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The Family(Types, Function and Role of Family in

Health and Disease)

ByDr. Utpal Sharma

Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Community Medicine, SMIMS

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Introduction The family is primary unit of all society ‘Family’ is derived from the Roman word ‘famulus’ which means

‘servant’

Defination Family is a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood or

adoption and living together & eating from a common kitchen.

The term household is different from family

Different aspect of family As a biological unit ---- share a pool of genes As a social units ---- common physical and social environment As cultural unit ---- it reflects the culture of the wider society

It is also an epidemiological unit ---- for providing social services and medical care

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Family life cycle Families are not a constant They are ever changing Having six phase

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Types of family On the basis of structure: Nuclear, Joint & 3-generation

On the basis of authority: Patriarchal & Matriarchal

On the basis of residence: Patrilocal & Matrilocal

On the basis of marriage:Monogamous, polygamous & polyandrous

On the basis of ancestry: Matrilineal & patrilineal

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Types of Family

Three generation family

Joint Family

Nuclear family

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Nuclear family Also known as “Elementary family”

Universal in all human societies

Definition It consists of a married couple and their children when they are

still regarded as dependent

They tend to occupy the same dwelling place

The husband usually plays the dominant role in the household

Absence of relatives like grand parents, uncles, aunts and other.

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Cont…

There is a greater burden on nuclear family in terms of responsibilities for rearing children

The husband – wife relationship is likely to be more intimate

New families This term is used for the nuclear families less

than 10 years old

The concept is important in view of studies relating to family planning

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Joint family Also called “Extended family”

It is kind of family grouping very common India, Africa, Far East and Middle East

More common in agriculture areas ( rural areas)

Now a days there are losing of joint family

Definition It consist of numbers of married couples and their children who live

together in the same house hold

All the man are related by blood and the women of the household are their wives, unmarried girls and widows of the family kinsmen

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Cont….

Characteristics of a joint family All the property is held in common

There is common family purse --- all income goes and expenditures met

All the authority is vested in senior male member of family

He is most dominant member and control all internal and external affairs of family

The familial relations are enjoy primacy over marital relations

Early and arranged marriage is advocated to ward off any threat from marital relationship

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Cont…

Advantages/ merits of joint family It is based on the motto “Union is

Strength”

There is sharing of responsibility

It gives family greater income and social security

It provide economic and social security to the old, unemployed

Pooling of income makes rearing of children, arranging marriages, caring for the old easy job

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Three generation family

It is fairly common in west

There are representative of three generations in the same family

Definition It occurs usually when young couples are unable to find

separate accommodation and continue to live with their parents and have their own children

They are related to each other by direct descent live together

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Functions of FamilyResidence To provide clean and descent home to its member

In west when men marries he separate with his parents and sets up his own home

In India (Hindus) married couple should resides in the house of the parent

Two types of residency: Patrilocal residency Matrilocal residency

Division of labour The male had the sloe duty to earn a living and support the family

The female had total responsibility for day to day care of children and running of household

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Cont….. Now a days there are less difference between function of

men and women ---- the coming together and sharing responsibility

Reproduction and bringing up of children This is very important function The mother take absolute care of infant and children

during certain age The father provides for education and teaches the social

tradition and customs

Socialization: The family is bridge between generations and between

father and son The cultural pattern relating to eating, cleanliness, dress,

speech, language, behavior and attitude transmitted through the family

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Cont…

Economic function: The family hold the properties and ownership like farms,

shop, dwelling are handed down to the children

Social care: The family provides social care by….

Giving status in society Protecting its member from insult Regulating marital activities of its members Regulating to a certain extent political, religion and general

social activities Regulating sex relations through incest-taboos

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Role of family in health and disease The family is ultimately the unit with which one has to

deal if concerned with medicine or public health There are certain function which are related with health

and health behavior

Child rearing: One of the important function Physical care of dependent young ---- survive to

adulthood The child rearing may differ from society to society and

from time to time It is important to note the pattern of child care (feeding,

nutrition, hygiene, sleep, clothing, habit training) Passing from one generation to another

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Cont…Socialization It refer to process by whereby individuals develop

qualities essential for functioning effectively in the society……it is a latent function

Teaching the young, the values of the society and transmitting information, culture, belief, conducts by citing examples

Introduction of young in to adult society In some societies the young are given freedom to

develop into individuals ---- to take initiative

Personality formation The capacity of individual to withstand stress and strain The way he interact with other people Family acts as the “placenta” to filter off ill influences

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Cont…

Care of dependent adults: Care of sick and injured: So adult become dependent either through injury, illness or

because of biological limitation

In some society there is great deal of harshness in respect to those who are sufferer

Some times individual are excluded from full range of benefits

The kind of illness is important ---- attitude of society

The family acts like the cushion and gives the front-line care for such individuals

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Cont….

Care of women during Pregnancy

In term of financial help, maternity leave, diet and nutrition supplement and decrease workload to the women

Stabilization of adult personality: The family is like “shock absorber” --- stress and strain of life The stress could be injury, illness, birth, death, tension,

worry, anxiety etc The family provide opportunity to release tension -----

individual --- mental equilibrium Alcoholics and narcotics are reflection of this trend Stress disease --- peptic ulcer, colitis, high B.P.

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Cont…

Familial susceptibility to disease: The member of family share a pool of genes, common environment

---- decide their susceptibility of disease Certain disease such as haemophilia, colour blindness, D.M.,

mental illness known to run through families Could be a playground for communicable disease viz. TB, measles

etc Broken family Where the parents are separated or where death of one or both

parents Importantly, the victims of the broken family in younger years were

found to be displaying psychopathic behavior, immature personality etc.

They may drift to anti social activities like prostitution, gambling, crime and vagrancy

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Cont….

Problem family: Those families who lag behind the rest of the community The standard of the life are far below the accepted minimum and

parents are unable to meet physical and emotional need of their children

The underlying factors are backwardness, poverty, illness, mental and emotional instability, character defects and marital disharmony

The problem families found in all social class but more common in LSEC

The children reared in such environment ----- crime, prostitution and vagrancy

“The secret of national health lies in the homes of the people”

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