nd even in the same society. The family's form. changes as it adapts tochanging social and economic influences. Until recently, the most common formin North America was the nuclear family, consisting of a married couple withtheir minor children. The nuclear family is an independent unit. It must beprepared to fend for itself. Individual family members strongly depend on one another. There is littlehelp from outside the family in emergencies.Elderly relatives of a nuclearfamily are cared for only if it is possible for the family to do so. In North America,the elderly often do not live with the family;they live in retirement communities and nursing homes. There are many parallels between the nuclear family inindustrial societies, such as North America,and of families in societies suchas that of the Inuits,who live in harsh environments. The nuclear family structure is well adapted to a life ofmobility. In harsh conditions , mobility allows the family to hunt for food.For North Americans,the hunt for jobs and improved social status also requiresmobility. The nuclear family was not always the North American standard.In a more agrarian time, the small nuclear family was usually part of a largerextended family. This might have included grandparents, mother and father,brothers and sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins. In North America today, thereis a dramatic rise in the number of single-parent households. Twice as manyhouseholds in the United States are headed by divorced, separated, ornever-married individuals as arc comprised of nuclear families. The structureof the family, not just in North America, hut throughout the world, continuesto change as it adapts to changing conditions. {TS}Another good title for this passage would be
A. What Makes a Family?
B. The I.ife of the Inuits.
C. Living with Hardship.
D. The Failure of the Nuclear Family.