Family Structures: Blended, Nuclear, and Extended Compared

There are many different types of families and there are range of family structures that exist in our society today. Here is “Blended, nuclear and extended family”essay in which three types of modern families will be considered and a comparison between them will be made. 

Blended Family 

A blended family contains both a biological parent and a stepparent and contains a married couple and their offspring including some from previous marriages. In blended families also, children may even have two stepparents, meaning they have four adult members in their lives and these situations may cause conflict, leaving the child torn between two adults, not wishing to disappoint any of the parents. An example of this type of family structure is a divorced man with kids, who marries a divorced woman with kids.

Extended Familiy

Extended families is best described as a family which extends beyond the nuclear family to include other relatives. An example of extended family is the addition of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, who move in with a nuclear family. In extended familes other members and relatives will take care of children and take care of at home while the parents go to work. In Western culture extended families usually allow for the grandparents to take care of the children while they are out for work or adult children will take care of elderly parents for daily care (e.g. dressing, providing support and preparing food).

Nuclear Family

Nuclear family is the most basic and traditional family structure and is most common. A nuclear family can be viewed as a heterosexual couple and their biological children. A nuclear family is considered the norm and the most common family structure in society.

Simile and Differences 

The differences between these three types of family structures is that a extended family consists of parents, children, grandchildren, uncles, and their offspring characterized by a common residence and an extended family is all of your family under one household whereas an blended family one member in the family acts as the family leader who takes major decision making for all the members for a family.

Moreover, in a nuclear family individuals in the family are related by blood and heritable material and there characterized positions and positions and roles that individuals within the family adopt are generally known and understood. For example, Mother role, Father role, Eldest child, youngest child and there is a legal relationship and obligations that exist with both parents. Whereas in a blended family individuals are related through marriage or common residence and their different family backgrounds and the positions that exist within the family and the roles and positions within the family are unknown and misunderstand and, therefore may hold potential for conflict. Also, in a blended family, the children are torn and are often subjected to fights between parents who live in separate homes between the biological parent and stepparent and an opportunity to put parents against each other and the children may be torn between two adults, not wishing to disappoint any of the parents. Moreover, within a blended family a legal relationship and obligation might not exist with both parents as the stepparent has no legal relationship with the stepchild and is there no legal relationship.

The difference between the nuclear family and the extended family is that a nuclear family refers to a single basic family unit of parents and their children, whereas the extended family refers to their relatives, such as grandparents, in-laws, aunts and uncles, etc. In many cultures, the extended family unit rather than the nuclear family unit is the most common basic form of social organization. Also, within a nuclear family there is a great deal of freedom, as in the no responsible whereas in the both in extended family and blended families there are Lesser freedom due to more social obligations, and thus there are responsibilities evident. These can make issues as the kids in a nuclear family may need to rely upon on others, while in an extended family children realize how to act and behave in front of relatives.

Conclusion

Hence, there are numerous family structures that exist today, in society and each family is unique, with many varying and contrasting differences in familes.