The Changing Family 27 Review Questions 1.1 Explain how traditional and contemporary defini- tions of family differ. 1.5. Compare the three perspectives on why families are changing 1. Why have traditional definitions of family been 10. How, in general, do these three perspectives challenged in recent decades? differ? 2. How do traditional and more recent definitions 11. What kinds of data, specifically, do the three of family differ? perspectives use to support their positions? 3. What are fictive kin? What purposes do they serve? 1.6. Explain how U.S. families have been changing in terms of demographic characteristics and racial- 1.2. Describe five ways that families are similar world- ethnic diversity. wide. 12. How, specifically, have U.S. families changed 4. Why are the five family functions necessary for a demographically since 1970? society's survival? 13. How is the United States becoming more ra- 5. How do endogamy and exogamy differ? cially and ethnically diverse? 1.3. Describe five ways that families differ worldwide. 1.7. Explain how macro-level constraints affect fami- 6. Worldwide, what family characteristics are more lies' micro-level choices common than others? 14. What macro-level changes have affected U.S. 7. Which family characteristics have been changing families? How? in U.S. families? 15. What's the difference, if any, between micro- 1.4. Describe five myths about families and distin- level and macro-level perspectives? guish between functional and dysfunctional 1.8. Explain why multicultural, cross-cultural, myths. and global perspectives are important in 8. Why do the five myths persist? What purposes understanding families. do they serve? 16. What are three reasons for adopting a 9. How and why are myths both functional and cross-cultural perspective in understanding dysfunctional? the family? usvilauido grumead Answers to "Ask Yourself: How Much Do You Know about Contemporary American Families?" All the answers are false. 1. Teenage nonmarital births have decreased over the past 20 7. The arrival of a first baby typically pushes mothers and years, especially since the early 2000s (see Chapters 10 and 11). fathers apart. Generally, child rearing lowers marital satis- 2. Couples who are living together and plan to marry soon faction for both partners (see Chapter 11). have a good chance of staying together after a marriage. In 8. Social class is a more important factor than marital status most cases, however, cohabitation decreases the likelihood in a baby's health. Low-income mothers are less likely than of marriage (see Chapter 9). high-income mothers to have healthy babies, whether or 3. Compared with singles, married people have more and bet- not they're married (see Chapters 11 through 13). ter sex and enjoy it more, both physically and emotionally 9. Income levels are usually higher in stepfamilies than in (see Chapter 7). single-parent families, but stepfamilies have their own 4. College-educated women tend to postpone marriage but problems, including interpersonal conflicts with new par- are more likely to marry, over a lifetime, than their non- ent figures (see Chapter 13). college-educated counterparts (see Chapters 9 and 10). 10. Family relationships across several generations are more 5. Love isn't the major or even the only reason for getting mar- common now than in the past. People live longer and get to ried. Other reasons include societal expectations, economic know their kin, aging parents and grandparents often pro- insecurity, and fear of loneliness (see Chapters 6, 10, and 14). vide financial support and child care, and many relatives 6. Divorce rates have been dropping since the early 1980s (see maintain ties with one another after a divorce or remarriage (see Chapters 3, 11, 13, and 14). Chapter 13)