ABSTRACT
The family unit is a naturally occurring social/emotional context that shifts and changes over time. The family unit constantly adapts to changes both within the unit and changes in the wider social environment. Each family unit has a life span that has a beginning and an end. A particular family unit has its beginning when an adult male and an adult female commit themselves to marriage. During its life, a family unit may expand through such events as the birth of children, children marrying, and the birth of grandchildren. The nuclear family unit also goes through a period of diminishing mem bership such as when children marry, go to school, or take employ ment in a new location. A particular family unit ends with the death of the original marital pair.
