Diversity Activity: The Typical Family

Objective — To challenge what we believe is true about the typical American Family.

Time — about 20 minutes.

Instructions:

Divide the class into small groups — about 4 learners to a group.
Hand out the information shown below on “The Typical Family” to each learner and have them discuss and define the “Typical Family.”
After the small groups have discussed the activity for about 10 minutes, bring the groups together and have each group present their findings.
Possible Conclusion: The typical American family is a myth or an illusion.

NOTES:

Steady decrease in family size over recent decades has slowed. Baby Boom generation is aging.
Babies born to unwed mothers have declined for the first time in 20 years (fallen 4% since 1994).
In recent years the divorce rate has been 4 in 10.
Sixty percent of the people living alone are women and most of them are elderly.

The Typical Family

	1970	1995
Families headed by married couple	87%	78%
People per household	3.14	2.65
Household made up of married couples with children	40%	25%
Household made up of married couples with no children	30.3	28.9
Households made up of 5 or more people	1 in 5	1 in 10
Households made up of people living alone	1 in 6	1 in 4
Families headed by women with no husband present	5.6 million	12.2 million
Families headed by men with no wife present	1.2 million	3.2 million
Households in metropolitan areas	2 in 3	4 in 5
Families with no children under 18 at home	44%	51%

Source: Census Bureau

Next Steps

This activity is based on the chapter, Diversity

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