The Galleries

The Modern Family

What Defines The Modern Family?

There was a time when most people defined a family as a mother, a father, and their biological children. The New York Times reports that in 1960, about 45 percent of U.S. families could be described this way, but that by 2001, only 23 percent of U.S. families could be described as nuclear families. So what is a family? A familly is "a self-defined group of intimates who create and maintain themselves through their own interactions and their interactions with others." A family may include both involuntary relationships (you don't get to choose your biological parents) and voluntary relationships (you choose your spouse or partner). Today we live among many types of families:

1. Nuclear Family - wife, husband, and their biological children
2. Extended Family - biological: family includes other relatives, such as grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and so on; communal: family includes close friends
3. Step Family - two adults and children who are not the biological offspring of both parents
4. Adopted Family - one or two adults and an adopted child or children
5. Single-parent Family - one adult with a child or children
6. Couple - two adults living together in a romantic relationship with no children
7. Gay or Lesbian Family - Two people of the same gender in an intimate relationship (who may have a child or children, either as biological offspring or adopted)
8. Unmarried with Children - unmarried couple with a biological child or children

Regardless of the type of family you come from or belong to now, your family is a group in which interdependent people interact in order to achieve a common goal. Family goals include providing affection, protection, and a sense of belonging, and also guiding and supporting children as they grow to adulthood. Depending on the culture in which you live, your extended family may include only a few close relatives, or it can be as large as a village, tribe, or clan.