Types of Family According to K. Park

PRIMARY STRUCTURAL TYPES (3 Main Types)

1. Nuclear Family

• Also called the elementary family; universal in all human societies.
• Consists of the married couple and their children while children are still dependants, all occupying the same dwelling.
• The husband usually plays a dominant role.
• Absence of grandparents/relatives places a greater burden on nuclear family for child rearing.
• The husband-wife relationship is more intimate in the nuclear family than in the joint family.
• "New families" - a recently coined term applied to nuclear families of under 10 years' duration (important in family planning studies).

2. Joint Family (Extended Family)

• Common in India, Africa, the Far East, and the Middle East; more common in agricultural areas than urban areas.
• The orthodox Hindu family in India is the classic example.
• Main characteristics:
  1. A number of married couples and their children living in the same household. All men are blood relatives; women are wives, unmarried girls, or widows of family kinsmen.
  2. All property is held in common - a common family purse for income and expenditure.
  3. All authority vests in the senior male member; the senior female member shares his power over the women of the family.
  4. Familial relations enjoy primacy over marital relations; early and arranged marriages are advocated.
• Merit: Based on the motto "union is strength." Provides economic and social security to the old, helpless, and unemployed. Pools income for education, marriage, and new ventures.

3. Three-Generation Family

• Often confused with the joint family but is distinct.
• Common in the West.
• A household with representatives of three generations related by direct descent (grandparents - parents - children).
• Occurs usually when young couples cannot find separate housing and continue to live with their parents while having their own children.

ADDITIONAL TYPES (in the Context of Family Health and Disease)

7. Broken Family

• One where parents have separated, or where death has occurred of one or both parents.
• Dr. John Bowlby highlighted "maternal deprivation" as one of the most dangerous pathogenic factors in child development.
• Paternal separation and dual-parental separation are important adverse factors.
• Children from broken families may show: psychopathic behaviour, immature personality, retardation of growth, speech and intellect - and may drift toward prostitution, crime, and vagrancy.

8. Problem Families

• Families that lag behind the rest of the community in standards of life.
• Parents are unable to meet the physical and emotional needs of their children.
• Underlying factors: personality disorders, poverty, illness, mental/emotional instability, character defects, marital disharmony.
• Recognized as a problem of social pathology.
• More common in lower social classes.
• Can be rehabilitated with help from health visitors, medical officers, social workers, and midwives.

OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS MENTIONED BY PARK

Family Life Cycle (Park's Basic Model - Nuclear Family)