Resilience Of Families

Many people feel that the family has been seen as increasingly resilient over the last few decades and still today. Author Stephanie Coontz supports the resilience of families in her article The American Family, which was published in Life magazine. Coontz sites that the strengthening in resilience of families over the past few decades can mainly be attributed to: the cyclical nature of divorce and the continuation of societal standards towards marriage (Coontz, S. (2005)). In modern times, continuing resilience of families is asserted by the concept of familism, the development and emphasis upon social frameworks, and internal structure. Arguably, families are seen as declining, as is argued by author Barbara LeBey in her article American

Disregard towards divorce rates that was prevalent in the 1950’s is no longer as in 2009, “10% of the United States population was divorced/separated.” (Knox, D., & Schacht, C. (2010)) Modern times ushered in a new opportunity for individuals facing the decision of divorce: cohabitation. Unlike the idea that families need to be defined by permanence and child birth, cohabitation is the alternative to establishing a family. Cohabitants experience similar benefits of those that are married, but without any of the legal binding in a

Emphasis upon higher education, from parents, and through the structure of the public school system show a major societal shift towards individualist values that carry over into relationships. Individualism in today’s society has shifted focuses in relationships, as alternatives to family and marriage, such as cohabitation, are becoming increasingly popular. As in 2011 there were, “6 million unmarried-couple households in the United States.” (Knox, D., & Schacht, C. (2010)) Past emphasis upon marrying at a younger age seems to have been eradicated, as the idea of permanency with developing a family does not fit current individualistic views. Current focuses away from families, continuation of past trends, and emphasis upon individualistic alternatives show the continual decline of