Editing Nuclear family (section)

{{Short description|Group of two parents and their children}}
{{About|the concept|works using that title|Nuclear Family (disambiguation){{!}}Nuclear Family}}
{{Globalize|date=November 2024|article|United States}}

[[File:Sgt. Samuel Smith, African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters.jpg|thumb|275px|Photograph of a nuclear family in Maryland, Sgt. Samuel Smith, Mollie Smith, and their daughters Mary and Maggie, {{circa}} 1863–1865]] 
A '''nuclear family''' (also known as an '''elementary family''', '''atomic family''', or '''conjugal family''') is a term for a [[family]] group consisting of [[parent]]s and their [[child]]ren (one or more), typically living in one [[home]] residence. It is in contrast to a [[single-parent]] family, a larger [[extended family]], or a family with more than two parents. Nuclear families typically center on a [[Marriage|married]] couple that may have any number of children. There are differences in definition among observers. Some definitions allow only biological children who are full-blood siblings, some consider adopted or half- and step-siblings a part of the [[immediate family]], but others allow for a step-parent and any mix of dependent children, including stepchildren and adopted children. 

Some sociologists and anthropologists consider the extended family structure to be the most common family structure in most cultures and at most times for humans, rather than the nuclear family.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B0-12-657410-3/00412-8 |chapter=Family and Culture |title=Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology |date=2004 |last1=Georgas |first1=James |pages=11–22 |isbn=978-0-12-657410-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia
| title = conjugal family
| encyclopedia = Open Education Sociology Dictionary
| date = 23 December 2014
| url = https://sociologydictionary.org/conjugal-family/
| access-date = 2 June 2024 | last1 = Bell
| first1 = Kenton
}}</ref>

The term ''nuclear family'' was popularized in the 20th century. Since that time, the number of North American nuclear families is gradually decreasing, while the number of alternative family formations has increased.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aragão |first1=Carolina |last2=Parker |first2=Kim |last3=Greenwood |first3=Shannon |last4=Baronavski |first4=Chris |last5=Mandapat |first5=John Carlo |date=14 September 2023 |title=The Modern American Family |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/09/14/the-modern-american-family/ |url-status=live |journal=[[Pew Research Center]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003001640/https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/09/14/the-modern-american-family/ |archive-date=3 October 2023}}</ref>