Family Structures

The structure of a family can affect a child’s emotional and psychological development in many ways. Parents influence a child’s attachment style which can affect their social life with peers, authority figures, future romantic partners, and, one day, their own children. Siblings and relatives also affect childhood development. When you think of only-children, do you perceive their actions to be different with friends and school peers compared to those with siblings? What about children who grow up in multigenerational homes (kids, parents, grandparents, etc.)? In this chapter we will discuss how children are influenced by family structure, divorce, parenting styles, culture, socioeconomic status, and more.

Types of Family Structures

A two-parent family structure is known as a nuclear family, referring to married parents and children as the nucleus, or core, of the group. Recent years have seen a rise in variations of the nuclear family with the parents not being married. According to the 2022 U.S. Census data, only 65% of children under eighteen years old live in a household with two married parents. This is a decrease from 77% in 1980.

Some two-parent households consist of same-sex parents. In 2023, households with children under 18 included about 27% same-sex couples and 71% opposite-sex couples (Hernandez, 2024).

A meta-analysis found that children growing up in same-sex households had higher developmental well-being than those raised in opposite-sex households (Suárez et al., 2022). For example, children raised by same-sex parents perform better academically compared to children raised by opposite-sex parents (Mazrekaj et al., 2020)

Single-parent households have been on the rise. In 2010, 27% of children lived with a single parent, up from 25% in 2008. In 2022, the U.S. Census reported that about 1 in 3 children live in single parent households, with 80% of children living with single mothers (U.S. Census, 2022).

Stepparents are an additional family element in two-parent homes. About 7% of children live with at least one stepparent (Anderson et al., 2022). Among children living in two-parent households, nine percent live with biological or adoptive parent and a stepparent. The majority (70%) of those children live with their biological mother and stepfather. Family structure has been shown to vary with the age of the child. Older children (fifteen to seventeen years old) are less likely to live with two parents than adolescent children (six to fourteen years old) or young children (zero to five years old). 

The multigenerational structure is when three or more generations live under one roof. In 2020, 7.2% of U.S. households were multigenerational (Washington et al., 2023). Although multigenerational households can provide support systems (Mohangi, 2022) and an opportunity for grandparental involvement (Tanskanen & Danielsbacka, 2018), they can also result in interpersonal conflict (Mohangi, 2022) and adverse behavioral and cognitive outcomes for children (He & Wang, 2021).