A kinship unit is a group of individuals who are related to one another by blood, marriage, or adoption.
Nuclear family includes a father, a mother, and their children, living apart from other kin.
Extended family includes parents, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and others living together or in very close proximity. Modified extended family exists when the individual nuclear families live separately, but the extended family remains a strong kinship organization through a combination of interpersonal attachments and various forms of economic exchanges and mutual aid. Families face the challenge of maintaining stability an continuity when roles of the family members change from one stage of development to the next. Most sociologists agree that the movement of women out of the home and into the labor force is one of the most important social trends of the second half of the 20th century. Surveys on the traditional view that women are happy at home tend to show that the lives of both career women and full-time homemakers include a mixture of satisfactions and problems.