CHANGING FAMILY PATTERNS 2
Changing Family Patterns
The changing family pattern has appeared to be a notably perturbing social problem.
Recently, several cases of divorce are witnessed, with many divorce petitions still lying unsolved
in the courts. Besides the high number of divorce cases, single parenting is another common
form of the changing family pattern. One such factor that can explain the single parenting pattern
can be due to the high death cases of spouses in the late nineteenth century. In the early part of
the nineteenth century, the nuclear family was a common societal norm, but that seems to be a
different case in the current prevailing situation (Pew Research Center, 2015). In America, the
change in economic structure that was witnessed between the 1960s and 1970s contributed to the
inability of parents to support nuclear families on the single wages and thus inducing a great
impact on the family life. It resulted in delays in the age of the first marriage as men and women
began waiting to invest to be able to sustain their families comfortably. Additionally, more time
was spent in studying. This paper describes some of the factors that have contributed to the
changing family patterns
Modern perspectives on families have also contributed much to the changing trend of
family patterns. In the 21
st
century, parents no longer want to have large families for fear of its
economic impacts and other associated factors, the imminence of the family planning strategies
have made this even more achievable. Perseverance is no longer a family virtue among the
modern families, and thus minor issues have resulted in divorce and separations. The current
legal systems provide for equal roles in child-rearing responsibilities, and therefore it means that
the women are no longer bounded by the responsibility to raise up the children.
Love and respect have become the ultimate goals in marriage and therefore giving
spouses the freedom to walk out of marriages anytime they feel that their expectations are not
