How have families and households become more diverse?

Text Version of the above:

In the 1950s the ‘traditional nuclear family’ was much more common. Since then, the nuclear family has declined and other family and household types increased:

The ‘main types’ of family which have ‘replaced’ the nuclear family:

• Reconstituted families
• Divorce-extended families
• Single parent families
• Single person households
• LAT relationships
• Multigenerational households
• The modified extended family
• Shared households/ families of choice

Other forms of increasing family diversity

• There are more cohabiting rather than married couples
• There is more cultural (‘ethnic’) diversity
• There are more openly same-sex couples and families
• There is greater ‘organisational diversity’: of gender roles
• There is greater ‘life-course diversity’
• More adults are continuing to live with their parents

To my mind these ‘cut across’ those above: for example within many of the above categories, there is also cultural variation by ethnicity and sexuality, and the domestic division of labor. 

• Links to more detailed sources to review your understanding of this aspect of the families and households topic can be found on my families and households homepage.
• Good luck revising! And remember, it’s not just the knowledge, it’s what you do with it that counts!