FAMILY

FAMILY
The definition of a “family” will vary
according to the following:
▪ one’s personal experience
▪ cultural background
▪ sexual orientation, and
▪ moral outlook
“A group of people who have a
common residence and/or
relationship, and who share
economic and reproductive ties.”
- Mike Morris’ Concise Dictionary of
Social and Cultural Anthropology (2012)
•Family - a group of persons usually living
together and composed of the head and other
persons related to the head by blood,
marriage or adoption. It includes both the
nuclear and extended family.

Philippine Statistics Authority

•“Article 150 identifies family relations
•(1) between husband and wife; (2) between
parents and children; and (3)among brothers
and sisters, whether of the full or half-blood.
Both the Constitution and the Family Code
clearly emphasizes the important role of
marriage in creating a family.”

PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY, 20I0,43 (2), 177-193

Common in those definitions are the
following elements:
▪ the biological component (with a child, married)
▪ the functional component (takes care of the
children and provides economic support), and
▪ the residential component (living under one
household or common residence)
The FAMILY, as a basic unit of society performs
several important functions or roles for society:
1. PROCREATION - For biological reproduction
2. SOCIALIZATION - As the primary agent of socialization of
children
3. ECONOMIC PROVISION - As the institution for economic
cooperation through division of labor
4. LOVE - To care for and nurture children to become
responsible adults
5. SENSE OF SECURITY
TERMS:
o MARRIAGE – a special contract of permanent union
between a man and a woman entered into in accordance
with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life.
(Article I of the Philippine Family Code)
o ILLEGITIMATE CHILD/CHILDREN – child/children born
out of wedlock
o COHABITANTS – couples who share a common residence
with a child, just like a nuclear family, but without the
benefit of marriage
STRUCTURE:
oNuclear Family: a social unit composed of a husband, a
wife, and their children
- Family of orientation: family to which one was born
- Family of procreation: a person, spouse, and their
children
oExtended Family
oComposed of two or more generations of kin that
functions as an independent social and economic unit
 STRUCTURE:
oFamily with Working Parents: from what used to be “only
the father working for the family”, and mother tending the
home and children, both parents now work to support the
family.
oSingle-Parent Family
oRefers to the setup in which either the mother or the father
alone takes the responsibility of caring for the child or
children.
STRUCTURE:
oBlended Family: consists of a couple wherein one
or both of them have children from a previous
marriage or relationship.
oChildless Family
oOther Family Setups/Framework
Authority Patterns
•Patriarchy: society in which men dominate in
family decision making
•Matriarchy: society in which women dominate in
family decision making
•Egalitarian family: authority pattern in which
spouses are regarded as equals