The New American Family - Sociology Essay Example

In the perspective of the community, the term family refers to a group of persons that are related either by birth or by marriage. The breaking of the family unit as a result of divorce has reduced significantly compared to 1970s.The rate of divorce currently stands at approximately 3.6 divorces out of one thousand new couples per year. Since the 1970s, the rate of separation of families has been declining.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The rate of getting into marriage has however been declining steadily over the past century.The children who have been caught up in the divorces have been declining in number since the 1960s. The wide use of contraceptives to control fertility and childbearing as well as the legalization of abortion perhaps explains this decline in children involved in divorces. There is also an increase in the children that are born out of wedlock (Reinhold, 2010).These interesting trends that are mostly unexpected provide the need to examine the perception of the American family bearing in mind the current and continuously evolving factors that determine if people will opt to marry, stay single or even get separated.Most of the couples enter into a marriage contract with an expectation of succeeding. They examine the divorce statistics and have a belief that these figures apply to them. However, approximately 40 and 50% of the marriages fail. There are many factors, which affect the success of marriage relationships. If the parents of the couple were happily married, there is a likelihood of the current association to be successful. In addition, the issue of childhood is very significant. An individual having an ordinary child without any disability may end with her partner together. In general, the couples who enter into a marriage relationship at an old age after spending many years under courtship have a high chance of having a happy life. The other variable, which is effective, is the parental approval (Lee, 2001). This issue is associated with marriage for two main reasons; these are difficulties resulting from disapproving parents and the level of supportiveness. Research has established that among the American families, approximately 10% of those that are because of premarital pregnancy fail. Marital relationships are derived from the genuine caring and understanding between the two partners. Those who established them for wrong reasons such as financial stability fail. Other factors are inclusive of attitudes, common interests, and the issue of in-laws, religious participation, personality and the roles (Lee, 2001).

Research studies have established that there is a positive relationship between premarital cohabitation and the likelihood of marriage dissolution in the United States. Based on a survey conducted by National Center for Health Statistics for women aged between 15 to 44 years from 1973 to 2002, it was found that young women who cohabit before their first marriage are more likely to end their relationship (Reinhold, 2010). This was the same case on marital unions with premarital sex where 12.3% of the marriages in the United States had failed because of one partner finding that the other engaged in premarital sex with a close friend or relative before they were married. About the issue of delayed marriage, on one account, it is good, but on the other, it leads to failed marriages. If there is a lengthy period of courtship before the matrimony, and then the delayed marriage is successful holding other factors constant. The attitudes towards this relationship are changing because of financial, education, and career factors. These attributes have a negative correlation with the rate of divorce in the United States.

References

Lee, T. (2001). Factors that Make a Difference in Marital Success - Stronger Marriage - strongermarriage.org. Strongermarriage.org. Retrieved 1 February 2017, from http://strongermarriage.org/married/factors-that-make-a-difference-in-marital-success

Reinhold, S. (2010). Reassessing the Link Between Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Instability. PubMed Central (PMC). Retrieved 1 February 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3000053/