1. What is the typical American family like? If Americans are asked to name the members of their families, family structure becomes clear. Married American adults will name their husband or wife and their children, if they have any, as their immediate family. If they mention their father, mother, sisters, or brothers, they will define them as separate units, usually living in separate households. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents are considered extended family.
2. Traditionally, the American family has been a nuclear family, consisting of a husband, wife, and their children, living in a house or apartment. Grandparents rarely live in the same home with their married sons and daughters, and uncles and aunts almost never do. In the 1950s, the majority of the American households were the classic traditional American family—a husband, wife, and two children. The father was the “breadwinner” (the one who earned the money to support the family), the mother was a “homemaker” (the one who took care of the children, managed the household, and did not work outside the home), and they had two children under the age of eighteen. If you said the word family to Americans a generation ago, this is the traditional picture that probably came to their minds.
3. Today, however, the reality is much different. A very small percentage of American households consist of a working father, a stay-at-home mother, and children under eighteen. Only about one-quarter of American households now consist of two parents and their children, and the majority of these mothers hold jobs outside the home. The majority of American households today consist of married couples without children, single parents and their children, or unrelated people living together. Perhaps most surprising, 25 percent of Americans live alone.