The Change of Family Image

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She walks into the restaurant and immediately catches his eye. After a few minutes of watching her, he decides to talk to her. After talking, he decides he wants to court, or what it is modernly known as, date her. First, he asks her father’s permission to take her out, with a chaperone of course. After dating for a while, the guy asks the girl’s father for her hand in marriage. The father agrees because the guy has a stable job and a nice house. The father knows his daughter will be supported. Once he agrees, the couple gets married. Then, after getting married, they had children. A few years later the guy plays catch with his son. Inside, the girl cooks dinner while the daughter plays with dolls at the kitchen table. This is what people used to think of when the word family was brought up. This was the all-American family. Today, this image has changed. Not only has dating changed, but the roles of the parents and who is included in the word family has also changed. Today, there are no chaperones to accompany a couple on a date and the father does not have to grant permission for dating or even marriage. Not to mention, a higher divorce rate and increased cohabitation. As a result, the term family has come to mean something different than what it did in the past.
Back in the 19th century and before, it was socially and culturally preferred that the “‘traditional nuclear family’” was followed (Popenoe 1993, p 528). That is, “a family that consists of heterosexual, monogamous, life-long marriage…with the female as [a] full-time housewife and the male as [the] primary provider and ultimate authority” (Popenoe 1993, p 528). This is because “these attitudes and preferences add up to a world in which one should eit...

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...ion Studies: A Journal of Demography [Internet]. [2010 Dec 09, cited 2013 Nov 09] 54(1):29-41. Available from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/713779060
Cherlin A, editor. 1988. The changing American family and public policy. Washington DC: The Urban Institute Press. 261 p.
Dillaway H, Paré E. 2008. Locating mothers: how cultural debates about stay-at-home versus working mothers define women and home. Journal of Family Issues [Internet]. [2008 Mar, cited 2013 Nov 18] 29(4):437-464. Available from: http://jfi.sagepub.com/content/29/4/437.full.pdf+html
Mead M. 2001. Male and female. First Perennial edition New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. 448 p.
Popenoe D. 1993. American family decline, 1960-1990: A review and appraisal. Journal of Marriage and Family [Internet]. [Cited 2013 Nov 10] 55(3):527-542. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/353333

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