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Issue Description
BRAND NEW LOOK!
In the past, the most common family structure was the “nuclear family”. Today, family groups are more flexible, and children may be raised in households with step-parents, unmarried, lone or same-sex parents. In addition, parental roles are no longer split according to gender and working patterns have therefore changed. This book looks at the changing shape of the family, at different methods and styles of parenting and at issues for working parents.
The information comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper reports, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
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Key Facts
- In 2006, 23 per cent of children in Great Britain were living in lone-parent families. This has increased from 21 per cent in 1997 and seven per cent in 1972. (page 1)
- Half of couples divorcing in 2008 had at least one child aged under 16. There were 106,763 children aged under 16 who were in families where the parents divorced in 2008, a decrease of 29 per cent from 1998 when there were 150,129 children. Over one-fifth (21 per cent) of the children in 2008 were under five and 63 per cent were under 11. (page 8)
- Children’s positive adjustment to family breakdown is associated with a number of factors. These include competent and warm parenting, parents having good mental health, low parental conflict, cooperative parenting post separation, and social support. (page 9)
- Stepfamilies are the fastest growing family type in the UK. Over one-third of us are part of the stepfamily experience. (page 10)
- One in three children whose parents separated or divorced over the last 20 years disclosed that they had lost contact permanently with their father. (page 11)
- Half of single parents are poor and their children are twice as likely to be poor as those in couple families. (page 13)
- The proportion of single grandparents doubled between 1998 and 2007. This does not include widows. 36% of single grandmothers are aged under 55. (page 14)
- The value of the grandparental childcare contribution has been calculated at £3.9 billion. One in three families depend on grandparents for childcare. (page 17)
- One in four people in the UK have an adoption connection – adoption is part of the fabric of modern family life. (page 19)
- Between 2007 and 2009 the number of gay men approved to adopt doubled. (page 22)
- 57% of parents of 18- to 30-year-olds say they have no choice but to retire later, with four in ten (43%) expecting to work up to five years longer than they wanted because of the cost of their ‘adult’ children. (page 27)
- Parents of children who stay at home are more likely to suffer depression than those whose offspring move out, claim scientists in a study that seems to debunk ‘empty nest syndrome’. (page 29)
- Many British fathers are working long hours, struggling to balance work and family and fear that requesting flexible working will damage their careers, a new report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found. (page 34)
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Family Trends
Marriage, relationships and family trends, Data shows continuing changes to marriage and society in the UK, What’s your parenting style?, ‘Character’ is the key to social mobility, Divorces in England and Wales, Impact of family breakdown on children’s wellbeing, A new family, Broken families and paternal contact, Lone-parent families with young children, Single parents bear the brunt of the slump, Do grandparents matter?, Grandparents not always the most effective childcarers, Thinking of adopting, Key facts about adoption, The best thing we’ve ever done, The rise of the gay dad, Nearly a third of young men live with their parents, Today’s young adults can’t afford to let go, Empty nest syndrome is a myth, claim scientists.
Chapter 2 Working Parents
Understanding fathering: masculinity, diversity and change, Fathers struggling to balance work and family, Stay-at-home mothers ‘suffer more stress than City traders’, Work and family, A guide to maternity rights, Dads at work: your rights.
Key Facts
Glossary
Index
Additional Resources
Acknowledgements
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The Study Guide for: The Changing Family - Volume 191
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.95
ISBN: ISBN: 978 1 86168 548 3
