Families & HouseholdsDifferent types

What do we mean by Household?

A household can be just one person living alone

Or a group of people who live at the same address

They will share meals or facilities such as a living room

People living together in shared households are not necessarily related

A Family household however is one in which family members live together in the same home

Nuclear families A nuclear family consists of a

father, mother and their dependent child or children

It contains just 2 generations The family members live

together in the same household

The parents may be married or they may be cohabiting

Either way they are “bound together”

This is often referred to as the CEREAL PACKET FAMILY

Why do you think this is so?

Extended Families An extended family includes

relatives beyond the nuclear family

It usually contains 3 generations

They may live together in the same house or live nearby

In this way, the family is extended vertically

Families may be extended horizontally

With the addition of the husband’s brother or the wife’s cousin

In this case just 2 generations would live together or nearby

Draw a diagram of a vertically and horizontally extended family

Lone –parent families A lone-parent family

consists of one parent and a dependent child or children who live together

They are often called single parent families

The parent is usually but not always a woman

They are most likely to be lone parents because of separation, divorce or because they are widowed

Stepfamilies These are also known as

RECONSTITUTED families Due to the increased

divorce rate of the last 50 years individuals are more likely to be married more than once

and have a number of children who were not all produced with the same partner.

The dynamic of a step family consists of children and parents who are not all biologically related.

Same sex families This consists of children, and

parents who are of the same sex.

Due to recent legal developments this family dynamic has had the chance to develop, even though it only counts as a small number of families in this country.

This has been made possible by The Civil Partnership Act 2005, the development of IVF and surrogacy and the availability of adoption.

Check your understanding! What are the similarities and possible

differences between a household and a family?

What are the basic differences between nuclear and extended families?

List the ways in which someone can be closely attached to their extended family.

Explain why mothers may choose to belong to a lone parent family.