文档介绍：Chapter 2 Family & Personal Relationships (1)
Sept. 2005
Xiao Huiyun
A 1 The Family
In modern Britain post WW2, the amount of the diverse families has grown due to changes over time
Nuclear family ( 3 types )
Lone-parent family
Cohabiting couple
A 1 The Family cont. One-parent families & their dependent children
A 1 Family cont.
Almost half of all marriages fail.
If present divorce rates continue, more than one child in four will experience the divorce of their parents before they reach age sixteen.
Britain has one of the highest divorce rates in Europe.
Lone parenting has increased three-fold in the last twenty years.
1 in 10 families is a lone parent family
4 in 10 people are born outside marriage
1 in 10 of Britons cohabiting
Annual marriage rates are at their lowest since records began in 1840
A 1 Family cont.
From all these facts and figures, it appears that the traditional family is in decline. But is this really so?
According to the Soul of Britain survey:
80% of Britons believe that marriage is not out-dated
76% of Britons expect our marriages to last for life
46% of Britons disapprove of lone parenting as a lifestyle choice
Columnist Melanie Phillips argues that the traditional nuclear family has been at the root of their democracy, because it leads to the formation of people who are secure, stable, inner-directed and self-confident, and who have a sense of duty and responsibility to each other.
A 1 Family cont.
Traditional families are better for children
Bob Rowthorne, professor of economics at Cambridge University challenged the propaganda that the blended family or step family ‘at its best’ can provide a good alternative to the traditional family.  He claimed that there is overwhelming evidence that on average (rather than ‘at the best’) step families are very dangerous places for children to be. The level of child murder is many times higher in step families than in traditional married couples.
Rowthorne also pointed out that child