- ambilineal
- a type of unilateral descent that follows either the father’s or the mother’s side exclusively
- bigamy
- the act of entering into marriage while still married to another person
- bilateral descent
- the tracing of kinship through both parents’ ancestral lines
- cohabitation
- the act of a couple sharing a residence while they are not married
- extended family
- a household that includes at least one parent and child as well as other relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins
- family
- socially recognized groups of individuals who may be joined by blood, marriage, or adoption and who form an emotional connection and an economic unit of society
- family life course
- a sociological model of family that sees the progression of events as fluid rather than as occurring in strict stages
- family life cycle
- a set of predictable steps and patterns families experience over time
- family of orientation
- the family into which one is born
- family of procreation
- a family that is formed through marriage
- intimate partner violence (IPV)
- violence that occurs between individuals who maintain a romantic or sexual relationship
- kinship
- a person’s traceable ancestry (by blood, marriage, and/or adoption)
- marriage
- a legally recognized contract between two or more people in a sexual relationship who have an expectation of permanence about their relationship
- matrilineal descent
- a type of unilateral descent that follows the mother’s side only
- matrilocal residence
- a system in which it is customary for a husband to live with the his wife’s family
- monogamy
- the act of being married to only one person at a time
- nuclear family
- two parents (traditionally a married husband and wife) and children living in the same household
- patrilineal descent
- a type of unilateral descent that follows the father’s line only
- patrilocal residence
- a system in which it is customary for the a wife to live with (or near) the her husband’s family
- polygamy
- the state of being committed or married to more than one person at a time
- shaken-baby syndrome
- a group of medical symptoms such as brain swelling and retinal hemorrhage resulting from forcefully shaking or impacting an infant’s head
- unilateral descent
- the tracing of kinship through one parent only.