family structure
How relatives organize
Family structure describes the composition and organization of a household—who lives together and how they're related.
The term covers configurations like nuclear families (two parents and children), single-parent households, blended families, multigenerational homes, and same-sex parent families.
Discussions of family structure often arise in sociology, policy debates, and research on child development: Studies examined how family structure affects academic outcomes.
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- breadwinnerPrimary household earner
- kinshipState of being related
- caregiverOne providing daily assistance
- custody arrangementTerms for shared parenting
matriarch · filial piety · blood ties · gender roles · step-parent · only child · birth order · child rearing · generational gap · marriage customs · parenting styles · rites of passage · homemaker · grandparent · empty nest · ancestry · primogeniture · divorce
- North African customstea ceremonies, wedding customs, tribal customs, desert life, nomadic life
- cultural practicesmusic, dance, art, religion, marriage
- anthropologyanthropology, fieldwork, ethnography, social anthropology, cultural anthropology
- sociologysocial class, social institutions, social norms, social mobility, socialization
- census datapopulation census, national census, census forms, census form, census report
- family therapymarriage therapy, relationship counseling, co-parenting, child therapy, premarital counseling
family structuresocial isolation
Lack of human contact
estrangement · alienation · disconnection · kinlessness · orphanhood
family structurefamily breakdown
Collapse of household bonds
fragmentation · disorganization · structurelessness · broken home · dysfunction