family structures
How relatives organize
Family structures are the various configurations of relationships and roles within households.
The nuclear family—two parents and their children—was long treated as the default, but family structures include single-parent households, extended families living together, blended families from remarriage, same-sex parents, childless couples, and multigenerational arrangements.
The census tracks changing family structures over time.
- blood relativesFamily by birth
- parenting stylesApproaches to raising kids
- child rearingNurturing young to adulthood
- marriage lawsStatutes governing legal unions
- kinshipState of being related
filial piety · gender roles · caregiving · matriarchy · inheritance rights · attachment theory · sibling rivalry · broken home · collectivism · divorce · genetic inheritance · custody arrangements · emotional support · foster · household · empty nest · divorce proceedings · roots
- cultural practicesmusic, dance, art, religion, marriage
- comparative historycolonialism, imperialism, revolutions, modernization, industrialization
- social structureshierarchies, institutions, social norms, social roles, social networks
- West African culturekente cloth, fufu, voodoo, griots, talking drums
- childhoodchildhood, baby, child, kid, toys
- cultural differenceslocal cuisine, dialect, slang, religious practices, holiday customs
family structuresindividual autonomy
Power over own choices
social isolation · individualism · living alone · rugged individualism · hermit lifestyle