The complexities of family diversity in the contemporary US

Abstract

This chapter shows that the US is not only unique among advanced nations in terms of being an increasingly racially and ethnically diverse society, but American families are characterized by a comparatively high degree of instability, a high proportion of reconstituted families, and high degree of diversity, including sex gender minority (SGM) and multicultural families. Fewer American couples expect permanence of their different-sex or same-sex relationships, and living alone or remaining single, living with friends or apart together, being unmarried mothers by choice or MAR, and families of choice have replaced the standard heteronormative family model as lifestyle options. In the face of changing realities, definitions and rights of family members have to become more flexible – including issues related to the number of legal parents, multilocality of living arrangements, marital status and sexual orientation of couples, legal employee benefits, family identity, and legal obligations.