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Functionalist Theory
Functionalist theory, also known as structural functionalism, commonly focuses on the roles and central tasks that family members should engage in. According to this theory, families with the proper structure were more likely to (1) be healthy, and (2) raise children ...
- Families, Family Life, Social Identities
- Birth Order
- Birthday Parties
- Child-Rearing Practices
- Coparenting
- Discipline
- Divorce and Separation
- Egalitarian Marriages
- Ethnic Food
- Family Values
- Foster Families
- Fragile Families
- Frozen Food
- Games and Play
- Genealogy and Family Trees
- Generation Gap
- Generation X
- Generation Y
- Genetics and Heredity
- Half-Siblings
- Infertility
- Intergenerational Transmission
- Love, Types of
- Me Decade
- Multigenerational Households
- Multilingualism
- Multiracial Families
- Nuclear Family
- Open Marriages
- Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters
- Retirement
- Shared Custody
- Standard North American Family
- Stepsiblings
- Toys
- Families and Culture
- Acculturation
- Almshouses
- Anorexia
- Arranged Marriage
- Assimilation
- Automobiles
- Baby Showers
- Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs
- Barbie Dolls
- Books, Adult Fiction
- Books, Adult Nonfiction
- Books, Children's
- Bulimia
- Child-Rearing Experts
- Child-Rearing Manuals
- Child-Rearing Practices
- Children's Beauty Pageants
- Collectivism
- Credit Cards
- C-Sections
- Dating
- Death and Dying
- Department Stores
- Direct Home Sales
- Dowries
- Drive-Ins
- Engagement Parties
- Engagement Rings
- Ethnic Enclaves
- Extended Families
- Family Reunions
- Father's Day
- First Generation
- Funerals
- Gated Communities
- Gatekeeping
- Grandparents' Day
- HIV/AIDS
- Home Economics
- Hooking Up
- Immigrant Families
- Individualism
- It Takes a Village Proverb
- Kindergarten
- Kwanzaa
- Language Brokers
- Levittown
- Marital Division of Labor
- McDonald's
- Midlife Crisis
- Mother's Day
- Music in the Family
- Online Shopping
- Orphan Trains
- Pets
- Polio
- Promise Rings
- Quinceañera Ceremonies
- Rape
- Reading to Children
- Rockwell, Norman
- Shakers
- Shopping Centers and Malls
- Speed Dating
- Sports
- Supermarkets
- Swaddling
- Sweet Sixteen
- Thanksgiving
- Theater
- Utopian Experiments and Communities
- Vacations
- Valentine's Day
- Wedding Showers
- Weddings
- Weekends
- Wet Nursing
- WPA
- Families and Experts
- Addams, Jane
- Adler, Alfred
- Advice Columnists
- Bandura, Alfred
- Bettelheim, Bruno
- Bowen, Murray
- Bowlby, John
- Brazelton, T. Berry
- Bronfenbrenner, Urie
- Dr. Phil
- Dr. Ruth
- Dreikurs, Rudolf
- Family Life Education
- Family Mediation/Divorce Mediation
- Family Therapy
- Freud, Sigmund
- Gesell, Arnold Lucius
- Hall, G. Stanley
- Hite Report
- Hochschild, Arlie
- Holt, Luthor
- Kinsey, Alfred (Kinsey Institute)
- Maslow, Abraham
- Masters and Johnson
- Mead, Margaret
- Minuchin, Salvador
- Montessori
- Richards, Ellen
- Rogers, Carl
- Satir, Virginia
- Skinner, B. F.
- Spock, Benjamin
- Watson, John B.
- Families and Religion
- Agnostics
- Atheists
- Baptism
- Catholicism
- Christening
- Christianity
- Christmas
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Circumcision
- Cults
- Divorce and Religion
- Easter
- Evangelicals
- Godparents
- Great Awakening
- Hanukkah
- Islam
- Judaism and Orthodox Judaism
- Natural Families
- Passover
- Polygamy
- Promise Keepers
- Protestants
- Religious Holidays
- Religiously Affiliated Schools
- Rituals
- Saints Days
- Sharia Law
- Sunday School
- Temperance
- Families and Social Change
- Abortion
- Adolescent Pregnancy
- Baby Boom Generation
- Birth Control Pills
- Breadwinner-Homemaker Families
- Civil Rights Movement
- Cocooning
- Commercialization and Advertising Aimed at Children
- Communes
- Contraception and the Sexual Revolution
- Contraception: IUDs
- Contraception: Morning After Pills
- Cult of Domesticity
- Day Care
- Demographic Changes: Age at First Marriage
- Demographic Changes: Aging of America
- Demographic Changes: Cohabitation Rates
- Demographic Changes: Divorce Rates
- Demographic Changes: Zero Population Growth/Birthrates
- Desegregation in the Military
- Disney/Disneyland/Amusement Parks
- Domestic Masculinity
- Erectile Dysfunction Pills
- Fatherhood, Responsible
- Feminism
- Great Society Social Programs
- Healthy Marriage Initiative
- Information Age
- Intensive Mothering
- Internet
- Interracial Marriage
- Leisure Electronics
- Leisure Time
- Marketing to and Data Collection on Families/Children
- Military Families
- Mommy Wars
- Myth of Motherhood
- Natural Disasters
- New Deal
- New Fatherhood
- Other Mothers
- Overmothering
- Parent Education
- Polyamory
- School Shootings/Mass Shootings
- Segregation
- Social Fatherhood
- Sun City and Retirement Communities
- Swinging
- Technology
- Third Wave Feminism
- Urban Families
- Vietnam War
- War on Terror
- Westward Expansion
- White Flight
- Yuppies
- Families and Social Issues, Problems, and Crises
- Alcoholism and Addiction
- Bullying
- Caregiver Burden
- Caring for the Elderly
- Child Abuse
- Child Custody
- Child Support Enforcement
- Delinquency
- Disability (Children)
- Disability (Parents)
- Domestic Violence
- Elder Abuse
- Family Counseling
- Food Shortages and Hunger
- Homelessness
- Incest
- Interventions
- Learning Disorders
- Mental Disorders
- Multiple Partner Fertility
- Obesity
- Postpartum Depression
- Runaways and Homeless Youth
- Shelters
- Single-Parent Families
- Suicide
- Teen Alcohol and Drug Abuse
- Widowhood
- Wife Battering
- Families and Social Media
- Families and Social Stratification/Social Class
- “Anchor Babies”
- “White Trash”
- African American Families
- Asian American Families
- Central and South American Immigrant Families
- Chinese Immigrant Families
- German Immigrant Families
- Indian (Asian) Immigrant Families
- Inheritance
- Irish Immigrant Families
- Italian Immigrant Families
- Japanese Immigrant Families
- Korean Immigrant Families
- Latino Families
- Melting Pot Metaphor
- Mexican Immigrant Families
- Middle East Immigrant Families
- Middle-Class Families
- Military Families
- Miscegenation
- One Percent, The
- Polish Immigrant Families
- Poverty and Poor Families
- Tossed Salad Metaphor
- Trailer Parks
- Vietnamese Immigrant Families
- Wealthy Families
- Working-Class Families/Working Poor
- Families and Technology
- Families and the Economy
- Families in America
- “Mama's Boy” and “Daddy's Girl”
- Adolescence
- Adolescent and Teen Rebellion
- Assisted Living
- Attachment Parenting
- Breadwinner-Homemaker Families
- Breadwinners
- Breastfeeding
- Childhood in America
- Childless Couples
- Cohabitation
- Courtship
- Date Nights
- Dating Web Sites
- Divorce and Separation
- Domestic Ideology
- Education, College/University
- Education, Elementary
- Education, High School
- Education, Middle School
- Education, Postgrad
- Education, Preschool
- Education/Play Balance
- Emerging Adulthood
- Empty Nest Syndrome
- Fertility
- Foster Care
- Gender Roles
- Grandparenting
- Home Health Care
- Homemaker
- In-Laws
- Later-Life Families
- Living Apart Together
- Living Together Apart
- Miscegenation
- Mothers in the Workforce
- Nature Versus Nurture Debate
- Nursing Homes
- Parental Controls
- Parental Supervision
- Parenting
- Parenting Styles
- Patriarchal Terrorism
- Preferential Treatment
- Prenatal Care and Pregnancy
- Problem Child
- Remarriage
- Same-Sex Marriage
- Self-Help, Culture of
- Separate Sphere Ideology
- Sibling Rivalry
- Soccer Moms
- Stay-at-Home Fathers
- Stepchildren
- Stepfamilies
- Stepparenting
- Surrogacy
- Tabula Rasa
- Transgender Marriage
- Families in Mass Media
- Advertising and Commercials, Families in
- Cultural Stereotypes in Media
- Film, 1930s
- Film, 1940s
- Film, 1950s
- Film, 1960s
- Film, 1970s
- Film, 1980s
- Film, 1990s
- Film, 2000s
- Film, 2010s
- Film, Silent
- Gender Roles in Mass Media
- Magazines, Children's
- Magazines, Women's
- Radio: 1920 to 1930
- Radio: 1931 to 1950
- Radio: 1951 to 1970
- Reality Television
- Television for Children
- Television, 1940s
- Television, 1950s
- Television, 1960s
- Television, 1970s
- Television, 1980s
- Television, 1990s
- Television, 2000s
- Television, 2010s
- Twenty-Four-Hour News Reporting and Effect on Families/Children
- Family Advocates and Organizations
- AARP
- Alan Guttmacher Institute
- American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
- American Family Association
- American Family Therapy Academy
- American Home Economics Association
- Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Association of Family and Conciliation Courts
- Boy Scouts
- Camp Fire Girls
- Center for Missing and Exploited Children
- Child Study Association of America
- Children's Aid Society
- Children's Bureau
- Children's Defense Fund
- Children's Rights Movement
- Cooperative Extension System
- Council on Contemporary Families
- Every Child Matters
- Family Medicine
- Family Research Council
- Family Service Association of America
- Focus on the Family
- Girl Scouts
- Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family
- Head Start
- MADD
- National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect
- National Center on Elder Abuse
- National Child Labor Committee
- National Council on Family Relations
- National Partnership for Women and Families
- Parent Effectiveness Training
- Parents as Teachers
- Parents Without Partners
- PFLAG
- Planned Parenthood
- PREP Program
- PREPARE/ENRICH Programs
- Sex Information and Education Council of the United States
- Smart Marriages Conferences
- Society for Research in Child Development
- Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
- Stepfamily Association of America
- White House Conference on Families
- YMCA
- Family Law and Family Policy
- “Best Interests of the Child” Doctrine
- Brown v. Board of Education
- Roe v. Wade
- ADC/AFDC
- Adoption Laws
- Adoption, Closed
- Adoption, Grandparents and
- Adoption, International
- Adoption, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People and
- Adoption, Mixed-Race
- Adoption, Open
- Adoption, Second Parents and
- Adoption, Single People and
- Alimony and Child Support
- AMBER Alert
- Assisted Reproduction Technology
- Baby M
- Child Advocate
- Child Care
- Child Health Insurance
- Child Safety
- Child Support
- Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
- Children's Television Act
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Civil Unions
- Common Law Marriage
- Community Property
- Constitution, U.S.
- Covenant Marriage
- Curfews
- Custody and Guardianship
- Deadbeat Dads
- Defense of Marriage Act
- Domestic Partner Benefits
- DREAM Act
- Earned Income Tax Credit
- Equal Rights Amendment
- Estate Planning
- Estate Taxes
- Fair Labor Standards Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act
- Family Planning
- Fathers' Rights
- Food Stamps
- Gay and Lesbian Marriage Laws
- Grandparents' Rights
- Green Card Marriages
- Health Care Power of Attorney
- Health of American Families
- Higher Education Act
- Home Mortgage Deduction
- Homestead Act
- Housing Policy
- Immigration Policy
- Inheritance Tax/Death Tax
- Maternity Leaves
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- Merger Doctrine
- Million Man March
- Moynihan Report
- National Affordable Housing Act
- No-Fault Divorce
- Office of Child Support Enforcement
- Palimony
- Parenting Plans
- Paternity Leaves
- Paternity Testing
- Poverty Line
- Power of Attorney
- Prenuptial Agreements
- Prohibition
- Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
- Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act of 1921
- Student Loans/College Aid
- TANF
- Tender Years Doctrine
- Trusts
- Truth in Lending Act of 1968
- Uniform Parentage Act
- War on Poverty
- Welfare Reform
- Wills
- Family Theories
- Attachment Theories
- Conflict Theory
- Constructionist and Poststructuralist Theories
- Ecological Theory
- Evolutionary Theories
- Family Development Theory
- Family Stress Theories
- Feminist Theory
- Functionalist Theory
- Life Course Perspective
- Psychoanalytic Theories
- Rational Choice Theory
- Relational Dialectics
- Social Exchange Theory
- Symbolic Interaction Theory
- Systems Theory
- History of American Families
- Frontier Families
- Immigrant Families
- Industrial Revolution Families
- Midwestern Families
- Native American Families
- Rural Families
- Slave Families
- Social History of American Families: 1777 to 1789
- Social History of American Families: 1790 to 1850
- Social History of American Families: 1851 to 1900
- Social History of American Families: 1901 to 1920
- Social History of American Families: 1921 to 1940
- Social History of American Families: 1941 to 1960
- Social History of American Families: 1961 to 1980
- Social History of American Families: 1981 to 2000
- Social History of American Families: 2001 to the Present
- Social History of American Families: Colonial Era to 1776
- Southern Families
- Southwestern Families
- Suburban Families
- Union Families
- Urban Families
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