Diversity in American Families free essay sample

The family in America has come through an elongated way and has evolved a lot ultimately. Liberals and conservatives have their have their diverse views on the American family nowadays. It is extremely tough to bring and organize a family nowadays. Nevertheless, there are a number of easier means to raise a family nowadays as well. Several of the issues that are the subjects of discussion in the evolution of families are divorce and its consequences, welfare, vulgarity on children and wives, and a small number of other resource related matters. The conventional archetype of a family composed of a father, mother and children still holds influence in many parts of America, despite which it now accounts for fewer than 25 percent of the states households. A lot of politicians, clergies and conservative activists hold on to that archetype when they talk in defense of family values. Reports from the Census Bureau shown, that many of all families in America are now headed by unmarried adults. At the present there over 28. 7 million one-person households compared to 24. 1 million households that have a married couples with minor children (U. S. Census Bureau, 2000). Family diversity at the present has become the norm in America. The issues of family diversity have been discussed by various people in various media. On common source of such information is found on Journals with various scholars expressing their view through articles or publishing their research findings. Kataoka, Y. , Merle, R. Clementina, M. (2004). Grandparent care giving role in Filipino American families. Journal of Cultural Diversity. 9. 17. September 22, 2004 In their study carried out in Honolulu, Hawaii, they wanted to explore the role American grandparent in care giving of grandchildren. They found out that the Filipino American grandparents observe care giving role to their grand children as a normative practice rather than a burden in which households take on responsibilities like part of cultural beliefs and customs. Roughly about 6 million grandparents are providing care for their grandchildren (U. S. Census Bureau, 2000). For the majority of grandparents, caring for their grandchildren has turned out to be a around the clock responsibility that has produced numerous stressors and key life changes. Filipino migrants to the U. S. have the top percentage (27%) of grandparents who are taking care of their own grandchildren under the age of 18 years. When the Filipino nuclear family or extended family immigrates to the U. S. , they generally live together as the family is a main source of emotional, ethical, and economic support. A lot of elders become substitute parents and homemakers for the grandchildren while both parents seek employed. The family cooperatively provides an exceptional kind of care for its members from birth to death. Filipinos sturdily identify with their nuclear and extended family and the requirements and welfare of the family is given a priority over those of the individual. Meezan, W. Rauch, J. (1960). Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Parenting, and Americas Children. The Future of Children Volume 15, Number 2, Fall 2005, pp. 97-113 Discussions over the American family is not novel, nevertheless it has taken on extra passion in the recent years as the U. S. Supreme Court stated that homosexual sex can not be outlawed and Canada went on to acknowledge same-sex marriages. Opponents of same-sex marriage in the U. S. were alarmed by the measures. A number of cities, counties and businesses have adopted domestic-partner policies offering rights and benefits to same-sex pairs and in several cases to single heterosexual persons. The California Senate is currently considering a opposing a bill, passed by the state Assembly, that would give same-sex partners almost the similar spousal rights and freedoms as married couples (Meezan, Rauch, 1960). Same –sex marriage have got numerous issues that many find hard to sort and put a good decision on. For instance, many ask the way it will affect the welfare of children. Some people presume that legalizing such marriages would send the point that same-sex parenting and hetero-sex parenting are identical, when actually they may result to dissimilar outcomes for children. Walker, L. J. Hennig, K. (1997). Parent/child relationships in single-parent families. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. January 1, 1997 It has been speculated that half of all children born in America in the 1990s spend a part of their young age in single-parent families. The U. S. Bureau of the Census shown that the percent of families in America were single parent is the bread winner increased considerably from 18. 5% of homes in 1970 to 27. 7% in 1999. This increase was accounted for by increasing rates of divorce and a rise in the figure of women who give birth to or adopt kids without being in any kind of marital relationships. Women bearing outside of marital relationships comprised of adolescent mothers and rising numbers of older, more well off women, who have chosen to remain as single parents by either out-of-marriage births or adoption. There are cultural differences in the incidence of single-parent homes in America. For instance, in 1999 the percentage of single-parent families was 56 percent among black homes, 32 percent among Hispanic families, and 20 percent among white families. The elevated rates of black single-parent families was linked to the higher rates of out-of-marriage teenagers childbearing amongst this cluster and increased rates of divorce among black women. Hilfer, A. (2003). Marriage and Divorce in America. American Literary History Volume 15, Number 3, Fall 2003, pp. 592-602 One thorny thing about the American family today is divorce. A recap to the past shows that between 1869 and 1888, divorce rates rose up to one hundred and fifty percent, this worsened between 1960 and 1980 increasing to 250%. Divorce rates spiked in 1981 and then began to turn down a little during late 1980s (Hilfer, 2003). Nonetheless, divorce cases at the present are as many as they have been before. At the present, fifty percent of the total number of marriages in America ends in divorce. Researches have given five main reasons for the increase in divorce. The first one is in contemporary societies; personal happiness is viewed to be imperative so when individuals are unhappy with their marriage, they fall apart and split. The second motive is it is simpler to get divorced financially. The third cause is the recent economic independence among women. The fourth reason is the shame of divorce has gone down thus people are not troubled socially. The fifth reason is the amendment of laws, for instance the no fault laws have throw in to the increases in divorce rates. Divorce does not only affect the main parties; husband and wife however leave a hard consequence on children and over one million children undergo their parental divorce each year. The main effect of divorce to children is parental loss; in both resources and skills, of either one parent or both sometimes. Children are generally more social and formulate an emotional adjustment every time their parents are divorced. Lastly one of the far reaching effects is children from divorced marriages in the long run form less relationships, and if they get married then the likelihood of getting a divorce is lofty. Divorce is thing that is common among all families but it is handled in different ways among the families in the line of ethnicity, religion and races. Marriage is not anymore the key way in which societies normalize sexuality and parenting or categorize the division of labor between women and men. OConnor, T. G. , et al. Family Settings and Childrens Adjustment: Differential Adjustment within and across Families. British Journal of Psychiatry 179 (2001): 110–15. Another matter that is rampant in todays world is step families. It is estimated that 60% of divorcees end up marrying for a second time. Almost one third of children born in the 1990’s have lived in a blended family prior to turning eighteen years old. Nowadays more than 40% of marriages in America have step children (OConnor, et al, 2001). Step families are not at all times a bad thing as sometimes they can make a better environment for the kids. Nonetheless, divorce can actually mess up a child and in a case both parents re-marry as the child will have four people to look up to when they are still young and they wont discern who to believe or what to believe. A key problem with step families is that occasionally a child can be neglected by the step families and grows a distressful life. An additional noticeably insignificant but a real substantial problem with American family is welfare. Since the year 1996, the welfare scheme was changed, for the reason that welfare was becoming a huge burden on tax payers. There were numerous problems for instance, women were given a token to have kids out of wed lock, welfare was not observed as a right, at times welfare is given for five years only, teenage mothers were told to live with parents to receive benefits. Consequently, there had been a lot of reasons and actually some of these exist even today as of which we are having a changed and destroyed American family scheme.