Editing Nuclear family

{{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>

== Etymology ==
The term ''nuclear family'' first appeared in the early 20th century. The American dictionary [[Merriam-Webster]] dates the term back to 1924,<ref name=Merriam-Webster>{{Cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nuclear%20family |title=nuclear family |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=October 5, 2020 |quote=First Known Use of ''nuclear family''<br>1924, in the meaning defined above}}</ref> and the British ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' has a reference to the term from 1925; thus the term is relatively new. The phrase is taken from the general use of the noun ''nucleus'', originating in the [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|nux}}, meaning 'nut', i.e. the core of something.{{efn|Any similarity to the terminology of [[nuclear warfare]], [[nuclear power]], [[nuclear fission]] etc. is therefore coincidental, even in spite of its association with the early [[Atomic Age]].}}

In its most common use, the term ''nuclear family'' refers to a household consisting of a [[mother]], a [[father]], and their [[child]]ren,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/nuclear-family?q=nuclear+family |title=Nuclear family - Definition and pronunciation |publisher=Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary |access-date=2021-03-05}}</ref> all living in one household dwelling.<ref name=Merriam-Webster /> [[George Murdock]], an observer of families, offered an early description: {{quote|The family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It contains adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.<ref>{{cite book |last=Murdock |first=George Peter |orig-year=1949 |year= 1965 |title=Social Structure |url=https://archive.org/details/socialstructuremurdrich |url-access=registration |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-02-922290-4}}</ref>}}

Many individuals are part of two nuclear families in their lives: the family of origin from which they are offspring, and the family of procreation for which they are a parent.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontofa00coll |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontofa00coll/page/27 27] |title=An Introduction to Family Social Work |first1=Donald |last1=Collins |first2=Catheleen |last2=Jordan |first3=Heather |last3=Coleman |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-495-60188-3 |edition=3}}</ref>

Alternative definitions have evolved to include family units with [[LGBT parenting|same-sex parent]]s,<ref name="BritannicaOnline">{{cite encyclopedia|year=2011|title=Nuclear family|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/421619/nuclear-family|access-date=2011-07-24}}</ref> [[adoption]] of members, and perhaps additional adult relatives who take on a cohabiting parental role.<ref>"Strictly, a nuclear or elementary or conjugal family consists merely of parents and children, though it often includes one or two other relatives as well, for example, a widowed parent or unmarried sibling of one or other spouse."<br />[https://workfamily.sas.upenn.edu/glossary/n/nuclear-family-definitions Sloan Work and Family Research Network], citing Parkin, R. (1997). Kinship: An introduction to basic concepts. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Retrieved April 18, 2012.</ref>

== History ==
DNA extracted from bones and teeth discovered at a 4,600-year-old [[Stone Age]] burial site in Germany has provided the earliest scientific evidence for the social recognition of a family unit consisting of two parents with their multiple children.<ref name="Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences">{{cite press release |title=World's Earliest Nuclear Family Found |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081117192915.htm |work=ScienceDaily |publisher=University of Bristol |date=18 November 2008}}</ref>

Historians [[Alan Macfarlane]] and [[Peter Laslett]], among other European researchers, say that nuclear families have been a primary arrangement in England since the 13th century.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.4324/9781315132006-3 |chapter=The Family: The Primary Institution of Individual and Social Life |title=The Family in the Modern Age |date=2017 |last1=Berger |first1=Brigitte |pages=69–98 |isbn=978-1-315-13200-6 }}</ref> This primary arrangement was different from the typical arrangements in Southern Europe, in parts of Asia, and the Middle East, where it was common for young adults to remain residing in or marrying into a family home. In England, multi-generational households were uncommon{{When|date=March 2022}} because young adults would save enough money to move out, into their own household once they married. Sociologist Brigitte Berger argued, "the young nuclear family had to be flexible and mobile as it searched for opportunity and property. Forced to rely on their own ingenuity, its members also needed to plan for the future and develop bourgeois habits of work and saving."<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Real Roots of the Nuclear Family|language=en|work=Institute for Family Studies|url=https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-real-roots-of-the-nuclear-family|access-date=2017-03-28}}</ref> Berger also mentions that this could be one of the reasons that the Industrial Revolution began in England and other Northwest European countries. However, the historicity of the nuclear family in England has been challenged by Cord Oestmann.<ref name="Oestmann1994">{{cite book|author=Cord Oestmann|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzCdJgm7qfYC&pg=PA53|title=Lordship and Community: The Lestrange Family and the Village of Hunstanton, Norfolk, in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century|publisher=Boydell Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0-85115-351-3|pages=53–}}</ref>

Influenced by church and theocratic governments, family unit structures of a married couple and their children were present in Western Europe and New England in the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Volo|first1=James M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qyYRbGzqn08C&pg=PA42|title=Family life in 17th- and 18th-century America|last2=Volo|first2=Dorothy Denneen|publisher=Greenwood|year=2006|isbn=978-0-313-33199-2|page=42}}</ref> With the emergence of [[proto-industrialization]] and early capitalism, the nuclear family became a financially viable social unit.<ref>Traditions and Encounters: A Brief Global History (New York: McGraw Hill, 2008).</ref> Nonetheless, the results of [[Steven Ruggles]]' assessment of world census data suggest "nineteenth-century Northwest Europe and North America did not have exceptionally simple or nuclear family structure."<ref name="Ruggles">{{cite journal |last1=Ruggles |first1=Steven |title=Reconsidering the Northwest European Family System: Living Arrangements of the Aged in Comparative Historical Perspective |journal=National Library of Medicine |date=9 August 2010 |pmid=20700477 |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2917824/ |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>

Conjugal family roles have changed over the course of history. Historically,{{When|date=December 2024}} marriages were exclusively opposite-sex and it was assumed that the male would be the head of the household and provide for the nuclear family while the woman would stay in the home and care for the children. However, conjugal roles have evolved over the years; in modern times, women often share breadwinning responsibilities with the men, and same-sex couples have become more common.<ref name="breadwinner">{{cite web
| title = How American parents balance work and family life when both work
| date = 4 November 2015
| url = https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/11/04/how-american-parents-balance-work-and-family-life-when-both-work/
| access-date = 2 June 2024 }}
</ref>

Since the time the term first coined, the number of North American nuclear families has gradually decreased, 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>

== Compared with extended family ==
{{Main|Extended family}}
[[File:Svinhufvud med familj.jpg|thumb|275px|[[Pehr Evind Svinhufvud|P. E. Svinhufvud]], the president of Finland (center), with his extended family on his 75th birthday in 1936]]

An [[extended family]] group consists of non-nuclear (or "non-immediate") family members considered together with nuclear (or "immediate") family members. When extended family is involved they also influence children's development just as much as the parents would on their own.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=LaFave |first1=Daniel |last2=Thomas |first2=Duncan |title=Farms, Families, and Markets: New Evidence on Completeness of Markets in Agricultural Settings |journal=Econometrica |date=2016 |volume=84 |issue=5 |pages=1917–1960 |doi=10.3982/ECTA12987 |pmid=27688430 |pmc=5036399 |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w20699.pdf }}</ref> In an extended family resources are usually shared among those involved, adding more of a community aspect to the family unit. This is not limited to the sharing of objects and money, but includes sharing time. For example, extended family members such as [[grandparent]]s are able to watch over grandchildren, allowing parents to pursue careers, and allows the parents to have reduced stress levels.<ref name=":1" /> Extended families also contribute to children's mental health due to increased resources in terms of adult support.<ref name=":1" />

{{Clear}}

== Changes to family formation ==
[[File:American Household Composition Past and Present.png|thumb|400x400px|Between 1960 and 2017, the nuclear family lost its dominant position in American society to other household arrangements.]]
In 2005, information from the [[United States Census Bureau]] showed that 70% of children in the U.S. lived in two-parent families,<ref name="Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships">{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Brian |author2=Stacey C. Sawyer |author3=Carl M. Wahlstrom  |year= 2005 |title=Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships |publisher=Pearson |location=Boston, MA |isbn=978-0-205-36674-3}}</ref> with 66% of those living with parents who were married, and 60% living with their biological parents. Furthermore, "the figures suggest that the tumultuous shifts in family structure since the late 1960s have leveled off since 1990".<ref name="uscensus">{{cite news |first=Sam |last=Roberts |title=Most Children Still Live in Two-Parent Homes, Census Bureau Reports |date=February 25, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/21census.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |access-date=2008-03-05 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The Pew Research Center's analysis of data from the American Community Survey and the decennial census revealed that the number of children living outside of the traditional ideal of parents marrying young and staying together till death has risen precipitously between the mid-to-late 20th century and the early 21st century. In 2013, only 43% of children lived with married parents who are in their first marriage, down from 73% in 1960. Meanwhile, the share of children living with a single parent was 34% in 2013, up from 9% in 1960.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Livingston |first=Gretchen |date=December 22, 2014 |title=Fewer than half of U.S. kids today live in a 'traditional' family |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/22/less-than-half-of-u-s-kids-today-live-in-a-traditional-family/ |access-date=November 15, 2020 |website=Pew Research Center}}</ref>

When considered separately from couples without children, [[single-parent]] families, and unmarried couples with children, the United States nuclear families appear to constitute a minority of households—with a rising prevalence of other family arrangements. In 2000, nuclear families with the original biological parents constituted roughly 24.10% of American households, compared with 40.30% in 1970.<ref name="Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships"/> Roughly two-thirds of all children in the United States will spend at least some time in a single-parent household.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web1.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modii/ii493007.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703063353/http://web1.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modii/ii493007.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 3, 2007|title=Focus on Michigan's Future: Changing Family and Household|date=July 3, 2007}}</ref> According to some sociologists, "[The nuclear family] no longer seems adequate to cover the wide diversity of household arrangements we see today." (Edwards 1991; Stacey 1996). For this reason, a new term ''postmodern family'' has been introduced to describe the great variability in family forms, including single-parent families and couples without children.<ref name="Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships" /> Nuclear family households are now less common compared to household with couples without children, single-parent families, and unmarried couples with children.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Brooks|first=David|title=The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-nuclear-family-was-a-mistake/605536/|access-date=2020-10-02|issn=1072-7825}}</ref>

In the UK, the number of nuclear families fell from 39.0% of all households in 1968 to 28.0% in 1992. The decrease accompanied an equivalent increase in the number of single-parent households and in the number of adults living alone.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pgPxQaF4bDAC&pg=PA25 |pages=25–28 |last=Pothan |first=Peter |title=Nuclear family nonsense |journal=Third Way |date=September 1992 |volume=15 |number=7}}</ref>

Professor Wolfgang Haak of [[University of Adelaide|Adelaide University]], detects traces of the nuclear family in prehistoric Central Europe. A 2005 archeological dig in Elau in Germany, analyzed by Haak, revealed genetic evidence suggesting that the 13 individuals found in a grave were closely related. Haak said, "By establishing the genetic links between the two adults and two children buried together in one grave, we have established the presence of the classic nuclear family in a prehistoric context in Central Europe.... Their unity in death suggest[s] a unity in life."<ref name=":17">{{cite journal |last1=Haak |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Brandt |first2=Guido |last3=Jong |first3=Hylke N. de |last4=Meyer |first4=Christian |last5=Ganslmeier |first5=Robert |last6=Heyd |first6=Volker |last7=Hawkesworth |first7=Chris |last8=Pike |first8=Alistair W. G. |last9=Meller |first9=Harald |last10=Alt |first10=Kurt W. |title=Ancient DNA, Strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=25 November 2008 |volume=105 |issue=47 |pages=18226–18231 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0807592105 |doi-access=free |pmid=19015520 |pmc=2587582 |bibcode=2008PNAS..10518226H }}</ref> This paper does not regard the nuclear family as "natural" or as the only model for human family life, expressed as, "This does not establish the elemental family to be a universal model or the most ancient institution of human communities. For example, polygamous unions are prevalent in ethnographic data and models of household communities have apparently been involving a high degree of complexity from their origins."<ref name=":17" />

Lastly, large shifts in the financial landscape for families has made the historically middle class, traditional, nuclear family structure significantly more risky, expensive, and unstable. The expenses associated with raising a family; notably housing, medical care, and education, have all increased very rapidly, particularly since the 1950s. Since then middle class incomes have stagnated or even declined, whilst living costs have soared to the point where even two-income households are now unable to offer the same level of financial stability that once was possible under the single-income nuclear family household of the 1950s.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Warren |first1=Elizabeth |title=The middle class on the precipice |magazine=Harvard Magazine |volume=108 |issue=3 |date=2006 |pages=28–31 |url=https://harvardmagazine.com/sites/default/files/pdf/2006/01-pdfs/0106-28.pdf }}</ref>

== Influences upon family size ==
As a [[fertility factor (demography)|fertility factor]], single nuclear family households generally have a higher number of children than co-operative living arrangements, according to studies from both the [[Western world]]<ref name="balbo2013">{{cite journal|author1=Nicoletta Balbo|author2=Francesco C. Billari|author3=Melinda Mills|year=2013|title=Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research|journal=European Journal of Population|volume=29|issue=1|pages=1–38|doi=10.1007/s10680-012-9277-y|pmc=3576563|pmid=23440941}}</ref> and [[India]].<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Gandotra MM, Pandey D|year=1982|title=Differences in fertility and family planning practices by type of family|url=http://www.popline.org/node/396150|journal=Journal of Family Welfare|volume=29|issue=1|pages=29–40|access-date=2016-02-27|archive-date=2016-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018154129/http://www.popline.org/node/396150|url-status=dead}}</ref>

There are studies that show a difference in the number of children wanted per household according to where the family lives, finding that families living in rural areas wanted to have more children than families living in urban areas. A study conducted in Japan between October 2011 and February 2012 further researched the influence of area of residence on mean desired number of children.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Matsumoto|first1=Yasuyo|last2=Yamabe|first2=Shingo|date=2013-01-30|title=Family size preference and factors affecting the fertility rate in Hyogo, Japan|journal=Reproductive Health|volume=10|pages=6|doi=10.1186/1742-4755-10-6|issn=1742-4755|pmc=3563619|pmid=23363875 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Researchers of the study in Japan came to the conclusion that the women living in rural areas with larger families were more likely to want more children, compared to women who lived in urban areas.

== "Traditional" North American family ==
{{Further|Familialism}}
[[File:Anonymous - Family Group before United States Capitol - 1968.36 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|thumb|275px|Painting of an unknown nuclear family in Washington, D.C., dated 1850]]

For [[social conservatism]] in the [[Social conservatism in the United States|United States]] and [[Social conservatism in Canada|Canada]], the idea that the nuclear family is [[tradition]]al is a very important aspect, where [[Family values|family is the primary unit of society]]. These movements oppose [[alternative family]] forms and social institutions that are seen by them to undermine [[parental authority]]. The number of nuclear families is slowly dwindling in the U.S. as more women pursue higher education, develop professional lives, and delay having children until later in their life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/1-the-american-family-today/|title=1. The American family today|date=2015-12-17|work=Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project|access-date=2018-04-10|language=en-US}}</ref> Children and [[Marriage in the United States|marriage]] have become [[Work–family balance in the United States|less appealing as many women continue]] to face societal, familial, and/or peer pressure to give up their education and career to focus on stabilizing the home.<ref name=":0" /> As ethnic and cultural diversity continues to grow in the United States, it has become more difficult for the traditional nuclear family to remain a norm.<ref name=":0" /> Data from 2014 also suggests that [[single parent]]s and the likelihood of children living with one parent is correlated with race. The Pew Research Center projected that 54% of African Americans will be single parents compared to only 19% of European Americans.<ref name=":0" /> Several factors account for the differences in family structure including economic and social class. Differences in education level also change the percentage of single parents. In 2014, 46% of children raised by a parent(s) with less than a high school education were raised by a single parent compared to 12% raised by a parent(s) who graduated from college.<ref name=":0" />

Critics of the term ''traditional family'' point out that in most cultures and at most times in history, the [[extended family]] model has been the most common, not the nuclear family.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/05/13/610777733/parenting-myths-and-facts|title=Parenting Myths And Facts|website=NPR.org}}</ref> The nuclear family has had a longer tradition in England than in other parts of Europe and Asia.<ref>see {{section link|History of the family|Evolution of household}}</ref> England contributed large numbers of immigrants to the Americas, likely influencing the form considered "traditional" there and during the 1960s and 1970s, the nuclear family was documented as the most common form in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bebusinessed.com/history/history-nuclear-families/|title=History of Nuclear Families|date=January 3, 2017|website=bebusinessed.com}}</ref>

The concept that narrowly defines a nuclear family as central to stability in modern society that has been promoted by [[familialist]]s who are social conservatives in the United States has been challenged as historically and sociologically inadequate to describe the complexity of family relations dynamics.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=Miriam M.|date=1 January 1963|title=Sex Role Learning in the Nuclear Family|journal=Child Development|volume=34|issue=2|pages=319–333|doi=10.2307/1126730|jstor=1126730|pmid=13957857}}</ref> In "Freudian Theories of Identification and Their Derivatives" [[Urie Bronfenbrenner]] states, "Very little is known about the extent variation in the behavior of fathers and mothers towards sons and daughters, and even less about the possible effects on such differential treatment." Little is known about how parental behavior and identification processes work, and how children interpret sex role learning. In his theory, he uses "identification" with the father in the sense that the son will follow the sex role provided by his father and then for the father to be able to identify the difference of the "cross sex" parent for his daughter.

== Law ==
Western societies often treat marriage as a legally-binding relationship, rather than an informal agreement. In these societies, both partners usually share control of their children's upbringing. They both have roles as a parent to protect their children, oversee the development of their children in society, and see to the survival of their children.<ref>{{cite web
| title = The Convention on the Rights of the Child: The children's version
| url = https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text-childrens-version
| access-date = 2 June 2024
}}</ref> The term is also applied to partners who are in a [[committed relationship]], but not legally married.{{sfn|Scott|2014}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Society}}
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Astronaut family]]
* [[Clan]]
* [[Eskimo kinship]]
* [[Extended family]]
* [[Family relationships]]
* [[Family values]]
* [[Hajnal line]]
* [[Human bonding]]
* [[Immediate family]]
* [[Intentional community]]
* [[Joint family]]
* {{section link|Kibbutz|Child rearing}}
* [[Origins of society]]
* [[Sociology of the family]]
* [[Structural functionalism]]
* [[Alliance theory]]
* [[Types of marriages]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite journal |last1=Bryant |first1=Leah E. |title=Nuclear Families |journal=Encyclopedia of Family Studies |date=2016 |pages=1–3 |doi=10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs490|isbn=978-1-119-08562-1 }}
* {{cite book |last=Scott |first=John |title=A Dictionary of Sociology |date=2014 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780199683581 | edition=4 |chapter=family, conjugal}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Oppong|first=Christine|authorlink=Christine Oppong|date=November 1970|title=Conjugal Power and Resources: An Urban African Example|jstor=350261|journal=Journal of Marriage and Family|volume=32|issue=4|pages=676–680|doi=10.2307/350261}}
* Durkheim, Emile. "The conjugal family". ''Emile Durkheim on institutional analysis'' (1978): 229-239.
* {{Cite journal|last=Khatri|first=A. A.|date=1975-01-01|title=The Adaptive Extended Family in India Today|jstor=350528|journal=Journal of Marriage and Family|volume=37|issue=3|pages=633–642|doi=10.2307/350528}}

== External links ==
* [[iarchive:DateWith1950|A Date With Your Family]], a 1950s social guidance film about an idealized family dinner
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170806204058/http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/6-23-2004-55793.asp The Nuclear Family from Buzzle.com]}}
* [http://www.chrisknight.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Early-Human-Kinship-Was-Matrilineal.pdf Early Human Kinship was Matrilineal] by Chris Knight (anthropological debates as to whether the nuclear family is natural and universal)

{{Family}}
{{Parenting}}
{{Accommodation}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuclear Family}}
[[Category:Family]]
[[Category:Living arrangements]]
[[Category:Social conservatism]]
[[Category:Marriage, unions and partnerships]]