CHFD225 Week 1 Discussion Academic Help

Can you help me understand this Psychology question?

Part II: The Changed Family

Imagine you are trying to explain the present day American family to a person who has been stuck in the year 1980. You are attempting to bring him/her up to date on how the family has changed. Please provide at least 3 of the most profound ways that the family has shifted, and the reasons for the shift.

https://apus.brightspace.com/shared/elf/chfd225/le…

Minimum 200 words

Classmate #1:

Hi class,

This is my second round at APUS, and I am working towards my degree in Human Development and Family Studies. My first degree was in Business Administration, and life has changed a lot since I received it in 2015. I am currently a one-on-one instructional assistant with a child on the Autism spectrum in our public school district, and he is the reason why I went back to school. I want to be able to help more children like him in a more profound way in the future. I am looking forward to this course as I am interested to see how the family aspect of the sociocultural portion of our lives can determine the way in which children present behaviors – whether underdeveloped or developed.

I currently reside in West Michigan, and my husband is station in North Carolina. We have two boys who are 9 and 11 years old, and two dogs; a German-Shepherd/Boxer Mix named Dyna and a Husky named Disa. For fun I like to read, run, and attend concerts. My favorite concert venue is Red Rocks in Colorado, and I have been to a concert there twice now. It is an amazing experience for music lovers like myself.

Part 2

The family has evolved tremendously throughout the last couple of decades. While in the past it has been common for children to be conceived in marriage between a man and a woman, that is no longer the case. According to Pew Research (2015), four in ten births happen to women who are not married, or either living with their partner in cohabitation. The idea of a two married parent household has been on the decline, and there are more single mothers than there were in the past. (CHFD225, 2020)

Additionally, the size of families have been shrinking as well. In the mid-1970s, 40% of women had given birth to 4 or more children by the time they reached the end of childbearing. (Pew Research, 2015) Now, there is only a 14% share of women who have had four or more children. (Pew Research, 2015) This is showing that the larger family is on the decline, as it was once commonplace to have four or more children in the past.

One significant way that the American family has changed has been the role of mothers in the workforce. As more and more mothers are becoming educated with a degree, they are also entering the workforce more. In 1975, less than half of the mothers in the United States had been in the workforce. (Pew Research, 2015) In the year 2000, it was reported that 73% of mothers were in the workforce. It is important to talk about this change, as the family dynamic has changed since the mid-1970s. The mother is no longer a stay at home wife and mother, but instead is getting a career in the workforce.

References

CHFD225. (2020). Lesson 1: Popular myths about families compared to the realities that exist for contemporary families. Retrieved from https://apus.brightspace.com/shared/elf/chfd225/lesson1/index.html.

Pew Research. (2015). Parenting in America. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/1-the-american-family-today/.

Classmate #2:

PART I:

Greetings fellow classmates and Dr. Hubbs.I am from North Carolina, where I currently live and work with school age children. Just as myself, the majority of my family also reside in North Carolina, while many of my family members reside in Georgia, where my grandparents are originally from. On the 21st of February, it will have been a year since my grandmother passed away. She was the backbone of my family and things seem quite different, now that she is no longer with us in the physical form. I miss her very much and wished that she was still here with us so that many of my family members would get along and make peace. I am also currently working to achieve my Bachelor’s Degree in Human Development and Family Studies. I will have completed my degree program hopefully by January 2021. Once I achieve my degree, I hope to work with homeless individuals, as well as those who suffer from substance abuse and alcoholism. I want to be a part of their rehabilitation, introducing to a happier and healthier lifestyle. Becoming a counselor is very important to me. I really want to make a difference in my community. Moving along, I am taking this course as a requirement for my degree program and hope to gain insight about the American family has evolved through the years, including the dynamics of the American Family. I believe this course will assist me in my career goals in the sense that it will allow me further understanding of the trauma, stressors, and issues that cause imbalance which are plagued by many families, specifically those that play a role in why some turn to drugs and alcohol or are introduced into poverty and homelessness.

PART II:

Imagining that I am trying to explain the present day American Family to an individual who has been stuck in the year 1980 and attempting to bring them up to date about how the family has changed, there are a variety of profound ways to explain that the family has shifted, as well as reasons for these shifts. These changes include increased rates of cohabitation, divorce, and single parent households. Essentially, more than ever many people are choosing to cohabitate with a partner, rather than to become legally married. Reasons for this include those who see it as a good way to test their relationships before marriage, those who find it easier to leave if the relationship does not work out, as well as those who see it as a way of getting to know their partners better with no need for a “piece of paper” to define their relationships. Additionally, divorce rates are significantly higher than they were in the 1950s. Perhaps this may be due to family values, infidelity, inequality, lack of commitment, and domestic abuse. Finally, single parent households are becoming increasingly common within our current society. As of 2011, unmarried women accounted for 41 percent of those who gave birth as a single parent, with 72 percent of those births being born from unmarried African American mothers, 53 percent born from Hispanic mothers, and 29 percent from white mothers (Krogstad, 2014). Economic independence may be a driving force for women who choose to become single parents, as there is an increase of women who are being employed on higher pay scales and find that their financial independence is a stepping stone to creating their own families, placing less worry on having a father in the picture to raise their children.

Reference:

Krogstad, J. M. (2014 Apr 30). 5 facts about the modern American family. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/30/5…

Minimum 150 words for each