ABSTRACT
Families and households are separate but related entities which form the nucleus of communities and regulate domestic relations and other aspects of human existence in society. Families are characterised by their relationships through kinship, marriage, or adoption, and membership is derived through relationships with other members. Defi nition of household centres on common provision of food, for example, from a common granary, or use of a common hearth or cooking pot, or all members looking to the same person as their household head (Hosegood, 2008). Membership in a household is derived through shared residential and economic (consumption) arrangements.
