# data[].attributes.headline
Design a poster on Non-Stereotypical families.

# data[].attributes.subject
Design a poster on Non-Stereotypical families.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Gender stereotypes are beliefs that we have about how men and women behave similarly to each other. Stereotypes are essentially oversimplifications of a group of people, and contain many biases and prejudices. For example, there is a stereotype in the U.S. that women talk more than men, but research shows that men actually talk, or "chatter" more than women. Research has repeatedly supported the fact that men and women are more similar than different, and that there is more variability within gender then across. This means that two women are more likely to be different on a specific trait, like generosity, than comparing a specific man to a specific woman. Gender stereotypes play a role in almost every realm of family life.

Gender role expectations can be beneficial in many ways because they can help young children understand what is expected of them within the larger world, and they help to shape family roles and relationships. Children learn that women are better at expressing emotions, are more "tender-hearted" and agreeable than men. They learn that men are supposed to be more assertive, extraverted, and impulsive than women. When people act in ways that are consistent with these stereotypes about gender, they are rewarded, or reinforced by others, and this increases the chance that they will act the same way in the future. When they act inconsistently, such as a girl acting like a tom-boy, or when a boy cries, they may be punished or teased by others.

Men, or fathers, are expected to be stoic and not as emotional as women and mothers. Men and fathers are expected to be the providers of the family, while the mothers are expected to be more of the caretakers of the home and family. These roles lead to beliefs that women are better mothers than men are fathers, despite the fact that men and women can be equally good parents. Little boys are not often taught to be gentle or intimate the way that girls are, which conveys the message over time that they just are not as "good" at it as girls. These roles also feed into beliefs that fathers and men are inherently more aggressive than mothers and women, even though research indicates women are just as aggressive in different ways.

Despite the fact that these stereotypes are created and reinforced by our interactions with others, many people believe that gender stereotypes are inherent traits...they believe that men and women are essentially different and that their roles are not changeable. Mom's are assumed to inherently be "better" parents. They "know best." Dad's are inherently "better" providers. They are "better" disciplinarians.

What most people don't know is that we learn these gender role expectations by the age of two. That's right, two years of age. Children observe their parents, grandparents, and other family members playing gendered roles in their family. This observation leads to the development of what we call gender schemas, or mental templates about what is appropriate for men and women. Gender schema theory states that these schemas affect what we pay attention to, our memories, and our abilities to process information that is consistent or inconsistent with what we expect from men and women. For example, a child may believe that all doctors are men, and may not notice a female doctor standing next to them...they may only remember that the doctor was a nurse because it did not confirm their expectations. When children reach puberty, they soon learn what society expects of them as adult men and women.

Children socialize their parents too-a stoic father may become a "softee" with his daughter, for example. And when a family member tries to change or challenge the roles or expectations that are there for them, their change may not be supported or well received by other family members. For example, if a mother wants to return to work full time after staying at home to raise the children, there may be pressure from her spouse and children to remain in her current role. When family systems are balanced, they tend to be more open to change and supportive of the independence of family members, but unbalanced family systems are resistant.

What do you think? Post your thoughts in the comments and take a moment to see what other learners are saying and respond to any other comments that resonate with you.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Gender stereotypes are beliefs that we have about how men and women behave similarly to each other. Stereotypes are essentially oversimplifications of a group of people, and contain many biases and prejudices. For example, there is a stereotype in the U.S. that women talk more than men, but research shows that men actually talk, or "chatter" more than women.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The definition of family continues to evolve, and nontraditional families are becoming more common. Many households have expanded the concept of family well beyond the traditional nuclear family comprised of one mother, one father and one or more children. Discover the many types of alternative families that are forming over time to accommodate cultural shifts and different lifestyles and priorities.

Types of Nontraditional Families

Over the past 50 years, there has been a steady decline in two-parent households and a steady increase in one-parent households. Now, only 62% of children live with two married parents, which is an all-time low. The remaining are part of alternative families. Some diverse home structures have risen due to parental needs, financial needs, and people finding love and partnerships in nontraditional ways.

Related Articles

Same-Sex Partner Families

Changes in laws and a cultural increase of acceptance of same-sex relationships, has made it more common for same-sex couples to cohabit, marry and adopt children. One concern that's expressed regarding same-sex parents is that their children don't have a role model of the opposite sex. However, gender is a social construct, and differs from the biological sex you are born with: male or female. Culture has determined what it means to be a boy, girl, man and woman, and the definitions are pretty arbitrary. For instance, contrary to gender norms, it is beneficial for men to nurture their sensitive side and for women to be assertive. What matters with parenting is not a certain formula but rather, love for the child and use of good parenting strategies.

Research has shown that childhood progress through school and adolescent psychosocial adjustment and school performance are not impacted by whether kids have parents of opposite sexes or same-sex parents. Additionally, children with either type of family structure are more likely to progress through school than children in shelters or orphanages.

Moreover, it has been suggested that same-sex couples are likely to be better parents, because their desire to be parents is underscored by the fact that they have so many more hurdles to get over to become parents: social stigma and discrimination, on top of what can be a long and arduous adoption process.

Blended Families

When single parents decide to marry or cohabit, this creates a new, blended family that consists of stepparents, stepchildren and/or half-siblings. This can lead to adjustment for all family members, as not only does it involve acclimating to living with new people, it also involves shifting interpersonal dynamics.

At the same time, children in blended families experience that it is not blood relatives necessarily, but love and respect that truly make a healthy family. Children's support networks can also expand with blended families. Furthermore, kids are able to adjust to changes such as divorce and remarriage if authoritative parenting strategies are used.

Extended Families

Also known as joint families, extended families consist of multiple generations living in one household. For instance, an elderly couple might live with their son, daughter-in-law and their grandchildren. Sometimes two siblings and each of their families may also live together.

The challenges of this family structure can include tension with in-laws or conflict due to differing parenting philosophies. However, if an agreement can be reached on how to cohabit peacefully, there are multiple benefits to the extended family structure. Folks are able to care for their aging parents and have help with parenting. The family saves money on living costs overall, and children are able to be closer with their grandparents.

Extended families are common in India, which has a culture that is much more on the collectivistic end of the spectrum, whereas the American culture is much more on the individualistic end. A collectivistic culture tends to value the family unit and community as a whole over an individual. Therefore, the family structure typically involves keeping family members closer together.

Families With Cohabiting Parents

Many couples, like Hollywood stars Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, are in very long-term relationships and have children, but they're not married. There are various reasons why people might decide to be together but not marry. They may have been married before, and don't care to get married again. Or they may have financial reasons for staying single. For example, one may have bad credit, and getting married can ruin the credit of the other.

Some couples may choose not to marry because it would be easier to leave each other in the event of a break-up. What is interesting about this rationale is that some couples use it as a way to have a happier relationship. Meaning, if one is able to leave at any point, and they ultimately want to stay together, they work to make each other happy every day.

One challenge of this family structure could be that once their kids are older, the couple may have to explain to them that they are not married and why. However, ultimately what matters for children is that they are loved and cared for and parents are modeling a healthy relationship.

Single-Parent Families

Single-parent households are now very common, with 26% of children having single parents. In the U.S. and across the globe, divorce has become more common and accepted, whereas in the past it was considered very taboo.

Besides divorce, other ways single-parent families are created is when people really want to be parents, but they either don't want to be married or in a long-term relationship, or they haven't found the right partner. Single parents often pursue parenthood through adoption or in vitro fertilization.

The challenge for single parents is managing parenting and the household on their own. However, there are benefits for both single parents and their kids. Many have become single parents because they were able to leave unhealthy or abusive marriages and thus, also removed their children from abusive environments.

Examples of Nontraditional Families on Television

Television shows have portrayed nontraditional families in positive ways, helping to normalize and reduce the stigma that can be associated with alternative families. The Brady Bunch was a blended family, Diff'rent Strokes featured a single white man who adopted two Black boys, The Gilmore Girls are a single mom and daughter duo, and Modern Family highlights same-sex parents and a blended family.

Love Should Be at the Core

Regardless of how a family is formed, what matters is that it consists of people who love and respect each other. Children thrive with positive role models, parental involvement and structure, and, of course, lots of love.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Exploring Nontraditional Family Structures | LoveToKnow

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The definition of family continues to evolve, and nontraditional families are becoming more common. Many households have expanded the concept of family well beyond the traditional nuclear family comprised of one mother, one father and one or more children. Discover the many types of alternative families that are forming over time to accommodate cultural shifts and different lifestyles and priorities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The American family is a rapidly changing institution. You may have grown up in the stereotypical American family - two parents and one or more children, with a father who worked outside the home and a mother who stayed home and cared for the children and the household. Today, with the entry of so many more women into the workforce, with the increasing divorce rate, and with the growing number of single-parent households, other family structures have become more common.

If your own family is not like the one you grew up in, your situation is certainly not unusual. Currently, 30 percent of American families are now headed by single parents, either divorced, widowed, or never married. Some children live in foster families; others live in step-families or in gay and lesbian families. In more than two thirds of families, both parents work outside the home.

Even if your own family fits the more traditional mold, your children will almost certainly have some friends who live in households with different structures. From time to time you can expect your youngsters to ask questions like "Why do people get divorced?" "How come Jimmy's mother and father don't live together?" "Why does Annette's father live with another lady?" Because families are so important to children, parents need to be able to answer such questions with more than mere slogans or quick replies. By asking these questions, children are trying to understand two things about families: the different structures that families can take and the changes in structure, lifestyles and relationships that can occur.

Any group of people living together in a household can create and call themselves a family. For example, to share expenses a divorced mother with two children may live with another divorced woman with children; together, they may consider themselves a family. A grandparent who lives with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren may become an integral part of their family. The variations of family structures and definition are almost endless, but they have certain qualities in common: Family members share their lives emotionally and together fulfill the multiple responsibilities of family life.

MYTH: The "Nuclear Family" Is A Universal Phenomenon

The nuclear family is generally defined as a family group made up of only a father, mother, and children. Although most people tend to think that this particular family structure has always been the dominant one, that is not the case.

The nuclear family is a relatively recent phenomenon, becoming common only within the last century. Before then, the "traditional" family was multigenerational, with grandparents often living with their children on farms as well as in urban environments, typically with other relatives living nearby. The nuclear family has evolved in response to a number of factors: better health and longer lives, economic development, industrialization, urbanization, geographic mobility, and migration to the suburbs. These changes have resulted in physical separation of extended-family members and in progressive fragmentation of the family.

MYTH: Family Harmony Is The Rule, Not The Exception

Although family life is often romanticized, it has always been filled with conflicts and tension. Difficulties between spouses are commonplace, with disagreements arising over issues ranging from how the children should be raised to how the family finances should be budgeted. Husbands and wives also often struggle with their inability to sustain romantic infatuation beyond the first few years of their marriage, thus having to learn to maintain a relationship in which partnership and companionship may become more important than passionate love.

Parent-children conflicts are commonplace too. As parents assert their authority, and children try to assert their autonomy appropriately, strife is inevitable.

While we often expect families to be above the chaos that exists in the rest of society, that outlook places unrealistic expectations upon the family. In the real world, families are not always a haven, since they, too, can be filled with conflict. Although stress and disagreements are common, they can be destructive to families, especially when conflict gets out of hand. Families are under constant stress, being pushed and pulled from many directions, often without the support systems of extended families that may have existed in the past.

MYTH: The Stability of A Family Is A Measure of Its Success

Change is a part of life. Death, illness, physical separation, financial strains, divorce . . . these are some of the events families have to adjust to. Consequently, stability shouldn't be the only measure of a family's success. Many families function quite well, despite frequent disruptions. In fact, one important measure of a family's success is its ability to adjust to change. Daily life is full of stresses that constantly demand accommodation from family members.

MYTH: Parents Control Their Children's Fate

In reality, parents cannot determine how their children will turn out. Inevitably, children assert their autonomy, creating a niche for themselves separate from their parents. At the same time, many factors external to both the child and family can influence the way a child develops.

Even within the same family there can be tremendous individual variations among siblings in intelligence, temperament, mood, and sociability. Yet despite these differences, parents are responsible for imparting to each child a sense of being loved and accepted, for helping each child to succeed at various developmental tasks, and for socializing each child into respecting the rules and accepting the responsibilities society imposes. These are indeed awesome tasks.

Some parents perceive themselves as having total responsibility for their children's fate. This belief places a heavy and unrealistic emotional burden on them as well as their youngsters. If the children are having problems, they often feel a sense of failure; likewise, the children feel as though they have let their family down if they do not live up to their parents' expectations. In essence, parents can influence and shape but cannot control their children's lives.

Caring for Your School-Age Child: Ages 5 to 12 (Copyright © 2004 American Academy of Pediatrics)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
perfect family~ family responsibilities~ changing family roles~ american family~ family~ divorce~ working parents~ family structure~ single parent~ nuclear family~ family harmony

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The American family is a rapidly changing institution. You may have grown up in the stereotypical American family - two parents and one or more children, with a father who worked outside the home and a mother who stayed home and cared for the children and the household.