Extended Family Article Index for
Extended
Website Links For
Extended
 

Information About

Extended Family




consanguineous Family . Second, in societies dominated by the conjugal family, it is used to
refer to kindred (an egocentric network of relatives that extends beyond the
domestic group) who do not belong to the conjugal family. Often there could be many generations living under the same roof.

In extended families, the network of relatives acts as a close-knit community. Extended families can include, aside from parents and their children, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, foster children etc. This is in contrast with the smaller Nuclear Family .

In many cultures, such as in those of many of the Africa ns, the Middle East erners, the traditional Jewish family of central Europe , the Spanish-speaking Latin American s, the Pueblo Indian s of New Mexico , the India ns, the East Asian s ( Chinese , Japanese , Korean etc.) and the Pacific Islander s, ''extended families'' are the basic family unit (in contrast to the Conjugal or Nuclear Families which " Westerners " are more familiar with). Cultures in which the extended family is common usually happen to be Collectivistic cultures.

In the cultures where the extended family is the basic family unit, growing up to adulthood does not necessarily mean severing bonds between oneself and one's parents or even grandparents. When the child grows up, he or she moves into the larger and more real world of adulthood, yet he or she doesn't, under normal circumstances, establish an identity separate from that of the community.