5.2: Introduction to Family and Family Relationships

Family and Community as Context

The word “family” might bring to mind a specific type of family, perhaps one that mirrors your own family of origin, your chosen family, or the type of family you have or want to have one day. However, families can be very wide ranging and diverse, and both new and growing families also face new challenges when an infant enters the picture. In this section, you’ll explore family structures, home environments, and the variety of contexts in which families interact.

Family Structure

A family is a group of at least two people who work together as a unit, share financial resources, and are related either by blood or by legal contract such as for adoption or marriage. Families come in many constellations and can include groups or pairs of related adults without children. Families with children can include parents who are single, married, a common-law or long-term couple, separated, divorced, or widowed. Family members can also include stepparents, adoptive parents, and foster parents, along with other caregivers such as grandparents, uncles, aunts, older cousins, and siblings.

One family type is the nuclear family, in which children live with two parental figures. A single-parent family consists of a child or children and only one parental figure. Another common type is the blended family, in which at least one parent has remarried, and stepparents and stepsiblings may be present (Ginther & Pollak, 2004). Sometimes children in blended families live part of the time in a second household with another parent, and this splitting of time between households yields a commuter family. Finally, an intergenerational family is a household that includes parents, uncles, aunts, and grandparents, all working together as one financial unit (Li & Huang, 2017).

Families can contain parents of any gender, sex, and sexual orientation. Gay, lesbian, and queer families can be nuclear, blended, intergenerational, or any other type. Families may be single parent or dual parent, with one or multiple caregivers serving as the primary caregiver. Research indicates that high-quality parent-child relationships and overall well-being are present in a variety of family constellations (Farr et al., 2020; Tornello & Patterson, 2018). In the United States, around 2.6 million LGBTQ+ adults are parents (Wilson & Bouton, 2024). LGBTQ+ parents may also face unique stressors, particularly with discriminatory treatment or barriers to becoming parents, such as adoption policies and cultural attitudes (Patterson, 2024).

LGBTQ+ parents and heterosexual parents experience similar levels of parenting satisfaction, parenting quality, and child development outcomes (Patterson, 2022). Heterosexual couples may also face unique stressors including uneven and inequitable workloads and childcare responsibilities, particularly in dual-earner homes. Though paternal involvement has increased over the last several decades, research indicates there is a lack of balance in home and childcare labor, with mothers often doing a larger share of both roles (DeGroot & Vik, 2020; Sayer, 2016). Working mothers in particular face risks related to role strain, feeling the stress of competing and overwhelming life demands, which can decrease self-care and emotional well-being over time (Dugan & Barnes-Farrell, 2020). This inequality may have increased during the era known as “pandemic parenting” (Calarco et al., 2021). However, when fathers and mothers balance the caregiving and household roles in two-parent heterosexual families, it predicts greater emotional well-being in children and in parents as well as improved parent-child relationship quality (Chung, 2021).

Some families may face unique risks, for example, when adopted children have experienced early adversity or lived in an institutionalized setting. Research shows that when adoptive parents provide warm, sensitive parenting, adoptive children are better able to improve in their attachment and have a lower risk in long-term behavior problems (Yarger et al., 2020; Paine et al., 2021; Yarger et al., 2019). Foster parents and facilities can use these same strategies to improve child developmental outcomes (Chodura et al., 2021; Wade et al., 2024). Children can thrive and experience healthy development in any of these (Figure 4.16). Overall, they benefit more from stability and consistent caregiving and support than from a particular type of family structure. Healthy family dynamics and caregiving begin with attachment, synchrony, and building trust in infancy and then grow into more defined parenting styles in early childhood.

The component of family structure that most strongly influences infants’ and toddlers’ social and emotional development is the number of caregivers. Families with two caregivers, such as a mom and a dad, two moms, an uncle and a grandmother, or any other combination of two adults, tend to experience less stress than single-parent households (Biblarz & Gottainer, 2000).

Two types of stress that single parents experience are financial strain and time strain. Financial strain occurs when it becomes a challenge to afford shelter, food, education, and entertainment for children. Although any family can experience this stress, households with two adults typically have the potential to earn two incomes and enjoy more financial resources than one parental figure trying to balance childcare and work outside the home. Time strain occurs when a single parent lacks the hours to provide adequate attention, comfort, instruction, and love to their children. In a two-parent household, parents might be able to take turns devoting themselves to family time, whereas single parents are more likely to feel overworked (Van Gasse & Mortelmans, 2020). Time strain can occur in any type of family as well, and employed parents, whether single parents or dual earners, are more likely to experience it (Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2020).

Communities

Families exist within larger communities. Single-parent households in communal and family-focused neighborhoods may be able to rely on other households for support. Single-parent networks, or groups of single parents who rely on each other for babysitting, childcare, and errand running, can help to reduce each other’s financial and time strain. Single-parent and nuclear families who live close to extended family members may also rely on these family members to provide childcare and other types of support.

Theories For Understanding the Family

Over the years researchers have found the necessity to develop theories of behavior that are specific to family settings. These theories have been developed by people with a variety of areas of emphasis, from family therapists to gerontologists to child development specialists. In this section, we will briefly discuss several such theories: Bioecological Model, Family Systems, Functionalism, Conflict Theory, and Symbolic Interactionism.

Bioecological Systems Theory

One of the key theories we look to help explain influences on individuals and their families is Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory. A basic tenet of this theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) is that child and youth development is influenced by many different “contexts,” “settings,” or “ecologies” (for example, family, peers, schools, communities, sociocultural belief systems, policy regimes, and, of course, the economy).

The model is able to account for multiple face-to-face environments, or settings, within the microsystem of a person (for example, family, school, peers); how relations between settings (mesosystem) can affect what happens within them (for example, interactions between school and family); and how settings within which the individuals have no direct presence (exo- and macrosystem) can affect settings in their microsystems (for example, how parents’ experiences at their workplace affect their relationships within the family) (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Thus, this model allows the analysis of the lives of people, “living organisms whose biopsychological characteristics, both as a species and as individuals, have as much to do with their development as do the environments in which they live their lives” (Bronfenbrenner, 1995, p. 8).

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (Theories Developed for Understanding the Family, Rebecca Laff and Wendy Ruiz, licensed CC BY 4.0). See Detailed Description.

Microsystem

Microsystems impact a child directly. These are the people with whom the child interacts such as parents, peers, and teachers. The relationship between individuals and those around them need to be considered. For example, to appreciate what is going on with a student in math, the relationship between the student and teacher should be known.

Mesosystem

Mesosystems are interactions between those surrounding the individual. The relationship between parents and schools, for example will indirectly affect the child.

Exosystem

Larger institutions such as the mass media or the healthcare system are referred to as the exosystem. These have an impact on families and peers and schools who operate under policies and regulations found in these institutions.

Macrosystem

We find cultural values and beliefs at the level of macrosystems. These larger ideals and expectations inform institutions that will ultimately impact the individual.

Chronosystem

All of this happens in an historical context referred to as the chronosystem. Cultural values change over time, as do policies of educational institutions or governments in certain political climates. Development occurs at a point in time.^[2]

Application: Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Model

Duration: 5:13

Video introduction: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model and how different environmental systems influence human development is explained. 

 

Family Systems Theory

When understanding the family, the Family Systems Theory has proven to be very powerful. Family Systems Theory comes under the Functional Theory umbrella and shares the functional approach of considering the dysfunctions and functions of complex groups and organizations. Family Systems Theory claims that the family is understood best by conceptualizing it as a complex, dynamic, and changing collection of parts, subsystems and family members. Much like a mechanic would interface with the computer system of a broken down car to diagnose which systems are broken (transmission, electric, fuel, etc.) to repair it, a therapist or researcher would interact with family members to diagnose how and where the systems of the family are working and where they are in need of repair or intervention.

This theory also addresses the issue of boundaries. Boundaries are distinct emotional, psychological, or physical separateness between individuals, roles, and subsystems in the family. Boundaries are crucial to healthy family functioning.^[4]

Application: Your Family System

• What is the main role you have in your family system? What boundaries do you have or wish you had?

Functionalism

When considering the role of family in society, functionalists uphold the notion that families are an important social institution and that they play a key role in stabilizing society. They also note that family members take on status roles in a marriage or family. The family—and its members—perform certain functions that facilitate the prosperity and development of society.

Sociologist George Murdock conducted a survey of 250 societies and determined that there are four universal residual functions of the family: sexual, reproductive, educational, and economic (Lee 1985). According to Murdock, the family (which for him includes the state of marriage) regulates sexual relations between individuals. He does not deny the existence or impact of premarital or extramarital sex, but states that the family offers a socially legitimate sexual outlet for adults (Lee 1985). This outlet gives way to reproduction, which is a necessary part of ensuring the survival of society.

Once children are born, the family plays a vital role in training them for adult life. As the primary agent of socialization and enculturation, the family teaches young children the ways of thinking and behaving that follow social and cultural norms, values, beliefs, and attitudes. For example, in some families, parents teach their children manners and civility believing a well-mannered child reflects a well-mannered parent.

Parents also teach children gender roles. Gender roles are an important part of the economic function of a family. In each family, there is a division of labor that consists of instrumental and expressive roles. Men tend to assume the instrumental roles in the family, which typically involve work outside of the family that provides financial support and establishes family status. Women tend to assume the expressive roles, which typically involve work inside of the family which provides emotional support and physical care for children (Crano and Aronoff 1978).

According to functionalists, the differentiation of the roles on the basis of sex ensures that families are well balanced and coordinated. When family members move outside of these roles, the family is thrown out of balance and must recalibrate in order to function properly. For example, if the father assumes an expressive role such as providing daytime care for the children, the mother must take on an instrumental role such as gaining paid employment outside of the home in order for the family to maintain balance and function.

Conflict Theory

Conflict theorists are quick to point out that U.S. families have been defined as private entities, the consequence of which has been to leave family matters to only those within the family. Many people in the United States are resistant to government intervention in the family: parents do not want the government to tell them how to raise their children or to become involved in domestic issues. Conflict theory highlights the role of power in family life and contends that the family is often not a haven but rather an arena where power struggles can occur. This exercise of power often entails the performance of family status roles. Conflict theorists may study conflicts as simple as the enforcement of rules from parent to child, or they may examine more serious issues such as domestic violence (spousal and child), sexual assault, marital rape, and incest.

The first study of marital power was performed in 1960. Researchers found that the person with the most access to value resources held the most power. As money is one of the most valuable resources, men who worked in paid labor outside of the home held more power than women who worked inside the home (Blood and Wolfe 1960). Even today, with more fluid family roles, conflict theorists find disputes over the division of household labor to be a common source of marital discord. Household labor offers no wages and, therefore, no power. Studies indicate that when men do more housework, women experience more satisfaction in their marriages, reducing the incidence of conflict (Coltrane 2000). In general, conflict theorists tend to study areas of marriage and life that involve inequalities or discrepancies in power and authority, as they are reflective of the larger social structure.

Application: Conflict in Your Household?

How does the division of chores impact or not impact your household?

Symbolic Interactionism

Interactionists view the world in terms of symbols and the meanings assigned to them (LaRossa and Reitzes, 1993). The family itself is a symbol. To some, it is a father, mother, and children; to others, it is any union that involves respect and compassion. Interactionists stress that family is not an objective, concrete reality. Like other social phenomena, it is a social construct that is subject to the ebb and flow of social norms and ever-changing meanings.

Consider the meaning of other elements of family: in the past, “parent” was a symbol of a biological and emotional connection to a child. With more parent-child relationships developing through adoption, remarriage, or change in guardianship, the word “parent” today is less likely to be associated with a biological connection than with whoever is socially recognized as having the responsibility for a child’s upbringing. Similarly, the terms “mother” and “father” are no longer rigidly associated with the meanings of caregiver and breadwinner. These meanings are more free-flowing through changing family roles.

Interactionists also recognize how the family status roles of each member are socially constructed, playing an important part in how people perceive and interpret social behavior. Interactionists view the family as a group of role players or “actors” that come together to act out their parts in an effort to construct a family. These roles are up for interpretation. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a “good father,” for example, was one who worked hard to provide financial security for his children. Today, for some, a “good father” is one who takes the time outside of work to promote his children’s emotional well-being, social skills, and intellectual growth—in some ways, a much more daunting task (LaRossa and Reitzes, 1993).

Reflect

• Identify the major contexts for social and emotional development in infancy and toddlerhood.
• Describe cultural and familial variations in the major contexts for social and emotional development.