essay about the importance of a family

Essay on Importance of Family for Students and Children

500 words essay on importance of family.

In today’s world when everything is losing its meaning, we need to realize the importance of family more than ever. While the world is becoming more modern and advanced, the meaning of family and what stands for remains the same.

A family is a group of people who are related by blood or heritage. These people are linked not only by blood but also by compassion, love, and support. A person’s character and personality are shaped by his or her family. There are various forms of families in today’s society. It is further subdivided into a tight and extended family (nuclear family, single parent, step-family, grandparent, cousins, etc.)

Family – A synonym for trust, comfort, love, care, happiness and belonging. Family is the relationship that we share from the moment we are born into this world. People that take care of us and help us grow are what we call family, and they become lifelines for us to live. Family members have an important role in deciding an individual’s success or failure in life since they provide a support system and source of encouragement.

It does not matter what kind of family one belongs to. It is all equal as long as there are caring and acceptance. You may be from a joint family, same-sex partner family, nuclear family, it is all the same. The relationships we have with our members make our family strong. We all have unique relations with each family member. In addition to other things, a family is the strongest unit in one’s life.

Things That Strengthens The Family

A family is made strong through a number of factors. The most important one is of course love. You instantly think of unconditional love when you think of family. It is the first source of love you receive in your life It teaches you the meaning of love which you carry on forever in your heart.

Secondly, we see that loyalty strengthens a family. When you have a family, you are devoted to them. You stick by them through the hard times and celebrate in their happy times. A family always supports and backs each other. They stand up for each other in front of a third party trying to harm them proving their loyalty.

Most importantly, the things one learns from their family brings them closer. For instance, we learn how to deal with the world through our family first. They are our first school and this teaching strengthens the bond. It gives us reason to stand by each other as we share the same values.

No matter what the situation arises, your family will never leave you alone. They will always stand alongside you to overcome the hardships in life. If anyone is dealing with any kind of trouble, even a small talk about it to the family will make ones’ mind lighter and will give them a sense of hope, an inner sense of strength to fight those problems.

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Importance of Family

One cannot emphasize enough on the importance of family. They play a great role in our lives and make us better human beings. The one lucky enough to have a family often do not realize the value of a family.

However, those who do not have families know their worth. A family is our source of strength. It teaches us what relationships mean. They help us create meaningful relationships in the outside world. The love we inherit from our families, we pass on to our independent relationships.

Moreover, families teach us better communication . When we spend time with our families and love each other and communicate openly, we create a better future for ourselves. When we stay connected with our families, we learn to connect better with the world.

Similarly, families teach us patience. It gets tough sometimes to be patient with our family members. Yet we remain so out of love and respect. Thus, it teaches us patience to deal better with the world. Families boost our confidence and make us feel loved. They are the pillars of our strength who never fall instead keep us strong so we become better people.

We learn the values of love, respect, faith, hope, caring, cultures, ethics, traditions, and everything else that concerns us through our families. Being raised in a loving household provides a solid foundation for anyone.

People develop a value system inside their family structure in addition to life lessons. They learn what their family considers to be proper and wrong, as well as what the community considers to be significant.

Families are the epicentres of tradition. Many families keep on traditions by sharing stories from the past over the years. This allows you to reconnect with family relatives who are no longer alive. A child raised in this type of household feels as if they are a part of something bigger than themselves. They’ll be proud to be a part of a community that has had ups and downs. Communities thrive when families are strong. This, in turn, contributes to a robust society.

Q.1 What strengthens a family?

A.1 A family’s strength is made up of many factors. It is made of love that teaches us to love others unconditionally. Loyalty strengthens a family which makes the members be loyal to other people as well. Most importantly, acceptance and understanding strengthen a family.

Q.2 Why is family important?

A.2 Families are very important components of society and people’s lives. They teach us a lot about life and relationships. They love us and treat us valuably. They boost our self-confidence and make us feel valued. In addition, they teach us patience to deal with others in a graceful and accepting manner.

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The Importance of Family

Home » Blogs » The Importance of Family

Family can exist in many forms and as a single parent, there are some things I know to be important. What lies in the epicenter of that are the people who consider themselves family and the love that they have for one another. These bonds are important because family helps us get through the most disastrous times and the best times. Family is important because they can offer support and security coupled with unconditional love; they will always look to see and bring out the best in you even if you cannot see it for yourself. Family is important because they will, for the most part, be the only ones who can really understand you and bring you back to that place of peace.

Family is also very crucial to guide you down the path of morality when it comes to outside influences such as dealing with drugs, alcohol, peer pressure, bullying, or someone saying negative things to you. Your family might not be able to shield you from everything, but they will be able to assist you through the hard times and give you the tools you need to diffuse or avoid the situation. Family will provide you with a home if you do not have one and they will point you in the right direction so that you can get back on your feet. Family will tell you what you do not want to hear, but they do it out of love to help you grow.

Another reason family is so important is because they can teach us to know our family history, which can shape our persona into something positive and give us a sense of direction. Marcus Garvey once said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.” Why am I stressing the importance of family? It is because there are some people who are not blessed with two parents and those that are blessed with two parents might not be close to their parents and are closer to their aunts, uncles, or grandparents. That being said, for the last 6 years, single-parent families have held a steady rate of 35% of total households in the United States. In 2016, that percentage totaled out to approximately 24 million kids living with single parents in the United States, which is more than the population of Florida. According to the Kid’s Data Center, in 2016, 32% of single parents were living in poverty compared to 7% of two-parent family homes. There is a clear understanding that growing up in destitute can present academic obstacles, reduced access to safe communities, quality enrichment activities, and can cause a heightened risk of physical, behavioral, and emotional issues. That is why I speak so emphatically on the significance of family. when family comes together, they can make the impossible become possible, and give hope to those that they love so dearly and give them a fighting chance in this life. Parents, both married and single, and elders must hold each other accountable because our children are worth it. “One generation plants the trees and another gets the shade.”

References

Kids Count Data Center (13 April 2020) Single Parents are Raising More Than One-Third of U.S. Kids. Retrieved from: https://datacenter.kidscount.org/

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What Is The Importance Of Family In Modern Society?

With advancements in technology, changing cultural norms, new priorities, and advanced forms of communication fueled by the internet, you may wonder how family holds up in modern society. The concept of family is likely to continue to be essential for people from all walks of life, despite changing beliefs and customs. Research often demonstrates the importance of family for numerous areas of well-being . No matter how much life changes and the concept of family evolves, it may continue to benefit human health and wellness by offering a sense of belonging and support. If you’re experiencing family-related challenges, it can be helpful to speak to an objective person, such as a licensed therapist, for insight and guidance.

Its definition may evolve, but family may remain essential

The traditional definition of a "nuclear family" typically entailed one man and one woman who were married and had biological children. However, today’s families can be more inclusive and may look different than family stereotypes. Additionally, research usually labels many different types of families.

Benefits of a healthy family

As modern life can add pressure and stress, a healthy family dynamic can have multiple benefits, regardless of whether it's a biological family, adoptive family, or chosen family.

Helps you meet your basic needs

Many years ago, Abraham Maslow created the Hierarchy of Needs . At the bottom of this hierarchy are usually basic needs, including water, food, rest, and health. A family may provide these necessities, which can serve as building blocks for other needs.

Research also suggests that social connection can be considered a need, as it usually improves physical and mental health. Family may offer social connection in abundance.

Allows you to belong to something

A sense of belonging can come from the family, group, or community we belong to, and it can contribute to our emotional well-being by allowing us to feel connected socially.

Offers a built-in support system

Research shows that the support system families provide can have a profound impact throughout different stages of life. Difficult times are often inevitable, but a family may provide a sense of stability and connection that can make it easier to get through them.

Contributes to health

Children might experience a healthy lifestyle when they live in a healthy family. They may eat healthy meals, enjoy time outdoors, and get prompt medical attention when needed.

Health benefits can exist for parents in families, too. Research has shown that people with children in their families tend to live longer , even after the children have grown up and moved away.

Provides support when someone is ill

Facing medical problems alone can be challenging. A family may help alleviate this difficulty by offering support and assistance as you heal.

Offers community benefits

A strong family structure may reduce the likelihood of delinquency and crime. This can mean that the family unit may substantially impact an individual and their community.

Educates children

One way many parents contribute to society is by educating their children. Parents and caregivers often begin teaching children at a very young age. They may help them learn to walk and teach them new words as they develop their vocabulary and language skills. They also may teach them manners and take advantage of learning opportunities in everyday life.

Many parents also encourage scholarship opportunities, ethical behavior, and social skills that can benefit children throughout adolescence and into adulthood.

All families may struggle sometimes

Even though families can have benefits, they may face challenges at times. When it comes to overcoming the difficulties of family life, you might find support in your friends. You can also seek the help of a professional with training and experience in family dynamics.

Seeking help

Talking to a therapist may help you explore your feelings about family and learn to express those feelings openly. You may also learn to understand the family influences that shaped your personality.

Benefits of online therapy

Online therapy can be an easy and convenient way to receive insight and guidance from a licensed therapist. It can be helpful to vent to an objective person during therapy sessions, and you can attend these sessions from any location with an internet connection. With an online therapy platform, you can even seek out a therapist who specializes in helping their clients navigate family-related concerns.

Effectiveness of online therapy

Although more research may be needed regarding the efficacy of individual online therapy for addressing family-related challenges, a growing body of evidence generally supports the idea that online therapy can be just as effective as face-to-face therapy.

What is the importance of family in our life?

Family can often serve as a cornerstone of our emotional support system, playing a role in each individual's emotional health. This foundational element often sets the stage for future relationships and helps build self-esteem.

What is the importance of family to a person?

Family can provide unconditional love and emotional support, which are key factors in building an individual's self-esteem. These early relationships set the groundwork for personal relationships and adult life.

What are 10 important aspects of family in your life?

Emotional support: Family offers a safety net for emotional well-being.
Unconditional love: The love from family is often lifelong and uncompromising.
Moral and ethical guidance: Family serves as our first role model, teaching us social skills and crucial role values.
Financial support: Financial stability often starts with family support.
Educational support: Family’s involvement can positively impact academic performance.
Healthy families: A supportive family environment can contribute to healthy relationships.
Family traditions and history: Knowing your family history adds a sense of belonging.
Role models: Family provides the first role models in a child’s life.
Open communication: Communication within the family contributes to emotional health and strong personal relationships.
Sense of belonging: Family gatherings, such as family meals, add to the sense of community.

Why are family relationships among the most important we will ever have?

Family relationships can lay the foundation for how we manage future relationships. The skills learned in the family context are applied to personal relationships in adult life, playing an important role in our overall emotional well-being.

What is the most important value in your relationship as a family?

Important values, like unconditional love and open communication, can form the bedrock on which the emotional health of each individual in the family is built. These values often lead to a unified family, increasing senses of security, stability and support.

What is important in life, family or love?

Family often provides the first experience of unconditional love, and this foundational emotional support sets the tone for what we seek in other personal relationships throughout adult life.

Is having a family the most important thing?

Having a family often offers emotional support and unconditional love, serving as an individual’s foundational support system and playing a crucial role in emotional health. However, many aspects of life are important, and family is not necessarily more important than other relationships in your life.

Why is family more important than happiness?

Family often serves as a significant source of happiness, fulfilling our needs for emotional support and unconditional love.

What is the importance of family unity?

Family unity offers a conducive environment for emotional health and well-being. This unity is often fostered through open communication during family meals, contributing to each individual's ability to maintain relationships.

What brings unity to the family?

Common values and open communication are key factors that bring family unity. Family meals and traditions also play a part, serving as regular platforms for them to express emotional support and unconditional love.

What Is Family Support? Understanding Services Available To You Medically reviewed by Laura Angers Maddox , NCC, LPC
Is Sibling Rivalry Normal? How Conflict Between Siblings Works Medically reviewed by Elizabeth Erban , LMFT, IMH-E
Relationships and Relations

Parents are the first and most important teachers in every child’s life. The importance of family starts at birth and stays constant throughout life. As children grow into their teens and early adulthood, families can be a bedrock of support during times of change. Here are a few ways a strong family can support children:

5 Reasons Why Family Is Important

Meet Physical and Emotional Needs
Model Good Values
Provide Protection
Advocate for Children’s Needs
Offer Guidance in All Areas of Life

If you are a parent—or are planning to start a family soon—reflecting on how to strengthen family relationships is important. You can make conscious choices to build positive family dynamics and help set your children up for a bright future.

What is a family? A family usually starts with parents and children, but also extends to aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. Sometimes, we can build such close bonds with friends and neighbors that they feel like part of our family. Some families include adopted children, stepparents and stepsiblings, or foster children. There are many different types of families, and each family is unique. Truly, family structure is less important than the feeling of belonging.

Ultimately, family is about creating strong relationships and providing a sense of meaning and belonging. Families should be a source of unconditional love and a resource for all of us to weather life’s changes and challenges. In healthy families, children can learn what it means to be a happily married woman or man, along with the the qualities of a good father or mother. Most people would also agree on the importance of family in creating healthy individuals and strong communities.

Families Meet Physical and Emotional Needs

Parents provide necessities—food, clothing, and shelter—for children in their household. But the importance of family doesn’t end with physical needs. They should aim to support emotional needs as well.

In truth, humans have multiple layers of needs—and a healthy family can support them all. Families can look to a classical psychological concept called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to understand this concept more clearly. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has a pyramid organization, with our most basic, physical needs at the bottom. We all need things like air, food, water, and sleep to survive. On the next level are needs related to feeling secure, such as resources for staying safe and healthy.

The next three levels of Maslow’s pyramid all relate to our emotional needs. Families can play a significant role in helping children eventually meet these needs. For example, through daily comments and interactions parents can help their children feel important, loved, and wanted. By giving children important responsibilities and involving them in relevant family decisions, parents help foster self-esteem and a feeling of being capable. A strong family can help members achieve the pinnacle of Maslow’s pyramid—self-actualization. A self-actualized person can express his or her deepest talents in meaningful ways and achieve his or her fullest potential.

In short, a strong family should be a source for much more than just basic items needed for life. A family should be a bedrock of encouragement, respect, and love to help every member thrive.

Family Helps Model Good Values

In today’s hyper-connected world, it’s easy to get over-exposed to unhealthy ideas and images. However, a close family with strong values can help young family members avoid or resist negative influences. Without strong family values , young people can succumb to peer pressure and stumble upon unwanted consequences, including substance abuse and various forms of addiction. It’s best to start embodying good values when your kids are young. That way, as your children encounter critical decisions, they are already prepared to make good choices.

In children’s earliest years, they look to parents as role models. If you show them positive behavior, such as kindness and caring for those in need, your children are more likely to follow in your footsteps. Remember, much of what you teach your children is taught indirectly through what you say and do every day.

As children grow, they’ll start to encounter new social situations at school and in the community. Your communications towards friends, neighbors, and others you interact with each day will show them how to interact with peers. They’ll learn how to form healthy friendships and how to navigate difficult situations. Knowing your family’s values and staying true to them will help your children embrace them and follow suite as they grow.

Families Provide Protection

Simply put, children are not equipped to manage life on their own. After all, children can’t earn income and provide for their own economic security. They need a stable home and strong parents who are committed to their well-being. Children need to feel safe and protected to engage in a healthy way with the world.

When children feel protected, they can enjoy the magic and wonder of childhood. They won’t need to waste energy worrying about issues that they can’t control and can engage in meaningful play and favorite pastimes. If difficulties do arise, children can trust that their parents will handle those issues as well.

While physical protection is important, don’t overlook the importance of family providing emotional protection. You may have concerns about finances, the health of aging family members, or the stability of your employment. These are common concerns for adults, but it’s usually best to shield children from unnecessary burdens that they have little or no influence over. By doing so, you give them better odds of being able to shoulder the emotional burdens that are typical for their age - keeping up with homework, making new friends, and so forth.

What if a serious issue arises? While it may be necessary to involve them at some point, it should be done in a way that is age-appropriate, and only after you have discussed the issue with your partner, spouse, or other adults. Make sure such conversations are not able to be overheard by children. Then, when it’s time to discuss the concern with them, limit the details to those that are appropriate, while answering their questions honestly. In doing so, you’ll help your children feel secure and loved.

When serious difficulties arise, seek support from trusted friends and family to ensure you have enough time for self-care and reflection. Taking care of yourself is key to ensuring that you can be a sensitive and loving parent when your children need you most.

Families Advocate for Children’s Needs

At times, children depend on the adults in their lives to speak up for their needs. A child may be struggling at school, for example. Or someone may be bullying a child in the neighborhood. If a child has any health concerns, parents are best equipped to talk with doctors and care professionals. It can be hard for kids to tackle these sorts of complex issues on their own. In those situations, caring parents need to step in to advocate for their children.

To be a good advocate, parents must be aware of what is going on in their children’s lives. For example, instead of just looking at grades at report card time, parents can be mindful of how their children are feeling about their teachers and classes. They can become familiar with their children’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as their interests.

The degree to which a parent advocates for his/her child, is dependent on the child’s age and maturity. For younger children, advocacy efforts may often occur outside the child’s presence. While for older children, it is almost always best if the child is present and actively participating in the conversation. In fact, many institutions require such participation in these discussions. Being aware of your child’s struggles and appropriately advocating for his/her individual needs is an important expression of family love.

Healthy Families Provide Guidance in All Areas of Life

Families can be a source of support in good times and in bad. When kids are young, parents can provide advice on playground or friendship issues. As children grow, parents can help them navigate school, sports, activities, and a complex web of relationships.

Parental guidance can extend to helping young people choose colleges and careers. For many people, family members are present at major milestones from engagements, to purchasing first homes, to the birth of children. When hardships arise, family can help people traverse difficult passages and build resilience.

It is critical, however, to be mindful and considerate of your child’s needs and wants when it comes to offering guidance. In some cases, offering too much support or unwanted guidance can be harmful to family relationships. In general, as children grow and mature, parents should seek to take a mentoring role in their children’s lives, offering support in a more Socratic, indirect way, rather than simply telling them what to do or doing it for them.

Building Strong Families

Adults need to take the lead in building strong values. Although parents can face pressures from work and community, prioritizing family is essential. As children grow, they’ll have extracurricular activities and friendships that consume much of their time. Never lose sight of the importance of family, even when life gets complicated and busy.

One of the best ways you can do this is to establish family dinners as a priority. The research on the benefits of consistent family dinners is clear and convincing. And yet, in today’s world it’s not easy to have family dinners together when there are so many competing extracurricular activities. One way to help encourage this is to establish some family traditions that involve dinner together. For example, designating Friday as a pizza and movie night or having a Sunday dinner with extended family are both great ways to accomplish this goal.. Some families select a day during the week when family members forgo outside activities and spend the evening at home. During these evenings, families can enjoy dinner, games, crafts, and other enjoyable pastimes.

No matter how busy your family gets, taking time out to talk with each other is important. Start the tradition when kids are young by having one-on-one conversations with each child. Maybe one parent can take a walk with one child after dinner, while the other parent washes dishes with another child. Of course, you’ll want to make sure to take turns or there will be an inevitable protest by the dishwashing duo. Finding time for one-on-one bonding can get more complicated in a larger family. But if you remain flexible and dedicated to the idea, you can make sure everyone in the family feels connected and has their voice heard.

Family traditions are also critical to building strong relationships. While seasonal holidays are always a time for a get-together with others, family gatherings can sometimes be hectic and overwhelming. Often, relatives visit each other during the holidays, which can increase stress. Setting aside an afternoon to do something fun and meaningful with your own small family is a wise move. Visit a tree farm or drive around neighborhoods to admire lights and decorations. Simple traditions like those help give your family a sense of identity.

You can have family traditions all year long. Do something fun like having hot chocolate with marshmallows together on a cold January afternoon or making caramel apples in October. You could also seek out service ideas for families and contribute to your community together. These types of activities remind us all of the importance of family and can cultivate good memories that last a lifetime.

One thing that can help you identify and create meaningful family traditions is to involve your children in the process. That could include letting your children plan some family activities. It could also mean taking time as a family to decide which traditions you want to continue and which you want to let go of.

Finding Happiness Through Family

Families can be one of life’s true joys. Whether you have a small, close-knit family or come from a large clan, you can turn to your family for strength and support.

A loving family can support every member’s physical and emotional needs. With positive guidance from their family, each person can set goals and work towards them. Healthy families also recognize each person as an individual, celebrating each family member’s unique differences. Some families find it helpful to supplement what they know about each other and their family dynamics through tools such as the family culture assessment .

From the start, children need dedicated parents who serve as good role models. Children watch and learn from their parents’ choices and interactions. Having strong, well-defined values that are shared by both parents can show children how to engage with the world in a healthy way.

Families also provide protection for kids who aren’t able to take care of themselves on their own. It’s important to remember that emotional safety is just as essential as physical safety. Parents need to stay aware of all areas of their children’s lives—from school to activities to friendships—and be ready to appropriately step in any time kids need advocacy or guidance.

In many families, adult children take over the role of caretaker or support person for aging parents. When this happens, children may be providing protection or advocacy for parents who need family support with financial or health needs. The importance of family follows each of us through every chapter of life.

Building a strong home and family requires commitment. Parents must dedicate themselves to being present for children and spending time with them. This can be hard when juggling careers and the many complexities of adulthood. But every minute that parents spend engaging in positive and meaningful activities with children makes a difference in their lives.

The good news is that you don’t have to go it alone. By turning to FamilyToday, you can find support and wisdom from others walking the same path that also value the importance of family. Wherever you are in your journey, you can learn, grow, and get ideas about how to make your family stronger and healthier. Having a happy family is one of life’s greatest rewards and worth all the hard work and sacrifice.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Family Relationship — The Importance of Family Experiences

The Importance of Family Experiences

Categories: Family Relationship

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Article contents

Family, culture, and communication.

V. Santiago Arias V. Santiago Arias College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
and Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.504
Published online: 22 August 2017

Through the years, the concept of family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists with a diverse theoretical framework, such as family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory. Among these theories, there are two main commonalities throughout its findings: the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial system because the quality of their communication or coparenting significantly affects the enactment of the caregiver role while managing conflicts, which are not the exception in the familial setting. Coparenting is understood in its broader sense to avoid an extensive discussion of all type of families in our society. Second, while including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, this process intrinsically suggests cultural assimilation as the main cultural approach rather than intergroup theory, because intercultural marriages need to decide which values are considered the best to be socialized. In order to do so, examples from the Thai culture and Hispanic and Latino cultures served to show cultural assimilation as an important mediator of coparenting communication patterns, which subsequently affect other subsystems that influence individuals’ identity and self-esteem development in the long run. Finally, future directions suggest that the need for incorporating a nonhegemonic one-way definition of cultural assimilation allows immigration status to be brought into the discussion of family communication issues in the context of one of the most diverse countries in the world.

parental communication
dyadic power
family communication systems
cultural assimilation

Introduction

Family is the fundamental structure of every society because, among other functions, this social institution provides individuals, from birth until adulthood, membership and sense of belonging, economic support, nurturance, education, and socialization (Canary & Canary, 2013 ). As a consequence, the strut of its social role consists of operating as a system in a manner that would benefit all members of a family while achieving what is considered best, where decisions tend to be coherent, at least according to the norms and roles assumed by family members within the system (Galvin, Bylund, & Brommel, 2004 ). Notwithstanding, the concept of family can be interpreted differently by individual perceptions to an array of cultural backgrounds, and cultures vary in their values, behaviors, and ideas.

The difficulty of conceptualizing this social institution suggests that family is a culture-bound phenomenon (Bales & Parsons, 2014 ). In essence, culture represents how people view themselves as part of a unique social collective and the ensuing communication interactions (Olaniran & Roach, 1994 ); subsequently, culture provides norms for behavior having a tremendous impact on those family members’ roles and power dynamics mirrored in its communication interactions (Johnson, Radesky, & Zuckerman, 2013 ). Thus, culture serves as one of the main macroframeworks for individuals to interpret and enact those prescriptions, such as inheritance; descent rules (e.g., bilateral, as in the United States, or patrilineal); marriage customs, such as ideal monogamy and divorce; and beliefs about sexuality, gender, and patterns of household formation, such as structure of authority and power (Weisner, 2014 ). For these reasons, “every family is both a unique microcosm and a product of a larger cultural context” (Johnson et al., 2013 , p. 632), and the analysis of family communication must include culture in order to elucidate effective communication strategies to solve familial conflicts.

In addition, to analyze familial communication patterns, it is important to address the most influential interaction with regard to power dynamics that determine the overall quality of family functioning. In this sense, within the range of family theories, parenting function is the core relationship in terms of power dynamics. Parenting refers to all efforts and decisions made by parents individually to guide their children’s behavior. This is a pivotal function, but the quality of communication among people who perform parenting is fundamental because their internal communication patterns will either support or undermine each caregiver’s parenting attempts, individually having a substantial influence on all members’ psychological and physical well-being (Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Subsequently, parenting goes along with communication because to execute all parenting efforts, there must be a mutual agreement among at least two individuals to conjointly take care of the child’s fostering (Van Egeren & Hawkins, 2004 ). Consequently, coparenting serves as a crucial predictor of the overall family atmosphere and interactions, and it deserves special attention while analyzing family communication issues.

Through the years, family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists, but interaction behaviors define the interpersonal relationship, roles, and power within the family as a system (Rogers, 2006 ). Consequently, family scholarship relies on a wide range of theories developed within the communication field and in areas of the social sciences (Galvin, Braithwaite, & Bylund, 2015 ) because analysis of communication patterns in the familial context offers more ecological validity that individuals’ self-report measures. As many types of interactions may happen within a family, there are many relevant venues (i.e., theories) for scholarly analysis on this subject, which will be discussed later in this article in the “ Family: Theoretical Perspectives ” section. To avoid the risk of cultural relativeness while defining family, this article characterizes family as “a long-term group of two or more people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties and who enact those ties through ongoing interactions providing instrumental and/or emotional support” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 5).

Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the most relevant theories in family communication to identify frustrations and limitations with internal communication. Second, as a case in point, the United States welcomes more than 50 million noncitizens as temporary visitors and admits approximately 1 million immigrants to live as lawful residents yearly (Fullerton, 2014 ), this demographic pattern means that nearly one-third of the population (102 million) comes from different cultural backgrounds, and therefore, the present review will incorporate culture as an important mediator for coparenting, so that future research can be performed to find specific techniques and training practices that are more suitable for cross-cultural contexts.

Family: Theoretical Perspectives

Even though the concept of family can be interpreted individually and differently in different cultures, there are also some commonalities, along with communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members disregarding cultural differences. This section will provide a brief overview of the conceptualization of family through the family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory, with a special focus on the interparental relationship.

Family Communication Patterns Theory

One of the most relevant approaches to address the myriad of communication issues within families is the family communication patterns (FCP) theory. Originally developed by McLeod and Chaffee ( 1973 ), this theory aims to understand families’ tendencies to create stable and predictable communication patterns in terms of both relational cognition and interpersonal behavior (Braithwaite & Baxter, 2005 ). Specifically, this theory focuses on the unique and amalgamated associations derived from interparental communication and its impact on parenting quality to determine FCPs and the remaining interactions (Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

To illustrate FCP’s focus on parental communication, Schrodt, Witt, and Shimkowski ( 2014 ) conducted a meta-analysis of 74 studies (N = 14,255) to examine the associations between the demand/withdraw family communication patterns of interaction, and the subsequent individual, relational, and communicative outcomes. The cumulative evidence suggests that wife demand/husband withdraw and husband demand/wife withdraw show similar moderate correlations with communicative and psychological well-being outcomes, and even higher when both patterns are taken together (at the relational level). This is important because one of the main tenets of FCP is that familial relationships are drawn on the pursuit of coorientation among members. Coorientation refers to the cognitive process of two or more individuals focusing on and assessing the same object in the same material and social context, which leads to a number of cognitions as the number of people involved, which results in different levels of agreement, accuracy, and congruence (for a review, see Fitzpatrick & Koerner, 2005 ); for example, in dyads that are aware of their shared focus, two different cognitions of the same issue will result.

Hereafter, the way in which these cognitions are socialized through power dynamics determined socially and culturally by roles constitutes specific interdependent communication patterns among family members. For example, Koerner and Fitzpatrick ( 2006 ) provide a taxonomy of family types on the basis of coorientation and its impact on communication pattern in terms of the degree of conformity in those conversational tendencies. To wit, consensual families mostly agree for the sake of the hierarchy within a given family and to explore new points of view; pluralistic families allow members to participate equally in conversations and there is no pressure to control or make children’s decisions; protective families maintain the hierarchy by making decisions for the sake of achieving common family goals; and laissez-faire families, which are low in conversation and conformity orientation, allow family members to not get deeply involved in the family.

The analysis of family communication patterns is quintessential for family communication scholarly work because it influences forming an individual’s self concept in the long run. As a case in point, Young and Schrodt ( 2016 ) surveyed 181 young adults from intact families, where conditional and interaction effects between communication patterns and conformity orientation were observed as the main predictors of future romantic partners. Moreover, this study concluded that FCPs and interparental confirmation are substantial indicators of self-to-partner confirmation, after controlling for reciprocity of confirmation within the romantic relationship. As a consequence, FCP influences children’s and young adults’ perceptions of romantic behavior (e.g., Fowler, Pearson, & Beck, 2010 ); the quality of communication behavior, such as the degree of acceptation of verbal aggression in romantic dyads (e.g., Aloia & Solomon, 2013 ); gender roles; and conflict styles (e.g., Taylor & Segrin, 2010 ), and parental modeling (e.g., Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

This suggests three important observations. First, family is a very complex interpersonal context, in which communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members interact as subsystems (see Galvin et al., 2004 ; Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Second, among those subsystems, the core interaction is the individuals who hold parenting roles (i.e., intact and post divorced families); the couple (disregarding particular sexual orientations), and, parenting roles have a reciprocal relationship over time (Le, McDaniel, Leavitt, & Feinberg, 2016 ). Communication between parenting partners is crucial for the development of their entire family; for example, Schrodt and Shimkowski ( 2013 ) conducted a survey with 493 young adult children from intact (N = 364) and divorced families (N = 129) about perceptions of interparental conflict that involves triangulation (the impression of being in the “middle” and feeling forced to display loyalty to one of the parents). Results suggest that supportive coparental communication positively predicts relational satisfaction with mothers and fathers, as well as mental health; on the other hand, antagonist and hostile coparental communication predicted negative marital satisfaction.

Consequently, “partners’ communication with one another will have a positive effect on their overall view of their marriage, . . . and directly result[ing in] their views of marital satisfaction” (Knapp & Daly, 2002 , p. 643). Le et al. ( 2016 ) conducted a longitudinal study to evaluate the reciprocal relationship between marital interaction and coparenting from the perspective of both parents in terms of support or undermining across the transition to parenthood from a dyadic perspective; 164 cohabiting heterosexual couples expecting their first child were analyzed from pregnancy until 36 months after birth. Both parents’ interdependence was examined in terms of three variables: gender difference analysis, stability over time in marriage and coparenting, and reciprocal associations between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining. The findings suggest a long-term reciprocal association between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining in heterosexual families; the quality of marriage relationship during prenatal stage is highly influential in coparenting after birth for both men and women; but, coparenting is connected to romantic relationship quality only for women.

Moreover, the positive association between coparenting and the parents’ relationship relates to the spillover hypothesis, which posits that the positive or negative factors in the parental subsystem are significantly associated with higher or lower marital satisfaction in the spousal subsystem, respectively. Ergo, overall parenting performance is substantially affected by the quality of marital communication patterns.

Dyadic Power

In addition, after analyzing the impact of marital interaction quality in families on marital satisfaction and future parental modeling, it is worth noting that marital satisfaction and coparenting are importantly mediated by power dynamics within the couple (Halstead, De Santis, & Williams, 2016 ), and even mediates marital commitment (e.g., Lennon, Stewart, & Ledermann, 2013 ). If the quality of interpersonal relationship between those individuals who hold parenting roles determines coparenting quality as well, then the reason for this association lies on the fact that virtually all intimate relationships are substantially characterized by power dynamics; when partners perceive more rewards than costs in the relationship, they will be more satisfied and significantly more committed to the relationship (Lennon et al., 2013 ). As a result, the inclusion of power dynamics in the analysis of family issues becomes quintessential.

For the theory of dyadic power, power in its basic sense includes dominance, control, and influence over others, as well as a means to meet survival needs. When power is integrated into dyadic intimate relationships, it generates asymmetries in terms of interdependence between partners due to the quality of alternatives provided by individual characteristics such as socioeconomic status and cultural characteristics such as gender roles. This virtually gives more power to men than women. Power refers to “the feeling derived from the ability to dominate, or control, the behavior, affect, and cognitions of another person[;] in consequence, this concept within the interparental relationship is enacted when one partner who controls resources and limiting the behavioral options of the other partner” (Lennon et al., 2013 , p. 97). Ergo, this theory examines power in terms of interdependence between members of the relationship: the partner who is more dependent on the other has less power in the relationship, which, of course, directly impact parenting decisions.

As a case in point, Worley and Samp ( 2016 ) examined the balance of decision-making power in the relationship, complaint avoidance, and complaint-related appraisals in 175 heterosexual couples. Findings suggest that decision-making power has a curvilinear association, in which individuals engaged in the least complaint avoidance when they were relatively equal to their partners in terms of power. In other words, perceptions of one another’s power potentially encourage communication efficacy in the interparental couple.

The analysis of power in intimate relationships, and, to be specific, between parents is crucial because it not only relates to marital satisfaction and commitment, but it also it affects parents’ dyadic coping for children. In fact, Zemp, Bodenmann, Backes, Sutter-Stickel, and Revenson ( 2016 ) investigated parents’ dyadic coping as a predictor of children’s internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior in three independent studies. When there is a positive relationship among all three factors, the results indicated that the strongest correlation was the first one. Again, the quality of the marital and parental relationships has the strongest influence on children’s coping skills and future well-being.

From the overview of the two previous theories on family, it is worth addressing two important aspects. First, parenting requires an intensive great deal of hands-on physical care, attention to safety (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ), and interpretation of cues, and this is why parenting, from conception to when children enter adulthood, is a tremendous social, cultural, and legally prescribed role directed toward caregiving and endlessly attending to individuals’ social, physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive development (Johnson et al., 2013 ). And while parents are making decisions about what they consider is best for all family members, power dynamics play a crucial role in marital satisfaction, commitment, parental modeling, and overall interparental communication efficacy in the case of postdivorce families. Therefore, the likelihood of conflict is latent within familial interactions while making decisions; indeed, situations in which family members agree on norms as a consensus is rare (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ).

In addition to the interparental and marital power dynamics that delineates family communication patterns, the familial interaction is distinctive from other types of social relationships in the unequaled role of emotions and communication of affection while family members interact and make decisions for the sake of all members. For example, Ritchie and Fitzpatrick ( 1990 ) provided evidence that fathers tended to perceive that all other family members agree with his decisions or ideas. Even when mothers confronted and disagreed with the fathers about the fathers’ decisions or ideas, the men were more likely to believe that their children agreed with him. When the children were interviewed without their parents, however, the majority of children agreed with the mothers rather than the fathers (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ). Subsequently, conflict is highly present in families; however, in general, the presence of conflict is not problematic per se. Rather, it is the ability to manage and recover from it and that could be problematic (Floyd, 2014 ).

One of the reasons for the role of emotions in interpersonal conflicts is explained by the Emotion-in-Relationships Model (ERM). This model states that feelings of bliss, satisfaction, and relaxation often go unnoticed due to the nature of the emotions, whereas “hot” emotions, such as anger and contempt, come to the forefront when directed at a member of an interpersonal relationship (Fletcher & Clark, 2002 ). This type of psychophysical response usually happens perhaps due to the different biophysical reactive response of the body compared to its reaction to positive ones (Floyd, 2014 ). There are two dimensions that define conflict. Conflict leads to the elicitation of emotions, but sometimes the opposite occurs: emotions lead to conflict. The misunderstanding or misinterpretation of emotions among members of a family can be a source of conflict, as well as a number of other issues, including personality differences, past history, substance abuse, mental or physical health problems, monetary issues, children, intimate partner violence, domestic rape, or maybe just general frustration due to recent events (Sabourin, Infante, & Rudd, 1990 ). In order to have a common understanding of this concept for the familial context in particular, conflict refers to as “any incompatibility that can be expressed by people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 6). Thus, the concept of conflict goes hand in hand with coparenting.

There is a myriad of everyday family activities in which parents need to decide the best way to do them: sometimes they are minor, such as eating, watching TV, or sleeping schedules; others are more complicated, such as schooling. Certainly, while socializing and making these decisions, parents may agree or not, and these everyday situations may lead to conflict. Whether or not parents live together, it has been shown that “the extent to which children experience their parents as partners or opponents in parenting is related to children’s adjustment and well-being” (Gable & Sharp, 2016 , p. 1), because the ontology of parenting is materialized through socialization of values about every aspect and duty among all family members, especially children, to perpetuate a given society.

As the findings provided in this article show, the study of family communication issues is pivotal because the way in which those issues are solved within families will be copied by children as their values. Values are abstract ideas that delineate behavior toward the evaluation of people and events and vary in terms of importance across individuals, but also among cultures. In other words, their future parenting (i.e., parenting modeling) of children will replicate those same strategies for conflict solving for good or bad, depending on whether parents were supportive between each other. Thus, socialization defines the size and scope of coparenting.

The familial socialization of values encompasses the distinction between parents’ personal execution of those social appraisals and the values that parents want their children to adopt, and both are different things; nonetheless, familial socialization does not take place in only one direction, from parents to children. Benish-Weisman, Levy, and Knafo ( 2013 ) investigated the differentiation process—or, in other words, the distinction between parents’ own personal values and their socialization values and the contribution of children’s values to their parents’ socialization values. In this study, in which 603 Israeli adolescents and their parents participated, the findings suggest that parents differentiate between their personal values and their socialization values, and adolescents’ values have a specific contribution to their parents’ socialization values. As a result, socialization is not a unidirectional process affected by parents alone, it is an outcome of the reciprocal interaction between parents and their adolescent children, and the given importance of a given value is mediated by parents and their culture individually (Johnson et al., 2013 ). However, taking power dynamics into account does not mean that adolescents share the same level of decision-making power in the family; thus, socialization take place in both directions, but mostly from parents to children. Finally, it is worth noticing that the socialization of values in coparenting falls under the cultural umbrella. The next section pays a special attention to the role of culture in family communication.

The Role of Culture in Parenting Socialization of Values

There are many individual perceived realities and behaviors in the familial setting that may lead to conflict among members, but all of them achieve a common interpretation through culture; indeed, “all family conflict processes by broad cultural factors” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 46). Subsequently, the goal of this section is to provide an overview of the perceived realities and behaviors that exist in family relationships with different cultural backgrounds. How should one approach the array of cultural values influencing parental communication patterns?

An interesting way of immersing on the role of culture in family communication patterns and its further socialization of values is explored by Schwartz ( 1992 ). The author developed a value system composed of 10 values operationalized as motivational goals for modern society: (a) self-direction (independence of thought and action); (b) stimulation (excitement, challenge, and novelty); (c) hedonism (pleasure or sensuous gratification); (d) achievement (personal success according to social standards); (e) power (social status, dominance over people and resources); (f) conformity (restraint of actions that may harm others or violate social expectations); (g) tradition (respect and commitment to cultural or religious customs and ideas); (h) benevolence (preserving and enhancing the welfare of people to whom one is close); (i) universalism (understanding, tolerance, and concern for the welfare of all people and nature); and (j) security (safety and stability of society, relationships, and self).

Later, Schwartz and Rubel ( 2005 ) applied this value structure, finding it to be commonly shared among over 65 countries. Nevertheless, these values are enacted in different ways by societies and genders about the extent to which men attribute more relevance to values of power, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, and self-direction, and the opposite was found for benevolence and universalism and less consistently for security. Also, it was found that all sex differences were culturally moderated, suggesting that cultural background needs to be considered in the analysis of coparental communication when socializing those values.

Even though Schwartz’s work was more focused on individuals and societies, it is a powerful model for the analysis of the role of culture on family communication and parenting scholarships. Indeed, Schwartz et al. ( 2013 ) conducted a longitudinal study with a sample of 266 Hispanic adolescents (14 years old) and their parents that looked at measures of acculturation, family functioning, and adolescent conduct problems, substance use, and sexual behavior at five time points. Results suggest that higher levels of acculturation in adolescents were linked to poorer family functioning; however, overall assimilation negatively predicted adolescent cigarette smoking, sexual activity, and unprotected sex. The authors emphasize the role of culture, and acculturation patterns in particular, in understanding the mediating role of family functioning and culture.

Ergo, it is crucial to address the ways in which culture affects family functioning. On top of this idea, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) observed that Western cultures such as in the United States and European countries are oriented toward autonomy, favoring individual achievement, self-reliance, and self-assertiveness. Thus, coparenting in more autonomous countries will socialize to children the idea that achievement in life is an outcome of independence, resulting in coparenting communication behaviors that favor verbal praise and feedback over physical contact. As opposed to autonomy-oriented cultures, other societies, such as Asian, African, and Latin American countries, emphasize interdependence over autonomy; thus, parenting in these cultures promotes collective achievement, sharing, and collaboration as the core values.

These cultural orientations can be observed in parents’ definitions of school readiness and educational success; for Western parents, examples include skills such as counting, recognizing letters, or independently completing tasks such as coloring pictures, whereas for more interdependent cultures, the development of obedience, respect for authority, and appropriate social skills are the skills that parents are expecting their children to develop to evaluate school readiness. As a matter of fact, Callaghan et al. ( 2011 ) conducted a series of eight studies to evaluate the impact of culture on the social-cognitive skills of one- to three-year-old children in three diverse cultural settings such as Canada, Peru, and India. The results showed that children’s acquisition of specific cognitive skills is moderated by specific learning experiences in a specific context: while Canadian children were understanding the performance of both pretense and pictorial symbols skillfully between 2.5 and 3.0 years of age, on average, Peruvian and Indian children mastered those skills more than a year later. Notwithstanding, this finding does not suggest any kind of cultural superiority; language barriers and limitations derived from translation itself may influence meanings, affecting the results (Sotomayor-Peterson, De Baca, Figueredo, & Smith-Castro, 2013 ). Therefore, in line with the findings of Schutz ( 1970 ), Geertz ( 1973 ), Grusec ( 2002 ), Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ), and Johnson et al. ( 2013 ), cultural values provide important leverage for understanding family functioning in terms of parental decision-making and conflict, which also has a substantial impact on children’s cognitive development.

Subsequently, cultural sensitivity to the analysis of the familial system in this country needs to be specially included because cultural differences are part of the array of familial conflicts that may arise, and children experience real consequences from the quality of these interactions. Therefore, parenting, which is already arduous in itself, and overall family functioning significantly become troublesome when parents with different cultural backgrounds aim to socialize values and perform parenting tasks. The following section provides an account of these cross-cultural families.

Intercultural Families: Adding Cultural Differences to Interparental Communication

For a country such as the United States, with 102 million people from many different cultural backgrounds, the presence of cross-cultural families is on the rise, as is the likelihood of intermarriage between immigrants and natives. With this cultural diversity, the two most prominent groups are Hispanics and Asians, particular cases of which will be discussed next. Besides the fact that parenting itself is a very complex and difficult task, certainly the biggest conflict consists of making decisions about the best way to raise children in terms of their values with regard to which ethnic identity better enacts the values that parents believe their children should embrace. As a result, interracial couples might confront many conflicts and challenges due to cultural differences affecting marital satisfaction and coparenting.

Assimilation , the degree to which a person from a different cultural background has adapted to the culture of the hostage society, is an important phenomenon in intermarriage. Assimilationists observe that children from families in which one of the parents is from the majority group and the other one from the minority do not automatically follow the parent from the majority group (Cohen, 1988 ). Indeed, they follow their mothers more, whichever group she belongs to, because of mothers are more prevalent among people with higher socioeconomic status (Gordon, 1964 ; Portes, 1984 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

In an interracial marriage, the structural and interpersonal barriers inhibiting the interaction between two parents will be reduced significantly if parents develop a noncompeting way to communicate and solve conflicts, which means that both of them might give up part of their culture or ethnic identity to reach consensus. Otherwise, the ethnic identity of children who come from interracial marriages will become more and more obscure (Saenz, Hwang, Aguirre, & Anderson, 1995 ). Surely, parents’ noncompeting cultural communication patterns are fundamental for children’s development of ethnic identity. Biracial children develop feelings of being outsiders, and then parenting becomes crucial to developing their strong self-esteem (Ward, 2006 ). Indeed, Gordon ( 1964 ) found that children from cross-racial or cross-ethnic marriages are at risk of developing psychological problems. In another example, Jognson and Nagoshi ( 1986 ) studied children who come from mixed marriages in Hawaii and found that the problems of cultural identification, conflicting demands in the family, and of being marginal in either culture still exist (Mann & Waldron, 1977 ). It is hard for those mixed-racial children to completely develop the ethnic identity of either the majority group or the minority group.

The question of how children could maintain their minority ethnic identity is essential to the development of ethnic identity as a whole. For children from interracial marriage, the challenge to maintain their minority ethnic identity will be greater than for the majority ethnic identity (Waters, 1990 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ) because the minority-group spouse is more likely to have greater ethnic consciousness than the majority-group spouse (Ellman, 1987 ). Usually, the majority group is more influential than the minority group on a child’s ethnic identity, but if the minority parent’s ethnicity does not significantly decline, the child’s ethnic identity could still reflect some characteristics of the minority parent. If parents want their children to maintain the minority group’s identity, letting the children learn the language of the minority group might be a good way to achieve this. By learning the language, children form a better understanding of that culture and perhaps are more likely to accept the ethnic identity that the language represents (Xin & Sandel, 2015 ).

In addition to language socialization as a way to contribute to children’s identity in biracial families, Jane and Bochner ( 2009 ) indicated that family rituals and stories could be important in performing and transforming identity. Families create and re-create their identities through various kinds of narrative, in which family stories and rituals are significant. Festivals and rituals are different from culture to culture, and each culture has its own. Therefore, exposing children to the language, rituals, and festivals of another culture also could be helpful to form their ethnic identity, in order to counter problems of self-esteem derived from the feeling of being an outsider.

To conclude this section, the parenting dilemma in intercultural marriages consists of deciding which culture they want their children to be exposed to and what kind of heritage they want to pass to children. The following section will provide two examples of intercultural marriages in the context of American society without implying that there are no other insightful cultures that deserve analysis, but the focus on Asian-American and Hispanics families reflects the available literature (Canary & Canary, 2013 ) and its demographic representativeness in this particular context. In addition, in order to acknowledge that minorities within this larger cultural background deserve more attention due to overemphasis on larger cultures in scholarship, such as Chinese or Japanese cultures, the Thai family will provide insights into understanding the role of culture in parenting and its impact on the remaining familial interaction, putting all theories already discussed in context. Moreover, the Hispanic family will also be taken in account because of its internal pan-ethnicity variety.

An Example of Intercultural Parenting: The Thai Family

The Thai family, also known as Krob Krua, may consist of parents, children, paternal and maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, grandchildren, in-laws, and any others who share the same home. Thai marriages usually are traditional, in which the male is the authority figure and breadwinner and the wife is in charge of domestic items and the homemaker. It has been noted that Thai mothers tend to be the major caregivers and caretakers in the family rather than fathers (Tulananda, Young, & Roopnarine, 1994 ). On the other hand, it has been shown that Thai mothers also tend to spoil their children with such things as food and comfort; Tulananda et al. ( 1994 ) studied the differences between American and Thai fathers’ involvement with their preschool children and found that American fathers reported being significantly more involved with their children than Thai fathers. Specifically, the fathers differed in the amount of socialization and childcare; Thai fathers reported that they obtained more external support from other family members than American fathers; also, Thai fathers were more likely to obtain support for assisting with daughters than sons.

Furthermore, with regard to the family context, Tulananda and Roopnarine ( 2001 ) noted that over the years, some attention has been focused on the cultural differences among parent-child behaviors and interactions; hereafter, the authors believed that it is important to look at cultural parent-child interactions because that can help others understand children’s capacity to socialize and deal with life’s challenges. As a matter of fact, the authors also noted that Thai families tend to raise their children in accordance with Buddhist beliefs. It is customary for young Thai married couples to live with either the wife’s parents (uxorilocal) or the husband’s parents (virilocal) before living on their own (Tulananda & Roopnarine, 2001 ). The process of developing ethnicity could be complicated. Many factors might influence the process, such as which parent is from the minority culture and the cultural community, as explained in the previous section of this article.

This suggests that there is a difference in the way that Thai and American fathers communicate with their daughters. As a case in point, Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ) examined the relationship maintenance behaviors within father-daughter relationships in Thailand and the United States. Participants included 134 American father-daughter dyads and 154 Thai father-daughter dyads. The findings suggest that when quality of communication was included in this relationship, both types of families benefit from this family communication pattern, resulting in better conflict management and advice relationship maintenance behaviors. However, differences were found: American fathers are more likely than American daughters to employ relationship maintenance behaviors; in addition, American fathers are more likely than Thai fathers to use relationship maintenance strategies.

As a consequence, knowing the process of ethnic identity development could provide parents with different ways to form children’s ethnic identity. More specifically, McCann, Ota, Giles, and Caraker ( 2003 ), and Canary and Canary ( 2013 ) noted that Southeast Asian cultures have been overlooked in communication studies research; these countries differ in their religious, political, and philosophical thoughts, with a variety of collectivistic views and religious ideals (e.g., Buddhism, Taoism, Islam), whereas the United States is mainly Christian and consists of individualistic values.

The Case of Hispanic/Latino Families in the United States

There is a need for including Hispanic/Latino families in the United States because of the demographic representativeness and trends of the ethnicity: in 2016 , Hispanics represent nearly 17% of the total U.S. population, becoming the largest minority group. There are more than 53 million Hispanics and Latinos in the United States; in addition, over 93% of young Hispanics and Latinos under the age of 18 hold U.S. citizenship, and more than 73,000 of these people turn 18 every month (Barreto & Segura, 2014 ). Furthermore, the current Hispanic and Latino population is spread evenly between foreign-born and U.S.-born individuals, but the foreign-born population is now growing faster than the number of Hispanic children born in the country (Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ). This demographic trend is projected to reach one-third of the U.S. total population by 2060 ; therefore, with the growth of other minority populations in the country, the phenomenon of multiracial marriage and biracial children is increasing as well.

Therefore, family communication scholarship has an increasing necessity to include cultural particularities in the analysis of the familial system; in addition to the cultural aspects already explained in this article, this section addresses the influence of familism in Hispanic and Latino familial interactions, as well as how immigration status moderates the internal interactions, reflected in levels of acculturation, that affect these families negatively.

With the higher marriage and birth rates among Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States compared to non-Latino Whites and African American populations, the Hispanic familial system is perhaps the most stereotyped as being familistic (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). This family trait consists of the fact that Hispanics place a very high value on marriage and childbearing, on the basis of a profound commitment to give support to members of the extended family as well. This can be evinced in the prevalence of extended-kind shared households in Hispanic and Latino families, and Hispanic children are more likely to live in extended-family households than non-Latino Whites or blacks (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). Living in extended-family households, most likely with grandparents, may have positive influences on Hispanic and Latino children, such as greater attention and interaction with loving through consistent caregiving; grandparents may help by engaging with children in academic-oriented activities, which then affects positively cognitive educational outcomes.

However, familism is not the panacea for all familial issues for several reasons. First, living in an extended-family household requires living arrangements that consider adults’ needs more than children’s. Second, the configuration of Hispanic and Latino households is moderated by any immigration issues with all members of the extended family, and this may cause problems for children (Menjívar, 2000 ). The immigration status of each individual member may produce a constant state of flux, whereas circumstances change to adjust to economic opportunities, which in turn are limited by immigration laws, and it gets even worse when one of the parents isn’t even present in the children’s home, but rather live in their home country (Van Hook & Glick, 2006 ). Although Hispanic and Latino children are more likely to live with married parents and extended relatives, familism is highly affected by the immigration status of each member.

On the other hand, there has been research to address the paramount role of communication disregarding the mediating factor of cultural diversity. For example, Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ) performed a cross-cultural comparison of the association between coparenting or shared parental effort and family climate among families from Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica. The overall findings suggest what was explained earlier in this article: more shared parenting predicts better marital interaction and family climate overall.

In addition, parenting quality has been found to have a positive relationship with children’s developmental outcomes. In fact, Sotomayor-Peterson, Figueredo, Christensen, and Taylor ( 2012 ) conducted a study with 61 low-income Mexican American couples, with at least one child between three and four years of age, recruited from a home-based Head Start program. The main goal of this study was to observe the extent that shared parenting incorporates cultural values and income predicts family climate. The findings suggest that the role of cultural values such as familism, in which family solidarity and avoidance of confrontation are paramount, delineate shared parenting by Mexican American couples.

Cultural adaptation also has a substantial impact on marital satisfaction and children’s cognitive stimulation. Indeed, Sotomayor-Peterson, Wilhelm, and Card ( 2011 ) investigated the relationship between marital relationship quality and subsequent cognitive stimulation practices toward their infants in terms of the actor and partner effects of White and Hispanic parents. The results indicate an interesting relationship between the level of acculturation and marital relationship quality and a positive cognitive stimulation of infants; specifically, marital happiness is associated with increased cognitive stimulation by White and high-acculturated Hispanic fathers. Nevertheless, a major limitation of Hispanic acculturation literature has been seen, reflecting a reliance on cross-sectional studies where acculturation was scholarly operationalized more as an individual difference variable than as a longitudinal adaptation over time (Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

Culture and Family Communication: the “so what?” Question

This article has presented an entangled overview of family communication patterns, dyadic power, family systems, and conflict theories to establish that coparenting quality plays a paramount role. The main commonality among those theories pays special attention to interparental interaction quality, regardless of the type of family (i.e., intact, postdivorce, same-sex, etc.) and cultural background. After reviewing these theories, it was observed that the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial context because it affects children from their earlier cognitive development to subsequent parental modeling in terms of gender roles. Thus, in keeping with Canary and Canary ( 2013 ), no matter what approach may be taken to the analysis of family communication issues, the hypothesis that a positive emotional climate within the family is fostered only when couples practice a sufficient level of shared parenting and quality of communication is supported.

Nevertheless, this argument does not suggest that the role of culture in the familial interactions should be undersold. While including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, in the second section of this article, the text also provides specific values of different countries that are enacted and socialized differently across cultural contexts to address the role of acculturation in the familial atmosphere, the quality of interactions, and individual outcomes. As a case in point, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) provided an interesting way of seeing how cultures differ in their ways of enacting parenting, clarifying that the role of culture in parenting is not a superficial or relativistic element.

In addition, by acknowledging the perhaps excessive attention to larger Asian cultural backgrounds (such as Chinese or Japanese cultures) by other scholars (i.e., Canary & Canary, 2013 ), an insightful analysis of the Thai American family within the father-daughter relationship was provided to exemplify, through the work of Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ), how specific family communication patterns, such as maintenance relationship communication behaviors, affect the quality of familial relationships. Moreover, a second, special focus was put on Hispanic families because of the demographic trends of the United States, and it was found that familism constitutes a distinctive aspect of these families.

In other words, the third section of this article provided these two examples of intercultural families to observe specific ways that culture mediates the familial system. Because one of the main goals of the present article was to demonstrate the mediating role of culture as an important consideration for family communication issues in the United States, the assimilationist approach was taken into account; thus, the two intercultural family examples discussed here correspond to an assimilationist nature rather than using an intergroup approach.

This decision was made without intending to diminish the value of other cultures or ethnic groups in the country, but an extensive revision of all types of intercultural families is beyond the scope of this article. Second, the assimilationist approach forces one to consider cultures that are in the process of adapting to a new hosting culture, and the Thai and Hispanic families in the United States comply with this theoretical requisite. For example, Whites recognize African Americans as being as American as Whites (i.e., Dovidio, Gluszek, John, Ditlmann, & Lagunes, 2010 ), whereas they associate Hispanics and Latinos with illegal immigration in the United States (Stewart et al., 2011 ), which has been enhanced by the U.S. media repeatedly since 1994 (Valentino et al., 2013 ), and it is still happening (Dixon, 2015 ). In this scenario, “ask yourself what would happen to your own personality if you heard it said over and over again that you were lazy, a simple child of nature, expected to steal, and had inferior blood? . . . One’s reputation, whether false or true, cannot be hammered, hammered, hammered, into one’s head without doing something to one’s character” (Allport, 1979 , p. 142, cited in Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ).

As a consequence, on this cultural canvas, it should not be surprising that Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) found that second-generation Hispanics are increasingly likely to marry foreign-born Hispanics and less likely to marry third-generation or later coethnics or Whites. In addition, this study suggests that third-generation Hispanics and later were more likely than in the past to marry non-Hispanic Whites; thus, the authors concluded that there has been a new retreat from intermarriage among the largest immigrant groups in the United States—Hispanics and Asians—in the last 20 years.

If we subscribe to the idea that cultural assimilation goes in only one direction—from the hegemonic culture to the minority culture—then the results of Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) should not be of scholarly concern; however, if we believe that cultural assimilation happens in both directions and intercultural families can benefit both the host and immigrant cultures (for a review, see Schwartz et al., 2013 ), then this is important to address in a country that just elected a president, Donald Trump, who featured statements racially lambasting and segregating minorities, denigrating women, and criticizing immigration as some of the main tenets of his campaign. Therefore, we hope that it is clear why special attention was given to the Thai and Hispanic families in this article, considering the impact of culture on the familial system, marital satisfaction, parental communication, and children’s well-being. Even though individuals with Hispanic ancentry were in the United States even before it became a nation, Hispanic and Latino families are still trying to convince Americans of their right to be accepted in American culture and society.

With regard to the “So what?” question, assimilation is important to consider while analyzing the role of culture in family communication patterns, power dynamics, conflict, or the functioning of the overall family system in the context of the United States. This is because this country is among the most popular in the world in terms of immigration requests, and its demographics show that one out of three citizens comes from an ethnic background other than the hegemonic White culture. In sum, cultural awareness has become pivotal in the analysis of family communication issues in the United States. Furthermore, the present overview of family, communication, and culture ends up supporting the idea of positive associations being derived from the pivotal role of marriage relationship quality, such that coparenting and communication practices vary substantially within intercultural marriages moderated by gender roles.

Culture is a pivotal moderator of these associations, but this analysis needs to be tethered to societal structural level, in which cultural differences, family members’ immigration status, media content, and level of acculturation must be included in family research. This is because in intercultural marriages, in addition to the tremendous parenting role, they have to deal with cultural assimilation and discrimination, and this becomes important if we care about children’s cognitive development and the overall well-being of those who are not considered White. As this article shows, the quality of familial interactions has direct consequences on children’s developmental outcomes (for a review, see Callaghan et al., 2011 ).

Therefore, the structure and functioning of family has an important impact on public health at both physiological and psychological levels (Gage, Everett, & Bullock, 2006 ). At the physiological level, the familial interaction instigates expression and reception of strong feelings affecting tremendously on individuals’ physical health because it activates neuroendocrine responses that aid stress regulation, acting as a stress buffer and accelerating physiological recovery from elevated stress (Floyd & Afifi, 2012 ; Floyd, 2014 ). Robles, Shaffer, Malarkey, and Kiecolt-Glaser ( 2006 ) found that a combination of supportive communication, humor, and problem-solving behavior in husbands predicts their wives’ cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)—both physiological factors are considered as stress markers (see 2006 ). On the other hand, the psychology of individuals, the quality of family relationships has major repercussions on cognitive development, as reflected in educational attainment (Sohr-Preston et al., 2013 ), and highly mediated by cultural assimilation (Schwartz et al., 2013 ), which affects individuals through parenting modeling and socialization of values (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ).

Why Is Family Important? 9 Reasons It Benefits Us (and Society)

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Learn about our Editorial Policy .

Families are important to individuals for several key reasons. The definition of family seems to change with the times, but it usually includes a group of people related to each other and/or living together. Like many healthy social relationships, strong bonds with family members can have great benefits for society and individuals.

Why Are Families Important to Individuals?

Family support is important to individuals for various reasons, most of which are related to one's personal well-being. Family is crucial to people because it can benefit a person's physical, emotional, and mental health, and what it offers human beings can't be found anywhere else.

6 Reasons Family Communication Really Matters & Real-World Tips
6 Types of Family Structures Common in 2023
Understanding What Is Considered Immediate Family (and Why It Matters)

Family Improves Overall Well-Being for Individuals

Staying close to your family might actually benefit your health. A Harvard study looked at people's relationships, including those with family, and discovered that the individuals who valued family and friends and developed those ever-important bonds and connections experienced better health throughout their lives. Staying isolated can increase a person's chances of declining health in middle-age and later years.

Families Provide Personal Stress Relief

Family ties have been shown to provide stress relief by boosting self-esteem and lessening anxiety, especially for young people who have been exposed to violence. This strong bond can act as a protective shield and offers a sense of belonging in troubling times. Studies further illustrate that those people with strong family ties better develop mechanisms to help them better cope with the stresses that life throws their way.

Family Meals Contribute to Healthy Diets

The benefits of eating as a family are plenty, and one of those benefits is improved diets for family members. Across all ages, families who eat meals together have healthier diets that include eating breakfast, ample fruits and vegetables, and fewer processed foods. These healthy food choices create a foundation that lasts up to five years later for teens. Grandparents who eat alone are more likely to skip meals and eat foods with decreased nutritional values, so family meal-time is important in every generation.

Early Family Bonds Help Regulate Personal Emotions

Children who experience healthy family relationships at a young age show more control and regulation of their emotions when they're older, reports Sage Journals . People who have more control over regulating their emotions are self-aware and able to deal with feelings of any kind in appropriate and healthy ways.

Family Closeness Helps People Live Longer

In a long-term study , researchers found adults with no close relationships to family members other than a spouse were about twice as likely to die as adults with close family relationships. Results from the study also showed that many strong family ties were more beneficial than a few strong family relationships, and family bonds lengthened life more than friendship bonds. It seems there's something specifically special about family members that makes people feel supported and happy in a way no other person can.

Why Are Families Important to Society?

The importance of family in modern society is evident when you examine research about topics like crime, the economy, and social services. The important thing to remember is that family type isn't as important as the stability of the family unit.

Family Ties Help Regulate the Economy

Families who share strong bonds tend to prefer living situations where they can remain close in proximity. This contributes to more regulated jobs and wages because families who stay together want a job market with security and fair wages so they won't have to move away. Labor markets are often dictated at their core by the workforce in the area.

Bigger Families Mean More Economic Prosperity

Large families are major economic contributors . From insurance to Costco runs, clans packed with people are by nature big spenders. Furthermore, families with droves of kids are producing droves of future adults, which will be needed to sustain the economic balance as aging populations leave the workforce. Smaller families will result in smaller numbers of economically contributing adults, while the aging population continues to be large and in need of economic support, hence tipping the scales of economic balance.

Family Interactions Help Prevent Crime in Society

A recent review of research shows that prisoners who visit with family members have a 40 percent lower chance of becoming a repeat offender compared to those with no family visits. Unconditionally supportive relationships in great times of need or change can help people get through tough times. Those who have made bad choices and continue to receive emotional support from family maintain a sense of worth and have something in life to keep them motivated.

Family Values Influence Voting Behavior

You've heard that kids model the behavior of their parents, and modeling is one of the strongest tools parents have. But did you know that childhood family values can last long into adulthood? Political experts agree that families who take their kids to the polls and discuss why they vote with their kids likely contribute to voter turnout in the future. Kids who watched their parents vote in elections were more likely to view this act as a duty of their citizenship, regardless of their affiliated political party.

The Importance of Your Family

Healthy family bonds and relationships give people a sense of belonging and help keep everyone balanced in life. Whether you're writing an essay about why family is important. studying nuclear family pros and cons, or analyzing your own life, take a look at your family and think about all the ways they enhance your existence.

The Role of Family in the Process of Socialization Essay

Socialization is a fundamental process through which a family acquires cultural and personal identity. Each person undergoes natural, planned, negative, or positive socialization in his or her life, regardless of gender or age. A family is one of the agencies that introduce a child to aspects like culture, physical, and psychological identities or behaviours and environment, which are some of the major elements of socialization.

Commonly, there are three types of families, single parent, nuclear, and extended; each of the family may differently expose a child to the aspects of socialization. The main role of a family is to nurture, mould, and guide children in the society; therefore, a child who does not belong to any family may undergo a negative socialization process.

Since the adoption of the word society, different sociologists like Max Weber have come up with a number of social theories namely feminist theory, conflict theory, consensus theory, theory of ‘self’, concept of the human mind, looking glass-self theory, and symbolic theory among others. Therefore, according to sociologists, the dynamic environment and familial identity in correlation with the elements of socialization determine the social behaviour of an individual in both childhood and adulthood.

A family is a fundamental institution that assists an individual or child to develop into an acceptable member of the society. Although each parent in a family has a role in the upbringing of a child, in many cases, the mother initiates the socialization process in a child.

Besides giving the sense of belonging or identity, a family imparts culture, traditions, norms, social roles, and values into the child (Merton, 1957, p.10). The processes of listening, language learning, and respect to authority start at the family level. Furthermore, it is the role of the family to provide a decent living environment for the children.

All children are a product of their environment; thus, to impart positive social values in a child, parents should choose an environment free from any negative influence. Drug abuse, criminal activities, and immoral behaviours are some of the negative aspects an environment might impart in a growing child. Most children learn from their friends, peers, parents, neighbours, and schoolmates.

Therefore, parents should familiarize with the friends of their children to ensure that the children do not deviate from the conventional social behaviours through external forces. In the light of this revelation, it suffices to conclude that, a family is a social institution that ensures that a child conforms to the acceptable standards of the society. The societal attributes that a family instils in a child include personality, skills/knowledge, social stability/order, cultural transmission, life aspirations, and social discipline among others.

The elements of socialization that a family imparts into a child are three. The first aspect is the inheritance of physical features and the psychological well being of a child. Parents pass their physical features to their children while psychological satisfaction of a child occurs when he or she grows up (Herman & Reynolds, 1994, p.17).

If a child experiences traumatic events like violence, or rape, he or she undergoes psychological instability even in adulthood. Secondly, environment is a crucial element of socialization especially to young stars.

The home, school, or institution in which a child lives in, determine the moral conducts of the child. A child who undergoes physically torture at home may become a drug addict, abuse alcohol, and/or venture into criminal activities like robbery or even commit suicide (Homans, 1962, p.34). The final concept is the element of culture whereby, a family initiates a child into specific cultural attributes. Depending on the sexual identity, parents bestow different gender roles to their children.

Mothers guide girls/daughters on their roles as wives and future mothers while fathers teach boys/sons on their roles as future fathers. In addition, each family or community has different cultural practices like initiation, dress code, and other formalities, which a family passes to its children to ensure they fit in the immediate society. Thus, physical and psychological inheritance, environment, and culture are the key elements a family fosters into a child.

Although most families have similar ways of socialization, some aspects instilled in a child differ from one family to another. A child from a nuclear or single parent family may have limited interaction with other relatives or members of the society.

Each family ensures that its children learn and practice the prevalent culture; however, a child from a single parent family may only learn culture from one parent. Moreover, each parent/family has diverse ways of imparting social skills to children. While some parents are harsh and strict, others rely on dialogue to instil moral values in their children.

Some parents enrol their children into boarding schools, others restrict their children from interacting with relatives or other members of the extended families, others employee house helps to monitor their children, and others quit their jobs to raise their children. Therefore, the methodology adapted by families may differ, but eventually the norms, values, and morals instilled have a similar relationship in one way or another.

The different theories of sociology attempt to correlate social science with other disciplines. For instance, the functionalism theory relates sociology to other scientific phenomena like research and biological organisms among others to explore the society/sociology as a subject.

Fundamentally, each of the adapted sociological theories exclusively focuses on one subject or phenomenon. Therefore, if an individual reads the social theories concurrently, he or she will understand the concept of sociology. Thus, the socialization theory plays a role in effecting the adaptation of exemplary personality or social attributes like obedience and compelling individuals to conform to their societal practices.

Sociologists have adapted different sociological theories to try to explain the subject of sociology. Also referred to as the consensus theory, functionalist theory describes the integration of human beings in the society through the sharing of the common cultural practices (Layton, 1997, P.20). The functionalist theory defines socialization as a functional requisite that leads to a stable society through the establishment of permanent social norms.

According to Durkheim, many systems, both physical and scientific, interact to determine the social behaviour of an individual (Michener, 1999, p.50). The systems are usually independent of the social laws surrounding the individual. The balance or equilibrium between humans and the society maintains a stable society. Religion, culture, and tradition are some of the elements, which shape up the society.

The society establishes specific social control tactics, which conform to the desired values and practices. For instance, if an individual adapts unbecoming behaviour like sneering through condemnation from the people around him or her, s/he will learn to discard the behaviour. Therefore, in relation to family as a channel of socialization, the functionalist theory describes a family as a societal institution established to ensure that there is continuity of a stable society.

Adopted from the ideologies of Karl Max, conflict theory describes socialization as competition, in which human beings not only interact, but also disagree and fight to maintain power (Clause, 1968, p.5). Therefore, the tenacity to compete for wealth and power defines the society as an unequal environment where a person or group decides to dominate over the others. Hence, capitalism, oppression, class systems, and materialism are some of the permanent characteristics of the society.

According to Max, the political, social, and economic stability of the society is in line with the conflict theory (Westen, 2002, p.40). Through family as a socializing institution, an individual must fall in some of the aforementioned groups. A child from a ruling class family will fight to maintain the status quo in the society. The conflict theory gives a sense of belonging to the society especially during socialization.

The family, as a social environment, may change due to external and internal forces like conflicts, divorce, emigration, death, and other natural calamities like floods. Due to the above issues, a child may abruptly change his or her living environment, which may also change the course of his/her socialization process. Similarly, a child may lose a parent in early age leaving him or her in the care of stepparents, foster parents, and grandparents.

The unfortunate ones end up as street children. The new environment may neglect or expose the child to new social practices or impart negative social practices in them. Political instability is among the elements that may scatter a family, and consequently affect the transmission of social norms in children. Furthermore, some of the traumatic events may also divert or impart negative social values like hatred in children.

Gardener Murphy has developed the theory of ‘self’ as a fundamental aspect in socialization. According to Murphy, an individual or self is a reflection of the environment especially the people one interacts with in life (Mead, 1967, p.80). The theory of ‘looking-glass self’ describes an individual’s characters as the mirror of the society. Appearance, judgment, and self-feeling of an individual develop through social interaction with the society (Mead, 1967, p.75).

Similarly, George Herbert Meads’ theory of ‘self’ describes the relationship of parentage or family to social development of the child (Mead, 1967, p.60). Before a child adapts to the external environment, he or she will initially practice the behaviour of the parents (Westen, 2002, p.50). Through the family, a child learns that to develop her awareness he or she will have to interact with others in the society, thus, socialization. In connection with the family, the theory of self describes a family as a fundamental unit in socialization.

Although the family is the commonly known social environment, other social institutions like the state, school, and church play a vital role in building an individual’s personality. The diversity of a social environment determines the conduct of an individual in adulthood. A child who visits religious gatherings like churches, temples, and mosques will attentively listen and shape his or her moral conduct according to the sermons.

On the other hand, a parent who does not worship in any church will pass the similar attributes to their children or generations. Secondly, the state drafts and enacts laws that each citizen has to uphold. Different states/countries or societies have different laws, which the members have to live by, and a breach in any of the laws leads to a punishment.

Apart from family/home, the school imparts social attributes in children. Knowledge, skills, and aspirations are some of the virtues a child/individual picks from school. Sometimes, children may adapt the behavioural conducts of their teachers or instructors. Finally, while at school or home, children acquire playmates who sometimes determine their behaviour. A child or an individual will adapt the behavioural conduct of his/her peers; therefore, negative or positives social values may originate from playmates.

Depending on the surrounding environment, a child conforms to its social norms; similarly, a child will pick up a new behaviour if he or she changes the environment. Thus, it is the role of the society to ensure the social conduct of its environment is not only acceptable, but also safe for the future of an individual. A dynamic environment may confuse a child, which leads to psychological trauma. Therefore, parents should ensure their children stay in a stable environment.

In the contemporary world, the social norms or values are not only dynamic, but also acquired through other channels other than the family, school, or church. Globally, the technological development of computers and the Internet services has led to the adaptation of diverse ways of socialization.

Globalization promotes multiculturalism, interracial marriages, and other diverse social interactions (Goffman, 1961, p.10). Contemporarily, children learn both negative and positive social aspects through social sites like facebook, tweeter, and LinkedIn among others. Sadly, the current upward trend in globalization rarely instils positive values in the young stars.

Besides practicing unacceptable social behaviours like pornography, young people also disregard physical social interactions. Whether at school, home or in the public, children concentrate on their mobile phones, surfing the Internet or interacting with friends or strangers through the social sites. In addition, the young stars have the unfortunate chance to choose what is right or awry without the seasoned guidance of the adults.

In the same light, entertainment channels like television, cinemas, and music playing systems promote different social values into teenagers or individuals. The aforementioned systems are among the common environments that a child in the current society faces as he or she grows into adulthood. Unfortunately, with the fast changes in globalization, there is poor assimilation of children into the society.

Modern parents concentrate on careers and, as a result, they neglect their roles in parentage; therefore, they leave their children to learn vital social values from peers or immediate environment. Consequently, children end up adopting criminal behaviours while some may not even fit into the society. Therefore, the family, as the primary social institution, should integrate into the dynamic environment in the present worldwide; otherwise, the next generations may lack vital social norms.

In conclusion, a family is the principal unit in socialization. The family imparts cultural practices, determines the living environment, and the physical and psychological identity of the children. Socialization, as a subject, has led to the adoption of different sociological theories that have enabled the effective study of the subject.

Marxist, conflict, and consensus theories are among the common theories studied in sociology. Social institutions like family, schools, churches, and mosques also instil positive social practices in individuals. Finally, the dynamic environment and globalization have led to the adaptation of new social practices; unfortunately, some of these new socialization trends promote antisocial behaviours among the youths.

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Goffman, E. (1961). Encounters: Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction . London: Macmillan Publishing Co.

Herman, N. J., & Reynolds, L.T. (1994). Symbolic Interaction: An Introduction to Social Psychology . New York: Altamira Press.

Homans, G. C. (1962). Sentiments and Activities . New York: The Free Press Of Glencoe.

Layton, R. (1997). An Introduction to Theory in Anthropology . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mead, G. H. (1967 ). Mind, Self, & Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviourist . Chicago: University of Chicago press.

Merton, R. (1957). Social Theory and Social Structure revised and enlarged . London: The Free Press of Glencoe.

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Westen, D. (2002) Psychology: Brain, Behaviour & Culture . New York: Wiley & Sons.

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Bibliography

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Essay on Importance of Family for Students [Easy Words]

January 5, 2021 by Sandeep

Essay on Importance of Family: A family is the first learning environment of a child. Children learn the elementary virtues of respect, kindness and honesty by observing their family members. The first classes of moral education are learnt within a family. A family provides a safe and secure home to live cares for its members and supports each other in both good and bad times. Social relationships and a good character are built and nurtured within a family.

Essay on Importance of Family 200 Words in English

Family is termed as a group of people related by blood or ancestry. These people are connected not only by blood but by compassion, love, support, etc. They choose to embrace the pious bond that is so powerful and strong that not even a slightest test of trials can breach and break the relationship. Family is a social setting which teaches us the value of love, care, affection, self-confidence, honesty and trust.

It is a place where the sense of belongingness exists, and necessary tools and suggestions are received to succeed in life. The lessons of survival are drummed into the children through tough times and shouldering responsibilities on them. Family is the backbone of an individual to shape its character and personality. In every culture, norms and lifestyles evolve, but one aspect remains intact and does not differ: family’s importance.

Certain types of families exist in today’s generation. It can be further classified as a closed and extended family (nuclear, single parent step-family, grandparent, etc.). Family is of prime importance because it acts as a backbone for an individual, helping to become a human possessing moral, values and ethics. We as humans need protection and love no matter at what stage of life, we are.

Therefore, having someone we called family is significant and essential to remain sane and fight the odds in life. Lastly, in the words of Michael J. Fox, “Family is not an important thing. It is everything.” No matter what one can always rely and count on our family members.

10 Lines Essay on Importance of Family

A family is a social system comprising of parents and children.
It is the prime foundation of an individual’s character and personality.
Family introduces us to the world and instils values and ethics.
Having a family means we can count on someone to share our problems and happiness.
Since ancient times, the culture of Family existed and evolved, providing us with different types and categories.
A sacred bond is embraced by the members that build their core strong and sturdy.
Such a bond becomes indivisible and indelible in the world.
Family is the unit which teaches us about the culture, tradition and ancestry past.
Also, it is a social institution consisting of reproduction and socialisation.
It helps to maintain balance and peace in society.

The Importance of Traditional Family Values

This essay about traditional family values examines the core principles that have guided family dynamics across various cultures. It discusses the importance of the family unit, the roles within a family, respect for elders, and how these values are transmitted across generations. It highlights how traditional values like family unity, the sanctity of marriage, and filial responsibilities provide stability and structure. The essay also explores how these values have evolved in response to modern societal changes such as increased individualism and economic shifts, which challenge and reshape traditional roles and expectations. Despite these transformations, traditional family values continue to influence and provide a sense of continuity and moral guidance in contemporary society, adapting to new realities while maintaining their importance in fostering community and interpersonal relationships.

How it works

Conventional familial ethics frequently function as the ethical compass guiding the actions and judgments of individuals within the kinship collective. These ethics, ancestral legacies handed down through generations, wield substantial influence in configuring familial dynamics across diverse cultural milieus. They encompass a wide array of precepts, spanning deference toward elders, fealty to kin, and the paramountcy of familial solidarity. This treatise delves into the enduring import of conventional familial ethics, their manifestations in varied cultures, and their ramifications on contemporary society.

At the nucleus of conventional familial ethics resides the conviction in the sanctity and primacy of the kinship collective. This often entails placing robust emphasis on familial bonds as the preeminent wellspring of identity and succor. Across myriad societies, this ethos manifests in the convention of multigenerational households, wherein grandparents, parents, and offspring cohabit under one roof, mutually sharing duties and bolstering one another. This domestic arrangement not only underscores the valorization of kinship bonds but also facilitates the transmission of cultural legacy and ethics from one progeny to the succeeding.

Another pivotal facet of conventional familial ethics is the accentuation on matrimonial and parental roles. Matrimony is frequently envisaged as an enduring covenant that constitutes the bedrock of a family. Within this schema, roles are often meticulously demarcated, with each member contributing to the family’s welfare in distinctive capacities. For instance, in myriad traditional societies, the patriarch is typically expected to be the sustainer of the family’s financial well-being, while the matriarch is conventionally perceived as the principal nurturer. These roles engender stability and framework within the familial unit, notwithstanding their adaptation across cultures to harmonize with contemporary socioeconomic exigencies, including the burgeoning involvement of women in the labor force.

Deference toward elders constitutes yet another hallmark of conventional familial ethics. Elders are frequently venerated for their sagacity and lived experiences, assuming pivotal roles in familial decision-making processes. Across diverse cultural contexts, the caretaking of aged kin members is regarded as a solemn obligation, emblematic of moral rectitude. This veneration for the elderly fortifies values such as appreciation, veneration, and filial piety, integral to the cohesiveness and tenacity of the familial collective.

Nevertheless, the pertinence and applicability of conventional familial ethics have encountered mutation and contention in contemporary society. The ascent of individualism, metamorphosing economic paradigms, and the evolution of societal mores have all impugned the orthodox apprehension of these ethics. Numerous modern families now traverse a labyrinthine terrain wherein traditional roles and expectations intersect with contemporary aspirations and dilemmas. For instance, the equipoise between vocational ambitions and familial obligations frequently necessitates a redefinition of roles within the familial realm, provoking a more pliable and adaptable approach to conventional ethics.

Despite these metamorphoses, conventional familial ethics endure to wield substantial sway over myriad lives. They furnish a sense of continuity and linkage to one’s ancestry and are frequently extolled for nurturing resilience amidst adversities. Furthermore, these ethics can serve as a stabilizing impetus, furnishing counsel and a schema for existence that prioritizes interpersonal bonds and communal well-being over individual triumph.

In summation, notwithstanding the metamorphosis of familial existence in myriad respects, conventional familial ethics persist in exercising substantial influence in configuring familial modus operandi and interrelations. Whether these ethics persist in an unaltered state or adapt to assimilate novel societal actualities, their fundamental significance in engendering a sense of affiliation, obligation, and reciprocal esteem within the familial sphere is liable to endure as a pivotal facet of societal evolution. As families persist in their evolution, so too will the interpretation and amalgamation of these enduring ethics into quotidian existence, assuring their enduring relevance in an expeditiously changing milieu.

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The Importance of Family essay

The concept of family is always attributed to humans, regardless of race and ethnicity. For some, the term “family” means having a “mother, father, and siblings” who would take care of them through thick and thin. For others, a “family” is a group of friends whom they can share their life with. Regardless of who comprises the family, it is still connoted as people whom we can stand by no matter what happens. There are two types of family: the nuclear and the extended family. The nuclear family is comprised of the immediate members of the family, which included the mother, father and the children.

The extended family on the other hand, is comprised of the nuclear family with the their other relatives, such as the grandparents. In Asia, the extended family is often practiced for they have close family relations. Through the years, I have observed that the concept of family has changed. Long before, the parents and the children have this certain bond that stays until the children have their own families. Nowadays, independence is practiced, with the children leaving the house of their parents at the legal age of eighteen.

When this happens, they are forced to fend for themselves and become independent, living a life away from their families and the life they used to live. On the other hand, Asians still try to live with their families as long as they can. Sometimes, the child only lives their parents when he/she is getting married. Convalescent homes are not that popular in Asia either. When the parents get old and weak, they stay with one of their children so that they may be well taken care of. This is in contrast to the culture Americans have wherein majority of the elderly are confined in convalescent homes and being attended by care givers.

I personally believe that families are important to each and everyone of us. The concept of family has given us a sense of security, even during our developing years. If one can observe, children become attached to their family members at a young age. This is primarily because they know that no matter what happens to them, they may be well cared for and are safe from whatever harm that may come their way. Our household is not like any other household. I belong to an extended family, wherein I live with my immediate family and my grandparents. Sometimes, my cousins who visit from the other countries even come over and stay with us.

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Our family has very strong relations, and we are very much attached to each other. As a young child, I remember always seeing my family together. We would eat breakfast together, then meet at the dinner table for dinner. This is where we share our stories about what had transpired the whole day. We comfort each other during heartaches, and are proud at each member during achievements. After dinner, all of us have our own set of chores. One would wash the dishes, the other would clean the table, while my grandparents would go to the living room to relax.

Our family believes that the elderly should not be allowed to work in our house. Therefore, all they had to do was make the most out of their lives. Aside from the annual events celebrated by our family, we also have a weekly family bonding. We spend less for these activities for we believe that it is through the actual family bonding that we form an inseparable connection with each other. We go to the living room to talk, and watch movies on the DVD. Sometimes, we make fun of the other members of our family, as a sort of relaxation and as part of the fun. This also helps us to be more open to the members of the family.

Now that I am older, my concept of family has not changed. I still believe that a strongly knit family would help me become a better individual. From time to time, I leave our humble home to go out and live a life of my own. In the end, I still come back to spend time with my family. All of those years I spent with them always comes back to me, making me love them more dearly. When I have my own family, I know that I will still practice the culture and belief that my parents and our family line has practiced throughout these years. It is through a good family upbringing that we become better people in this world.

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How To Create Your Own Family Traditions—And Why You Should

Family rituals provide a sense of connectedness and belonging. Learn how these symbolic moments help families bond while creating lasting memories.

Why Family Traditions Are Important

Family routines vs. family traditions, non-holiday family traditions, family holiday traditions, how to keep family traditions going.

Family traditions or rituals are experiences or activities that are passed down between generations. These traditions can be as unique and special as the family itself. In addition to being something to look forward to, traditions also establish a foundation for family values and serve as special bonding experiences .

Traditions can provide families with a sense of identity and belonging. They can inspire positive feelings and memories that family members can share. Family traditions also provide a sense of continuity across generations. They are a way of transferring the family's values, history, and culture from one generation to the next. Learn more about the benefits of creating and keeping family rituals, including 33 family tradition ideas to try.

Paul Plews / Cultura / Getty Images

People create and maintain family traditions because they bring meaning to celebrations and foster special bonds. More importantly, traditions create positive experiences and memories and a sense of security for everyone by nurturing a family's connection and giving them a sense of belonging.

Family traditions also help children understand who they are and what is important to the family to which they belong. Traditions create a connection for children that comes from feeling like they are part of something unique and extraordinary. Family traditions can even contribute to a child's self-esteem and enhance their well-being. After all, children find comfort and security when things are predictable and consistent.

Benefits of Family Traditions

Make memories for families that last a lifetime
Provide children a sense of security by providing continuity
Give family members a strong sense of belonging
Help pass on family values including cultural and religious heritage
Keep generations connected and give them a family history to share
Can promote a physically active lifestyle

Family traditions differ from everyday family routines, which also occur repeatedly, but lack the symbolic meaning that family rituals hold. While family traditions carry a special significance for all family members involved, family routines are often basic activities that are necessary to keep the family unit functioning. A regular family dinner each weeknight may be part of the family routine, for example, whereas a family dinner at a favorite restaurant for your child's birthday may be a tradition.

Many families have traditions that endure for generations. These special activities or events often generate fond memories that everyone cherishes and attempts to carry on. Some traditions relate to the family's heritage, like going to a cultural festival or cooking a meal from the "old country" on a certain day each year.

Other rituals may have to do with special events, such as a pearl necklace that is passed down at each wedding. Still others are simply fun activities that family members enjoy repeating.

To create traditions for your family, think about things that your family enjoys doing and build upon those things. Keep in mind too, that family traditions sometimes form on their own. Some of the best family traditions happen by accident—you do something on a whim and the entire family loves it and wants to repeat it again. Before you know it, you have created a family tradition.

When most people think of family traditions, they naturally think of holiday traditions first, such as those surrounding Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hannukah, or Ramadan. Events surrounding these holidays, like picking out a Christmas tree, lighting the candles on the menorah or kinara, and gathering for dinner with extended family can become regular traditions.

But families can also have non-holiday rituals that are unique to them. Think: Apple picking every fall or letting the birthday child pick the restaurant for their birthday dinner.

Here are a few family traditions ideas that you can adapt for your family or use as inspiration:

Volunteer each spring in an annual community cleanup.
Cook hamburgers on the grill on Saturdays during the summer.
Take a silly family selfie during summer vacation each year.
Buy food for the local food pantry once a month and deliver it together.
Have a bonfire to celebrate the last day of school.
Picnic in a park on the first day of summer.
Serve in a local soup kitchen together once a month.
Go apple picking or visit a pumpkin patch each fall.
Do karaoke, laser tag, bowling, roller skating, or some other fun activity on a set day each month, such as the last Friday.
Take your kids for ice cream to celebrate every report card.
Have a particular food on a set day each week, such as brunch on Sunday, breakfast for dinner on Friday, or tacos on Tuesday.
Build a fire and make hot chocolate on the first day of winter.
Go on a maple syrup hike each winter.
Organize a family book club.
Take part in an annual fitness challenge as a family.
Go on a family walk or bike ride every Sunday afternoon.
Watch the sunrise together on the first day of summer and the sunset on the last day of summer break.
Plan a regular family game night and play cards or board games together.

Here are some holiday traditions to choose or adapt for your family.

Give everyone a new set of pajamas and take a family photo in your matching PJs.
Give each child a board game or puzzle and play the games or assemble the puzzles as a family.
Watch a favorite holiday movie each Thanksgiving.
Cook a meal together as a family on your family's special holiday.
Make fun and creative Leprechaun traps for St. Paddy's Day .
Get hot chocolate and watch a community tree-lighting ceremony.
Tour your community to look at the light displays on homes or businesses.
Make and decorate holiday-themed cookies.
Host a family or neighborhood cookie exchange.
Do holiday crafts together, such as for Thanksgiving , Hanukkah , Christmas , Easter , or Valentine's Day. Then use what you make to decorate your home or give as gifts.
Assemble care packages for family members who are away during the holidays.
Write heartfelt letters to family members you can't spend time with during the holidays.
Host a white elephant gift exchange.
Attend a holiday performance or concert each year, such as the "Nutcracker," the local symphony, or Trans Siberian Orchestra.
Get a new piece of holiday-related decor, like a Christmas ornament, each year, or make an ornament to commemorate the past year.

Establishing and maintaining family traditions is a way for families to bond over shared experiences and a way for them to connect to one another and their shared past. But keeping family traditions going takes some commitment and planning .

While most people look forward to the stability and predictability that comes with repeating the same activities each year, it also can be daunting if the family traditions are highly involved, overly expensive, or require a lot of planning.

Try to keep your family traditions simple. Think about playing games, sharing special recipes, going on a hike, seeing a performance, and so on. These simpler traditions are more likely to be repeated and carried on. Likewise, your traditions don't need to be expensive. There are plenty of ways for families to bond without spending a lot of (or any) money.

Be open to trying things out—and scrapping them if they don't work. You also don't need to repeat an activity over and over just because it's become a tradition. The goal of a family tradition is that everyone has fun and looks forward to repeating it year after year. Feel free to change things up and only keep the traditions your whole family loves.

Your Family Rituals . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2015.

Researching family practices in everyday life: Methodological reflections from two studies . Int J Soc Res Methodol . 2014.

Children's and Adolescents' Happiness and Family Functioning: A Systematic Literature Review . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2022.

Family environment and self-esteem development: A longitudinal study from age 10 to 16 . J Pers Soc Psychol . 2020.

The Role of Family Time Together in Meeting the Recommendation for Physical Activity among Primary School Children . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2020.

How could the transfer of food knowledge be passed down? . Procedia Soc Behav Sci . 2013.

The ties that bind: Materiality, identity, and the life course in the “things” families keep . J Fam Hist . 2018.

Research on the effects of family rituals on subjective well-being of Chinese college students . Curr Psychol . 2022.

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What Is The Importance Of Family In Modern Society?

Its definition may evolve, but family may remain essential

Benefits of a healthy family

Helps you meet your basic needs

Allows you to belong to something

Offers a built-in support system

Contributes to health

Provides support when someone is ill

Offers community benefits

Educates children

All families may struggle sometimes

Seeking help

Benefits of online therapy

Effectiveness of online therapy

What is the importance of family in our life?

What is the importance of family to a person?

What are 10 important aspects of family in your life?

Why are family relationships among the most important we will ever have?

What is the most important value in your relationship as a family?

What is important in life, family or love?

Is having a family the most important thing?

Why is family more important than happiness?

What is the importance of family unity?

What brings unity to the family?

5 Reasons Why Family Is Important

Families Meet Physical and Emotional Needs

Family Helps Model Good Values

Families Provide Protection

Families Advocate for Children’s Needs

Healthy Families Provide Guidance in All Areas of Life

Building Strong Families

Finding Happiness Through Family

7 Unusually Creative Ways to Celebrate Your Child’s…

The Importance of Family Experiences

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