Research Of The Different Views On The Modern Marriage, Family And Parenting

Abstract

Over the past fifty years, the life has changed critically. In comparison with previous generations and styles of parenthood, types of families, and styles of marriage, modern situation proves that both men and women can be workers and while they are working they can take care of their children and houses. There are still certain issues exist which concern same-gender parents, single mothers or fathers, racial differences and their understanding of what is important for the modern family, but it can be assuredly said that in present days, the society has already accepted a lot of new progressive point of views which were extremely unacceptable in the previous centuries. People develop every day and improve. Yet, it is a question whether everything that happens along with the progress is useful for the next generations or not, whether it changes the minds of people totally or not. The numerous surveys and researches described in the following paper represent different points of view on the modern marriage and parenting situations which have all resulted in one conclusion - opinions differ and nothing is bad what so positively affect the development of children and parents themselves.IntroductionWhen we are talking about the meaning of family, many people imagine a traditional family unit which consists of father, who is the main breadwinner, a mother, who cares about the house and all family members in general, and children. However, it is necessary to mention that over the last thirty-forty years the situation in the United States has changed and families more and more vary in their visions of an ideal family. It is necessary to point out that nowadays considering the institution of marriage, some people claim that the present situation with it has changed greatly and it is becoming obsolete, and it appears that if everything is going to continue in the same way, then, the notion of marriage as such may change gradually, if not disappear.According to the recent statistics, about four-in-ten Americans think that marriage is on the rocks, but the thing is that it is not marriage but the institution of marriage which most people claim to become obsolete.

Taking into account the surveys, the results have shown that thirty-nine respondents agree with the described above claim, and fifty-eight percent of respondents disagree with it, while just four percent answered that they do not know. As family historians have noted, the notion of marriage is very old, the same as the observations about the fragility of marriage. Nevertheless, during the last decades, there is a notable rise in the perceptions of people that the days of the marriage as it was is a relic of the past. After posing this question on a survey of 1978, twenty-eight people agreed with this premise. The overall situation concerning marriage changes every time and already by 2008 just fifty-two percent of adults were married in comparison with 1960 when the percentage of married adults was seventy-two. Other surveys reveal the information about one-parent families and married couples where both parents are of the same gender. The nowadays tendency shows that more and more Americans embrace this kind of relationship. Furthermore, already during many years, people support the belief about gender equality between spouses. The statistics again shows that already sixty-two percent of people support the idea of marriages where husbands as well as wives work and share the responsibility for the children and household. Hence, the present situation about marriage extremely changes every day and there are different opinions about it and different types of marriage as well which reflect the modern society and its position about the role of man and woman in this life. It is interesting to note that already for a long time American society concern marriage as a work as well. The work in which both spouses work hard on their relationship, their future, and their children. It became more a necessity to sign a contract where all the necessary rules and obligations described. A contract became a synonym for the word marriage. However, there are a lot of people consider marriage just from the point of view of love, feelings. It goes without saying that love is the main reason to get married and this belief support both parts - married (ninety-three percent), and those who are not (eighty-four percent). They both say the same thing. While conducting a survey, the respondents were asked about the most important character features they want to see in their spouse and marriage overall. The majority of people answered that they want to experience love (fifty-four percent), another struggle for a lifelong commitment (twenty-one percent), some people seek for the companionship (eleven percent), and some people want to have children and this is the most important thing in marriage as they claim (five percent), and, finally, a certain group of people searches just for the financial stability (two percent). Definitely, discussing these kinds of evaluations, it should be mentioned that people who took part in the survey were experiencing different types of life situations and in general, their life statuses are different. It means that those who, for instance, have low income or less education are more likely to look for the financial stability in their relationship and this is the main reason in most cases to get married according to this position.

The statistics have shown that about thirty-eight percent of people with a high school education or less affirm that financial stability is very important and this is in comparison with people who have a college education (about twenty-nine percent). The same situation happens to those whose family income is less than $30,000 a year. The feel lack of financial stability as well and they are more likely to marry due to this reason. It is very interesting that ethnicity and race also plays an important role in the definition of marriage and its characteristics. For instance, white people and Hispanics more likely to claim that love is a very important reason to get married in comparison with black people. To go further, Hispanics more believe that having children is significant, like sixty-two percent. Also, an important reason to marry for blacks and Hispanics is financial stability (half of the blacks, forty-six percent of Hispanics). Yet, it is necessary to mention that only a quarter of white people say the same. In addition, if to compare divorced or separated with single or those who live with a partner, the first type of people put more emphasis on financial stability and making a lifelong commitment. In these evaluations, men and women differ slightly. Women are less likely to view companionship as very important to marriage in comparison with men. Moreover, women are also less likely to say that financial stability is a good reason to marry. Nowadays, young adults differ in their views from the previous generations. Approximately half of the respondents agree with the idea that children need both father and mother, and not just one parent. This is the only premise to grow up happily according to them. On contrary, forty-four percent of respondents reject this position. It is clear that mostly old age groups are more likely to support this belief. In addition to all this, a young generation more supportive of lesbian and gay relationships and do not mind such couples raising children. According to statistics, nearly twenty percent of respondents support the following trend while among older age groups nearly half of the people agree with this trend. In addition, it is necessary to mention that forty-three percent of interrogated people claim that lesbian and gay couples raising children are very bad for society. Yet, forty-one percent say that there is no difference for them whether children can be raised by heterosexual parents or gay/lesbian, and twelve percent claim that education of children of this type is good for the society. Since 2007, the opinions about parents of the same gender became more neutral and through the years it did not change too much. Despite this fact, there are still a lot of same-gender couples which experience incomprehension and alienation on the part of their friends or relatives. For instance, Cindy Peterson, a mother in a lesbian relationship, describes the situation when she and her partner decided to keep the psychological distance from her family because her father had strong objections and it was a great threat to her relationship. On contrary, their neighbors became their family because they were lesbian as well and had more understanding of the situation. Hence, as it happens, the family is considered to be those who you can trust.

Apart from same-gender issues, there is a great percentage of people who are doomed to be criticized because they grow up their children without a life partner who is supposed to be mother or father. It goes without saying that our society is already the long time ago beared down the narrow-mindedness concerning this topic but, unfortunately, there are still people and countries in which such people constantly blame on single fathers and especially single mothers. Along with the changes in the modern life, there are numerous and rather frequent divorces, non-marital births, and other issues that have resulted in more single-parent households than ever before. Since 1970, a U.S. Census reports that there is an increase in single-parent households. In most cases, the single-parent household exists due to a great number of divorces, however, it is clear that there are a lot of other reasons. The structure of the family was always important for the development of the children and many people believe that it directly influences the microsystem of the developing child. For instance, divorce can greatly affect children and their social, emotional development, different other factors as well as the overall well-being. There is another case when just one parent grows up children - such people were never even married, they amount to forty-four percent. Moreover, it is necessary to point out that families with a never-married single parent tend to have low-income levels. In addition, never-married single parents have less emotional support as well in the situations where a child still meets the second parent. It is unnecessary to speak of the stress as well as depression which most of the children in single-parent family’s experience. During the last fifty years, a lot has changed and people have changed as well. Nowadays, it also became normal when just one parent works and this parent is not father but mother.

Women have made major strides in education and employment, and the American workplace has been transformed. Along with this came a lot of pressure for mothers and fathers alike. Despite all the challenges that modern parents face, they give each other good grades overall in raising their children. However, it is interesting to mention that mothers who work give themselves a bit higher rates in comparison to their husbands and non-working mothers. Besides all the information described above, it is important to say that modern TV shows and media, in general, have influenced the vision of family and marriage as well. Contemporary television, and other media, to a lesser extent, were seen by study parents as barriers to worry about and try to somehow change. This is the reason why television and other media are at the center of the concept of reflexive parenting.Conclusion The modern understanding of marriage, types of families, and parenting are rather different from the way previous generations used to grow up. It is evident that nowadays many couples and families experience different types of problems concerning their life views and style of parenting but, nevertheless, our society develops and already it can be said that a lot of things has changed in most cases for better. However, there are still certain issues that require solutions and understanding of both previous and modern generations.