ABSTRACT
This opening chapter explores questions such as “What does the word ‘family’ mean?” and “Why is it important to define family?” In addressing these questions, we show that the way family is defined has important scientific, legal, and social implications. This explains in part why some definitions of family are rooted in biological or legal ties while others emphasize family interaction and affective ties. This chapter also presents demographic data regarding trends in family form and size, marriage and partnering, as well as parenting and family lifespan transitions. We consider whether past and current media portrayals of families are representative of demographic trends. Finally, people often ask, “What makes for optimal family interaction or family functioning?” To explore this question, we present and discuss two prominent models of family functioning: Olson’s circumplex model and the McMaster model.
