University of FloridaSolutions for Your Life

Download PDF
Publication #FAR5029

 

Defining Family by Children's Living Arrangements1

Donna Davis2

Figure 1. 
[Click thumbnail to enlarge.]

One of the most fascinating exercises I ever participated in while in graduate school was during a class when we were asked to get into groups and "define" family. In a class of approximately 20 graduate students, no group (much less individual) shared the same definition of family.

While the "average" American may think of family as Mom, Dad, and the 2.2 children and a dog, that picture is not as common as one might think. Today's families may be nuclear, adopted, blended or extended. They may not include siblings, or even parents. For many children, family is defined by their living arrangement. That being the case, here's how American children might define their families today, according to a recent Census Bureau report, "Living Arrangements of Children." Seventy-one percent of children live in two-parent households, 26% live in single-parent households, and 4% live without either parent. Fifteen percent of children live in blended families, and 21% live in households with no siblings. Those with single parents (remember, that's one out of every four) had a poverty rate of 27%—double the overall poverty rate for all households with kids. Also of interest, single mother households went from 8% 100 years ago, to 11% in 1970, to 22% today (Kreider & Fields, 2005).

Researchers attribute the changing makeup of families to many cultural and economic factors and see more change to come. So…what does "family" mean to you?

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website at http://www.familyalbumradio.org.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/242.mp3

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/242.wav

Reference

Kreider, R. M., & Fields, J. (2005). Living arrangements of children: 2001. Current Population Reports, P70-104. U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC.

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR5029, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program 242 and published April 2009. Reviewed March 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Donna Davis, senior producer, Family Album Radio, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.