The Family Cycle in India and the United States

The stages of the nuclear family's life cycle are much less clearly defined in rural India than in the United States. The extremely young age at marriage in the villages studied accentuates the couple's dependence on the joint household. One consequence of a long childbearing period and high mortality is a large proportion of orphans and widows with dependent children. This again demonstrates the importance of a larger kinship group in providing the stability and continuity the nuclear family lacks. Despite high fertility, the average size of the nuclear family at its maximum, when the mother is 45 years old, is only 5.39, including the parents. Evidence is presented to show that the probability of death for any member of a family is contingent on the survival of the other members, and that the mortality of widows, widowers and orphans is much higher than that of the general population.