The American family unit is currently undergoing a number of drastic and dramatic changes that are a concern both to the social systems of society and the criminal justice system. The changing face of the American family in terms of function and structure, for instance has a significant influence on delinquency and delinquent behaviors. Due to these changes currently being witnessed in the American family, the link between the family life and delinquency has become a critical issue in the contemporary American society. The extended family has, for the most part of the family structure, replaced the nuclear family which has been rendered largely anachronistic. Moreover, breakdowns in the nuclear are also becoming common place with divorce being at its highest point in the American history (Siegel & Welsh, 2015, p. 278).
Furthermore, family roles, duties and responsibilities are also rapidly changing in terms of their location, with most of the family responsibilities being undertaken mostly by daycare providers. Even though a section of the American families still preserves its traditional roles and place in the society as healthy units that produce and nurture children to become responsible adults in future, other families are already crumbling due to stress hence seriously affecting the social up-bringing of their children. Additionally, the traditional notion of the family whereby the male gender is the sole provider or breadwinner and the female the care giver of the home, has slowly faded away and become forgotten. The family structure is no longer considered as being the basic norm of the American society. Further, and most importantly, there has been a phenomenon of change in sex roles in the American family whereby jobs that were hitherto deemed to belong to men are now largely done by women (Angier, 2013). The woman is now to a large part the custodian of the family’s economic resources and processes, and makes significant decisions related thereto. The changing sex roles has also seen more mothers being employed and the men now spending more time with their children during workdays than was the case some twenty years ago.
Furthermore, change has also been witnessed in the American family make up whereby there are close to 75 million children below the age of 18 years living in America; out of this number, it is estimated that only two-thirds of them live in two-parent families while the rest are living in single-parent families or with guardians and relatives. A whopping 87 percent of American children live in single parent families consisting of mothers only while out of those children that lack parents, most of them live with grandparents. Most families now undergo parental divorce or separation when children are as young as 16 years old and this makes these children to undergo a myriad of family disruptions.
Further afield, there is also the development of a large proportion of young adults who are still putting up with their parents in their home, a situation that has come to be labelled the Boomerang Generation. Their number is steadily increasing over the years with the number of men over the age of 25 years still living in their parents’ home rising from 14 percent in 2005 to close to 20 percent in the subsequent years. This phenomenon has largely been explained from or blamed on the economic downturns that have rocked the American economy also high unemployment rates that have increasingly made it difficult for young adults to live independently or establish their own families.
Another visible change in the American family according to Siegel and Welsh (2015) that is a cause for concern is that of fragile families whereby more and more children are being born out of marriage. The number of children being raised by unmarried couples is unprecedentedly high. It has been argued by some pundits that these changes have been informed mainly by, and show signs of, economic independence of women and achievement of greater freedom for individual women. However, given the significant psychological role that parenting plays in the healthy social and cognitive development of children, policy makers and researchers are concerned about the nature of these new family relationships in terms of their influence on the future of children. This concern and interest in social family relationships also stems from the fact that children who grow up in stable families where income and resources are pooled together are likely to grow up well while those in troubled and uncooperative relations have difficulties later in life (Siegel & Welsh, 2015, p. 279). According to Angier (2013), fewer and fewer women are willing to become mother and those who decide to do opt for few children hence reducing the birth rates and that American families are becoming more egalitarian socially than ever before and economic disparities are also increasingly becoming wider. The American family according to this writer is also becoming increasingly racial, ethnical, diverse and religious. Marriage rates are also becoming lower as divorces rise in the American family.
In addition, another change witnessed currently in the American family concerns the emergence of single moms or teen moms whereby children live in single-parent homes where the head is an unmarried teenage mom. This kind of family normally pose challenges both to the child and the mother due to issues of poverty and other social problems associated with raising a family at tender age. A big parentage of teens giving birth are not married as compare to a small percentage of single moms who earn a decent living. The main challenge with such kind of family arrangements is that “teen moms suffer social problems which in turn have a negative effect on their children” (Siegel & Welsh, 2015, p.280). According to research, most children who are raised by teen moms “are more likely to have disturbed psychological behavior, poorer school performance, poorer reading ability , are likely to be involved with the criminal justice system and more likely to smoke and drink on regular basis” (Siegel & Welsh, 2015, p. 280). However, the legalization of abortion and birth controls have all helped to reduce the number of teens getting pregnant though there still exist ethnic and racial disparities in birth rates especially among Hispanics.
Child care is another area of the American family that has experienced dramatic change in the recent years. The number of family day care centers or homes providing private care to children in most American states is also on the rise and raises a number of social concerns. This is mainly because most of them are unregulated even in states where registration of such centers is mandatory. The increase in unlicensed child care centers particularly during economic downturns is also a change that raises serious issues in the American society since sometimes children deaths and sexual molestation are reported in these centers as did happen in Jackson County, Missouri. It is children from working families that are mostly affected by the inadequacy in childcare hence affecting their education.
Lastly, economic stress also represents a negative change that the American family is undergoing. Millions of American children are reportedly living in poverty with their indigent families putting up in poor standard housing that lack proper healthcare, childcare and nutrition. With aid from the government diminishing with time, the situation of poor families is expected to deteriorate in the coming years. The high rates of unemployment, alterations in population size or makeup and economic upheavals experienced in America is mainly hurting the poor and middle income families thus putting a strain or stress on the family. The aging American population will also mean there will be fewer workers to sustain the Social Security benefits, nursing home care for the aging and medical care. It will also put a burden on the national income as costs of funding care for the needy and elderly will almost double hence putting even more stress on the American family (Siegel & Welsh, 2015, p. 281).
References
Angier, N. (2013, November 23). The changing American family. The New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/26/health/families.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Siegel, L.J., & Welsh, B.C. (2015). Juvenile dlinquency: Theory, practice ans law. Stanford, CT: CENGAGE Learning.
