4.3: How is Family Life Changing Notes:

Demographic Factors & Effects on Family Life

Family size:

• Smaller families today due to contraception, cost of living, women’s careers.

• Larger families more common in traditional/agricultural societies.

Birth rates:

• Declining in many countries → fewer children, more dual‑worker families.

• Impacts school demand, childcare needs.

Life expectancy:

• Longer lives → more generations alive at once (beanpole families).

• Elderly need support from children/grandchildren.

Ageing population:

• More elderly dependents → pressure on healthcare, pensions, families.

• Rise of “sandwich generation” caring for both children and parents.

Having children later in life:

• Linked to careers, education, financial stability.

• Smaller family size, older parents, more reliance on childcare services.

Impact of Industrialization & Urbanization

Industrialization:

• Shift from agricultural extended families → nuclear families.

• Families became units of consumption, not production.

Urbanization:

• Movement to cities → smaller households, more diversity.

• Greater independence, but less support from extended kin.

• Rise in single‑person households and shared living.

Changing Patterns in Marriage, Divorce & Cohabitation

• Legislation: divorce laws easier, marriage laws more inclusive (same‑sex, civil partnerships).

• Societal attitudes/values: less stigma around divorce, cohabitation, singlehood.

• Role of the internet: dating apps, online communities → new ways to form relationships.

• Secularisation: decline in religious influence → more freedom in marriage/divorce choices.

• Cultural expectations: vary globally (arranged marriages vs. love marriages).

• Female empowerment: women less economically dependent on men → more divorce, later marriage, cohabitation.

Alternatives to Marriage

• Cohabitation: living together without marriage, increasingly common.

• Singlehood: choosing to live alone, often for independence or career.

• Lone parents: raising children alone due to divorce, choice, or widowhood.

• Civil partnerships: legal recognition of relationships outside traditional marriage (often same‑sex couples).

Changing Family Roles

Conjugal Roles

• Segregated roles: traditional division (men = breadwinner, women = caregiver).

• Joint roles: shared responsibilities (housework, childcare, income).

• Symmetrical family: more equal, both partners work and share domestic tasks.

• Dual worker family: both partners in paid employment.

• Pivot/Sandwich generation: adults caring for both children and elderly parents.

Roles of Children

• Economic burden/cost: children seen as expensive (education, lifestyle).

• Child‑centeredness: modern families focus more on children’s needs and happiness.

• Boomerang children: young adults return home after education due to housing costs or unemployment.

Roles of Grandparents

• Childcare: support working parents.

• Economic support: financial help (paying fees, housing).

• Wisdom/advice: emotional guidance, family traditions.

• Dependent/burden: elderly may rely on family for care, creating stress.

NOTES DONE BY FARIDA SABET

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