“Nothing in the world could make human life happier than to greatly increase the number of strong families” writes David R. Mace, a seminal advocate of marriage enrichment. Is this statement an idealistic exaggeration, a poetic ideal, or is it an accurate observation of the profound impact of the nuclear family on the functioning of society. A review of the literature bears witness to the accuracy of Mace’s quote. Through the long history of human civilization and across every culture, the family is the foundational structure of society and strengthening the family will strengthen the society. The family unit provides the initial and most influence in the vital process of socialization. Given the documented importance of the nuclear family in the socialization of children, it is imperative to understand, support and strengthen the optimal socialization for child development. Healthy nuclear families are inherently the most efficacious structure to provide the optimal foundation for a child’s socialization and development. The family provides children a safe haven where they may be nurtured physically, emotionally, and socially to mature into fully functioning members of society. Nuclear families have distinct advantages over non-traditional arrangements. Increased stability both financially and emotionally, as well as consistency and relationships are attributes of the nuclear family. Many studies have researched and produced evidence in support of the traditional family and effects of the family structure on children. However, along with the positive characteristic of the traditional family, statistics have also shown some negative effects of non-traditional family entity. Though there are some disadvantages, it does not discoun... ... middle of paper ... ...flin, 1998. 26-57. Hilton, Jeanne, and Esther Devall. "Comparison of Parenting and Children's Behavior in Single-Mother, Single-Father, and Intact Families." Journal of Divorce and Remarriage. 29.3-4 (1998): 23-54. Jongsma, Arthur, Jr., Peterson, Mark, Mclnnis, William and David Berghuis. The Child Psychotherapy Treatment Planner. 2 ed. New York: John Willey & Sons, Inc., 2000. 200-220. Kriesberg, Louis. Mothers in Poverty: A Study of Fatherless Families. 1st ed. New Brunswick: Marshall, Jean, and Sue Stuart. Child Development. 1st ed. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 2001. 96. Rohner, Ronald, and Robert Veneziano. "The importance of father love: History and contemporary evidence." Journal of Review of General Psychology. 5.4 (2001): 382-405. Seefeldt, Carol. Social Studies for the Preschool/Primary Child. 7 th. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2004. 132-136.
Berk, L. (2009). Child Development (Custom Edition for Pennsylvania State University ed.). New York : Custom Publishing.
A child needs both of their parents’ love and affection while growing up. A child that grows up with both has a higher chance of being a more stable person. However, not all children have this luxury; some children are born into dysfunctional families that consist of only one parent like the children in the Wingfield family. “A study of 1,977 children age 3 and older living with a residential father or father figure found that children living with married biological parents had significantly fewer externalizing behavioral problems than children living with at least one non-biological parent” (Consequences of Fatherlessness). The absent parent in the Wingfield family affected everyone in the family, not only the children. The absent father,
... (2009) The science of development. In R.V. Kail & A. Barnfield (Eds.), Children and their development (pp. 8 – 22). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Child development and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
Smith, P., Cowie, H. and Blades, M. (2003). Understanding children’s development (4th ed.). UK: Blackwell Publishing.
A family is a group of people consisting of the parents and their children who live together and they are blood related. The family is always perceived as the basic social units whether they are living together in the same compound or at far distance but are closely related especially by blood. Therefore, the family unit has had a great influence on the growth and the character traits possessed by the children as they grow up and how they perceive the society they live in. the family also shapes the children to be able to relate well with other people that are not part of their family and with a good relationship it impacts to the peace achieved in country. This paper addresses the reasons as to why the family is considered the most important agent of socialization. It’s evident that families have changed over time and they have adopted different ways of living. This paper also tackles on the causes of the dramatic changes to the American family and what the changes are. Different people with different race, gender and preferences make the family unit and this makes the difference in marriages. This will also be discussed in this paper.
The sociological definition of the family is “a set of people related by blood, marriage or some other agreed-upon relationship, or adoption, who share the primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for members of society” (Schaeffer, 2009, p. 288). While the nuclear family (a man, a woman, and their children) was once the primary definition of family, now it refers to many familial configurations. Single-parent families, blended families, same-sex couples, traditional nuclear families and single-parents who have adopted are just a few of the configurations that society in general now views as a family. A healthy family will provide a place of unconditional love, acceptance and support.
Over the past 20 years, the rate of single parent families has increased tremendously and have become even more common than other types of family(Nuclear and extended family) consisting of father,mother,children and other family members.Today we see all sorts of single parent families headed by mothers, headed by fathers, headed by a grandparent raising their grandchildren. The motive of this research was to find out how single parenthood affects a child 's behaviour. I was interested in researching on how single parenting affects a child 's behaviour because nowadays, we see a lot of single parent.
McDevitt, T., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Child development and education (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Doherty, J and Hughes, M (2009) Child Development: Theory and Practice 0-11, Essex: Pearson Education Ltd
Cook, G., & Cook, J. L. (2010). The world of children. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Peterson, L., & Zill, N. (1986). Marital disruption, parent-child relationships, and behavior problems in children. 48(02), 295-307. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/352397?uid=3738672&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=47698773131477
Rohner, Ronald P, and Robert A. Veneziano. "The Importance of Father Love: History and Contemporary Evidence." Review of General Psychology. 5.4 (2001): 382-405. Print.
Peterson, Candida C., James L. Peterson, and Diane Seeto. Child Developement. Vol. 54. N.p.: Blackwell Publishing, n.d. JSTOR. Web. 29 Sept. 2011.
Everyone is born into some form of family, with the family taking the responsibility of nurturing, teaching the norms or accepted behaviors within the family structure and within society. There are many types of families, which can be described as a set of relationships including parents and children and can include anyone related by blood or adoption. Family is the most important, “for it is within the family that the child is first socialized to serve the needs of the society and not only its own needs” (Goode, 1982).