What is family? Herzen said that the family begins with children, but after all, the couple who did not have enough time to acquire a family also have a family. And there are families of foster families, incomplete, conflictual and many other kinds of families. Let's try to understand the main ways of classifying this most important social group.
Types and types of modern family
Modern researchers use different classifications to determine the types of families, the main ones being the following.
1. The size of the family - the number of its members is taken into account.
2. By family type.
- a nuclear family - contains one marriage couple with children.
- a complex family - consists of a married couple, children and relatives - grandmothers, grandfathers, sisters, brothers, etc. Such a family may include several related married couples who have come together to simplify household management.
- an incomplete family - consists of children and only one parent or a married couple without children.
3. By the number of children.
- infantile, childless families;
- a single-child family;
- small families - the number of children is not enough to ensure a natural increase, not more than 2 children;
- middle-income families - enough for growth and development of dynamics, 3-4 children;
- large families - much more than is required to ensure a natural increase, 5 or more children.
4. According to the form of marriage.
- monogamous family - consists of two partners;
- polygamous family - one of the partners has several marriage obligations. Distinguish polygyny (marriage of a man with several women) and polyandry (marriage of a woman with several men).
5. By sex of spouses.
- heterogeneous family;
- a same-sex family - two women or men engaged in the joint education of children.
6. In the place of human position.
- parental - the family of our parents;
- reproductive - a family created by man.
7. Depending on the place of residence.
- patrilocal - a family living in the same territory with the parents of the husband;
- matrilocal - a family living in the same territory with the parents of the wife;
- peolocal - a family living apart from parents.
And this is not all the types and types of family that are. To consider the features of each variety does not make sense, so we'll talk about the brightest types.
Types of single-parent families
There are illegitimate, orphaned, divorced and broken up single-parent families. Also, some researchers identify maternal and paternal families.
These types of families are not classified as disadvantaged, but the difficulties with raising children here are considerable. According to statistical studies, children in single-parent families learn worse than their peers, and they are more prone to neurotic disorders. In addition, most homosexuals were raised in single-parent families.
Types of foster families
There are four types of substitute families: adoption, foster family, patronage and guardianship.
- Adoption - the admission of the child into the family as blood relatives. In this case, the child becomes a full-fledged member of the family with all rights and duties.
- Ward - the reception of the child in the family for the purpose of upbringing and education, as well as to protect his interests. The child retains his or her surname, his blood parents do not receive exemption from duties on his maintenance. Guardianship is established for children under 14 years of age, and from 14 to 18 years of age guardianship is issued.
- Patronage is the education of a child in a professionally substitute family on the basis of a tripartite agreement between guardianship authorities, a foster family and an institution for orphans.
- Foster family - raising a child at home with a guardian on the basis of a contract that determines the period of transfer of the child to the family.
Types of large families
There are three categories of families of this kind:
- conscious large families - usually families with strong religious or national traditions;
- the emergence of a common child upon remarriage;
- a disadvantaged large family - the types of unions in which parents lead a way of life that is contrary to social norms.
Types of disadvantaged families
There are two big categories. The first includes various types of antisocial families - parents of drug addicts, alcoholics, conflict families, immoral-criminal.
The second category contains outwardly respectable families, but with serious internal disagreements due to improper parenting attitudes.