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Family structure

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Family structure
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Throughout the course of history and from the time that human beings began to modernize and grow into civilizations, the beliefs of what was thought normal, the distinct ways of living; have greatly changed over time. One certain belief that is focused in this paper is family structure, the contrast there is between nuclear families and the extended ones. Although the United States has now a dominant structure, which is nuclear families, it wasn’t always like this. It alone has many different norms of family structure due to differences in socioeconomic status, the government, religion, media, culture, etc. Moreover, do other countries. One must think how these types of influences also play a key role in other parts of the world, for example the Latin-American countries whose main structure is extended families. This paper will focus on family structure in United States but Latin America as well. How has family structure changed over time in the United States? How has family structure changed in Latin America? How do these two different parts of the world, differ from each other and how do they compare in terms of family structure and what influences them? Finally, where might the future of family structure be headed towards, in both of these regions of the world? Keywords: Family Structure U.S, Family Structure Latin America

Modernized Family Structure in the
United States and Latin America
Family structure is a concept that has changed over time. As complex as it is, it can have a variety of structures, or forms. There isn’t a single definition for this term, as in there is not only one unique model of family, there’s no stereotype for it. As known families and the changes within them, are different from country to country and around the world, this is due to the fact that there’s different customs, values, morals, cultures and traditions, education, marriages, fertility rates, economy different industrialization levels among those



References: Benokraitis, N. V. (2010). The changing family. Marriages and Families: Changes, Choices and Constraints (pp. 03 – 25). New York, NY: Pearson Education. Berroa, R. (1986). An introduction to Latin American society: a background to its fiction. Literature of the Americas. vol. 1. Retrieved from: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rberroa/Latinamerica.htm The Economic Commission for Latin America. (2011a.). Types of urban households,by household per capita income level, 2010. [XLS. file]. Retrieved from: http://websie.eclac.cl/anuario_estadistico/anuario_2011/esp/content_es.asp The Economic Commission for Latin America. (2011b.). Poor and indigent population,urban and rural areas. [XLS. file]. Retrieved from: http://websie.eclac.cl/anuario_estadistico/anuario_2011/esp/content_es.asp Farrell, B., VandeVusse, A., & Ocobock, A. (2012). Family change and the state of sociology. Current Sociology, 60(3), 283- 301.doi:10.1177/0011392111425599. Kobrin, F. E. (1976). The fall in household size and the rise of the primary individual in the United States. Population of Studies and Training Center, vol. 13(1), 1- 17 Larkin, M. (1966). Family planning in Mexico. Nation, 203(16), 508-511. Macionis, J. J. (2010). Family and religion. Society: The Basics (pp. 366 – 383). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc. Mogey, J. (1962). Changes in the family: Introduction. International Social Science Journal, 14(3), 411-424. Spain, D., & Bianchi, S. M. (1996). Racial differences in nonmarital births. Motherhood, Marriage, and Employment Among American Women. (pp. 6 – 8). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation The United States Census. (2010). America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.huduser.org/Datasets/IL/IL08/in_fy2008.pdf The United States Census. (2010). Census Bureau Reports Foreign-Born Households are Larger, Include More Children and Grandparents: 2012 Retrieved from: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/foreignborn_population/cb12 -79.html Zimmerman, C. C. (1972). The future of the family in america. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 34(2), 323-333.

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