This loss is due to a reduction of morals by society and a brainwashed acceptance of what is clearly wrong.

Failure to do so may result in an incalculable loss such as the destruction of a society that Americans have strived so long to build. This is one of the primary reasons or the fall of the Roman Empire. The loss of society's values gradually weakened and disassociated them and very soon they were overran by a weaker power.

Family is the institute that holds not only American but even our society together. We have had them since the earliest society on our Earth. They have provided a clear outline for religious, social, and moral values throughout history. They have formed a basis for our governments and cultures. It is of the utmost importance that these values are preserved for the sake of society and the common good of all people.

Over the second half of the 20th century, American families underwent significant changes in composition and lifestyle. These changes correlated with new definitions of the American family. In growing numbers, families moved from rural areas to urban center or suburbs, and more women joined the workforce. Family size became smaller and more children were born to unmarried parents. As a result of these trends, American families of the 21st century are highly diverse, and can be compared by looking at a number of social and economic indicators.

In our research we will look at the families through examining the trends in marriage. On average, rates of marriage have decreased in the American population, though significant differences exist between groups depending on religious affiliation, ethnic background and income level. We will also compare family size. While population-level trends demonstrate a decrease in family size, the number of children in a household varies by region and cultural background. We will consider which population groups are having fewer children, and also examine trends in delayed childbirth. And of course we will try to look at the life of average American family and see the process of bringing children up, child case system and distribution household duties. After combining and comparing all the information together, we will consider major trends, problems and peculiarities of American families.

To make clear portrait of an average American family, different sources will be used: the works of sociologists and psychologists, newspaper articles and research from different scientific spheres, family-magazines and books.

The research will be divided into 3 sections. The first will deal with American marriage pattern, its types, statistics and trends among different social groups and ages. We took into consideration same-sex marriages because nowadays their number constantly grows not only in the USA but all over the world. Second section is devoted to the topic of marriage contract and divorce. We will look at the reasons of marriage and divorce and analyze the statistics of divorce and it's impact on American people. Third section investigates the position of children in American family. Here we found information about the main trends among American teenagers, learned about some difficulties in their upbringing and saw how American government protects young citizens.

1. American marriage pattern

The term «marriage» derives from the Latin word «mas» meaning «male» or «masculine.» The earliest known use of the word in English dates from the thirteenth century.

In the early 1900s, social commentators often expressed concerns that long-term residents of the United States were not marrying, or were doing so at late ages. What many called «Race Suicide» reflected the wide disparity in the disparity regime of recent immigrants to the United States and the native stock, as well as fertility differentials. While concern regarding ethnic differences in age at marriage were strongly articulated at the turn of the century, as of mid-century such expressions were rare. By then, the American disparity regime had clearly changed. Both men and women married earlier, and relatively few remained unmarried. According to Gibson and Lennon the median age at marriage for men declined from 25.9 in 1900 to 22.8 by 1950; for women it decreased less sharply, falling from 21.9 to 20.3. The proportions never marrying also decreased. Whereas less than two-thirds of men and three-quarters of women born in the late 1880s ever married, that share declined to less than ten percent of men and women born after [3, p. 74].

Beginning in the 1960s a number of interrelated and mutually reinforcing economic, technological and cultural factors combined to accelerate and extend those changes in existing family features. These changes, and their demographic and social consequences, have raised considerable concern, if not panic, among some researchers and policy makers. Doom mongering about the dying Occident and the disintegration or even the end of the family have been advanced or discussed. Since the late 1960s, the rate of first marriages experienced by individuals aged fourteen and over has declined substantially in the United States. This pattern, which has been characteristic of both men and women and has been quite steady over time, has contributed to the increasing proportion of single young adults in the population. According to some researchers, these facts reflect changes in the timing of marriage, and not changes in its ultimate incidence. For example, according to professor Cherlin, «The higher proportion of single young adults in the 1970s and early 1980s suggests only that they are marrying later, not foregoing marriage». It is unlikely that their lifetime proportions marrying fall below the historical minimum. Indeed, the median age at first marriage increased by more than one year for both males and females during the 1970s [1, p. 24].

The end of the 20^th century has witnessed remarkable changes in family structures and dynamics in North America: smaller household sizes, a further shift from extended to nuclear families, a decrease in nuptiality and an increase in separation or divorce, the appearance of new forms of unions such as unmarried cohabitation and living-apart-together, changing gender and intergenerational relations, and, last but not least, a substantial decrease in fertility, often to below-replacement levels.

First marriage continued to be postponed and so did age at first birth. More young people left the parental home to live some time on their own before cohabiting or marrying. This resulted in an increasing number of single person households of young adults. However, the age of leaving the parental home, after decreasing in the 1970s and 1980s, increased in the 1990s in some countries. The proportion of young adults (age group 25-29) still living in the parental home was particularly high (65 percent among men and 44 percent among women). In Central America those figures were much lower (25 percent for men and 11 percent for women). The same was true for the northern part of...