Family Trend Analysis: Cohabiting Families

Essay Instructions:

Please see Word document for instructions and captured picture for grading rubric

Assignment 2: Family Trend Analysis (500-700 words, not including reference list).

Being able to gauge and assess social trends is key to understanding how society is changing and how these changes might impact families. For this Assignment, you will be examining a social trend regarding an aspect of family life.

Please choose from one of the following five general topic options; you will be identifying a social trend (or trends) associated with this topic. If you would prefer a different topic, please consult your instructor.

Divorce
Childcare
Cohabitation
Grandparents
Single-parent families

As part of your introductory paragraph, explain the general topic that you will be addressing and why it is significant. In this paragraph, cite at least one relevant Learning Resource from our course. In addition, explain the geographic scope of your assignment (local, state, region, country, global). (Note: you are welcome to choose any geographic area.)

Explain what trend or trends related to your topic have you identified from your selected source. Also, explain what source you used for identifying the trend. (Be sure to cite the source of information.)

Explain the evidence for your trend, using the specific numbers that indicate how this trend has changed over time. Be sure to identify the years over which the data were collected and if possible, how the data were collected. (Be sure to cite the source of information.)

Identify any social problems and/or positive consequences that might arise from this trend.

As part of our conclusion, write a self-reflection: Has this trend affected you and/or someone that you know? If so, explain how, or if not, explain how this trend might affect you and/or someone that you know in the future.

Your assignment should include at least one Learning Resources from our course and at least one source for trend information. In addition, you may use other authoritative resources for information and insights. Be sure to use APA-style citations when relying on/quoting from your sources (including the Learning Resources from our course) and include a Reference List at the end of your assignment.

Here are some resources that might be helpful for identifying trends (in the U.S. unless stated otherwise):

AARP. (2019). 2018 national grandparents today survey. Retrieved from https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/life-leisure/2019/aarp-grandparenting-study.doi.10.26419-2Fres.00289.001.pdf

Australian Institute of Family Studies. (2020). Family trends and transitions. Retrieved from https://aifs.gov.au/projects/family-trends-and-transitions (Australia)

Institute for Social Trends. (2019). World family map: Mapping social change and family outcomes. Retrieved from https://ifstudies.org/ifs-admin/resources/reports/worldfamilymap-2019-051819final.pdf

Horowitz, J. M., Graf, N., & Livinston, G. (2019, Nov. 6). Marriage and cohabitation in the U.S. Retrievd from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/11/06/the-landscape-of-marriage-and-cohabitation-in-the-u-s/

Social Issues Research Center. (2020). Welcome. Retrieved from http://www.sirc.org/ (United Kingdom)

Assignment 2 maps to the following SOCY 443 course outcomes:

identify key changing social dynamics within families relative to gender, age, and relationship status based on qualitative and quantitative sociological research

examine how macro-level social and demographic trends in marriage and family patterns relate to changing micro-level attitudes, behaviors, and problems

Learning Resources:

https://contemporaryfamilies.org/covid-19-telecommuting-work-family-conflict-and-gender-equality/

https://evictionlab.org/why-eviction-matters/

https://contemporaryfamilies.org/covid-couples-division-of-labor/

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Family Trend Analysis: Cohabiting Families
Student's Name
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Family Trend Analysis: Cohabiting Families
The type and structure of a family, as a social unit, is more flexible and diverse, and flexible than before. This paper focuses on cohabitation trends, which represent some of the emerging forms of families. Cohabitation is also called consensual union that involves unmarried heterosexual partners living together. It is among the fastest-growing type of families. Thus, there is a curiosity to identify its accompanying patterns and factors that underpins the rise in prevalence of cohabiting families. Cohabitation characterized by no-marital associations is becoming common due to altered meaning and understanding of a family resulting from personal social values and specific factors. Cohabitation families are on the rise because marriage is no longer classified as sacred or permanent. The increasing rates of divorce, remarriage, and single parenthood, among other forms of families, are defining and transforming the concept of the family institution. These structural changes allow an increasing tendency towards the formation of non-formalized non-marital unions or cohabiting preferences.
Family life is dynamic. According to Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic, Two-parent households are declining in the U.S as divorce, remarriage, and cohabitation continue to increase. Families are getting smaller due to the growth of single-parent households and the drop in fertility. There are declines in marriage and increased cohabitation, followed by late entry into marriage. Since 1940, there has been a progressive increase in marriage age among women (Berrington & Stone, 2016.
More often, cohabiting families share some features with married couples or families. Some of the core traits that these two families have include pooling economic resources, mutual sexual and emotional relationships, and labor division. Cohabitation can relationships are differentiated from other forms of families in various ways. These features include families being relatively younger, children born less, a commonly short-lived relationship, weak, unstable, and not socially acceptable or sanctioned, not legally recognized. Non-marital cohabitation signifies a weak commitment to the relationship and a specific partner than marriage; thereby, ...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Family Trend Analysis: Cohabiting Families

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