Marriage and The Family

Currently, marriage and family are the most crucial structures in most cultures. Although the United States highly advocates for marriages, it leads when it comes to countries with the highest divorce rates. Individual benefits and the required social values are generated through the family. Moreover, the permanent union of a man and a woman results to the well-being of humans and the community at large. However, the family is changing, leading to a situation whereby the two-parent households are countable in the contemporary society. Re-marriages, cohabitations and divorce cases are on the rise leading to the shrinkage of the family as a result of single-parent families and low rates of fertility. The changes in family have also led to the change in conditions associated with parenthood and family. People nowadays have children before marriages, leading to a transformation in the family structures and roles in marriages. The change in the family structure has led to the increased involvement of mothers in the labor force, many of them being breadwinners in their families. Due to these changes, the main family structure no longer prevails in the US. (PARENTING IN AMERICA 2017).

The fertility and family survey reports that most of the Americans marry and move in together at a certain period in their lives compared to other adults in most developed countries. However, there is still a low rate in the stability of unions in the US compared to other developed countries. Most of the marriages in the US last for a very short period of time, approximately about 23% of marriages end up in divorce within five years. The increase in parental transition in the US is also another feature that distinguishes the American marriages from the rest of the marriages. The views by most Americans is that marriage is important and should be highly valued. However, their individualistic nature tends to differ with their views on marriage, leading to a contradiction between marriage aspiration and partnership transitions. (Kata Fustos June 2010). According to Kata Fustos, the unique marriage and divorce trends are as a result of the Americans’ endless search for partnerships and intolerance to unhappiness. (Kata Fustos June 2010).

According to Arvonne S. Fraser, the typical American family before changes in the family structure started taking place consisted of the father who was the sole breadwinner, a caretaking mother and one or more children. However, this family structure has changed significantly in the last two decades. Some of the factors influencing the change in the family structure include the change in workforce. The change in workforce is characterized by the increment in the involvement of women in the work paid labor force, leading to an increment in the women employment rates and a decrease in the men’s rate of employment. The change in employment rates in favor of the women has led to change in lifestyle and a flaw to the cultural assumptions which have been in existence for a long period of time. (Arvonne S. Fraser 1989, 1997). For the society to survive, the necessity to understand the process of child bearing and upbringing, significance of intimate relationships and the need for family policies needs to be made clear so that the families in the society can be successful. The next generation will have to incur costs during the caretaking period. However, with the changes in marriage and family, childbearing is also considered optional for the married.

The nuclear and symmetrical families are being replaced by the single-parent households as a result of the increase in divorce rates or people deciding not to get married at all. The case of single-parent families would not have been accepted in the past centuries as it was thought to cause negative social implications. The cost of getting a divorce has also reduced, leading to the increasing number of married people that opt to stay divorced. However, some divorcees decide to remarry, giving rise to a new type of family known as the reconstituted family. (UKESSAYS 23rd March, 2015). The introduction of tax credits, child benefit and financial support offers great assistance to parents as they care for their children. However, this has encouraged the need for most parents to remain divorced because they can provide the essentials for their children without financial assistance from a partner. Duties and functions of the family have also changed due to change in the family structure. The ability to share duties among the family members continues to reduce due to the movement to the cities for work purposes. The change in social trends also brings about changes in the family, resulting to a different and multi-cultural culture.                      The changes in the family structure have led to less socialization due to the rise of single parenting and in situations where both parents have to go to work and care less about the family matters and caring for the child. Children are nowadays taken to children care centers or nurseries and schools instead of receiving care and guidance from their parents. The rise in divorce cases has also led to homosexuality and cohabitation because very few of those who are divorced, think of remarrying. Although there is opposition concerning the current direction of the family structure, some people have embraced the new structure, terming it as advanced and evolutionary. The contemporary society forces people to move to areas where job availability is guaranteed, concurring with the issue that families are subject to revision and change from time to time. Divorces resulting from high conflict between married partners are always an advantage to the children involved. However, divorces caused by low conflict are likely to cause suffering from the aftermath of the divorce to the children involved. The children suffer from the feeling of rage, loss and grief. (Molly S. Castelloe 27^th April 2011). Technology has taken over the parenting responsibility, with most children opting to use social networking and other forms of online communication to cover up the void caused by non-responsible parenting. Currently, most of the families are being headed by single mothers, who is either divorced or not married at all. There is also an increase in the number of people living alone and people without any relationship staying together. However, intermarriages among different races is becoming common even with the increase in the single parent families. (Jens Manuel Krogstad APRIL 30, 2014).

The new e-learning modality has come in handy to those in the education sector and pursuing the various levels of education. It has brought to ease learning at the comfort of our various environments. Up until the 2000s education was all about the classroom with a teacher or tutor taking students through the process. The internet came in and made all that history thereby bringing in e-learning to assist in the process of education. E- learning comes along with the flexibility factor rather than the rigid classroom setup. Online courses have actually impacted greatly in helping those who cannot get direct access to the institutions to still be able to do this in a well and easy way. It has led to faster delivery of services to unlimited number of people. It also saves on the cost accrued by students for instance travelling expenses and purchase of materials used for learning. The learner also gets to acquire what he/she really wants in terms of the course. There is generally more effective learning experience with contact to the lecturer high for purposes of clarification. Undoubtedly the collaborate presentation lectures are vital and important for the students and enables faster grasp of the course taken. Significant assistance has come along in creating ease and developing better attitude towards what is being studied. Better long term retention of information is acquired through the presentations and experiences. Finally, this definitely assists to improve scores on tests certifications or other evaluations by the lecturer or tutor.