A Study on the Changes of American Family Structure 英语毕业论文.doc

A Study on the Changes of American Family Structure Abstract This paper is an analysis on the American family structure that has undergone enormous changes since the Second World War Nuclear family the traditional family which was prevalent in 1950s no longer predominated in the United States Instead the numbers of new patterns such as single parent family unmarried cohabit family childless family and blended family of American family structure increased continuously At the same time divorce rate increased to a great extent birth rate decreased noticeably and also cohabitation rate has been climbing up This paper hold that these changes are closely related to the ongoing social and economic development and people concept and values and the American family is toward diversification of family forms in which none of them predominates in the future rather than a single standard form This paper aims to provide a general description of the changes in American family pattern since the Second World War especially with an emphasis on the changes in nuclear family and the causes of the changes Key words： American nuclear family family patterns causes of the changes 内容摘要 本文分析了二战以来美国家庭模式经历的巨大变化五十年代传统的核心家庭模式不在占主导地位而单亲家庭未婚同居家庭丁克家庭及混合家庭的数却在不断上升同时离婚率大幅度上升人口出生率明显下降未婚同居率也一直在攀升本文认为这些变化与社会经济的不断发展及人们不断不变化的价值观念等密切相关也认为美国家庭模式倾向于走向多样化而并非一种模式占主导的趋势 本文旨在描述二战以来美国家庭模式变化的总体情况重点描述核心家庭的变化情况并分析其变化的原因 关键词：美国核心家庭 家庭模式家庭变化成因 Content Abstract English i Abstract Chinese ii Introduction1 2 Definition of family1 3 Changes of American family structure2 31 A changing nuclear family2 com Marriage and divorce2 com The changes in marital and non-marital fertility3 com Cohabitation3 32 Patterns of American family structure4 com Married couples with children5 com Married couples without children5 com Single-parent family5 com Blended family6 4 Causes of family structure changes7 41 Economic de