ABSTRACT
THE nuclear family consists typically of a married man and woman with their offspring . . . [p. 1] The nuclear family is a universal human social grouping. Either as the sole prevailing form of the family or as the basic unit from which more complex familial forms are compounded, it exists as a distinct and strongly functional group in every human society . . . [p. 2] Whatever larger familial forms may exist, and to whatever extent the greater unit may assume some of the burdens of the lesser, the nuclear family is always recognizable and always has its distinctive and vital functions-sexual, economic, reproductive, and educational [p. 3].
