Family, basic social group united through bonds of kinship or marriage, present in all societies. Ideally, the family provides its members with protection, companionship, security, and socialization. The structure of the family, and the needs that the family fulfills vary from society to society. The nuclear family—two adults and their children—is the main unit in some societies. In others, it is a subordinate part of an extended family, which also consists of grandparents and other relatives. A third family unit is the single-parent family, in which children live with an unmarried, divorced, or widowed mother or father.

家庭，这个通过亲属或婚姻的联系而形成的基本社会单位,呈现于所有的社会形态中, 在理想的状态下，家庭为它的成员提供保护、陪伴、安全和社会化活动。家庭的结构和生活需求会因不同的社会而不同。核心家庭,即二个成年人和他们的子女组成的家庭—某些社会形态中家庭的主要形式。在另外一些社会形态里,它只是一个包含有祖父母和其它亲属的大家庭中的一个分支.第三种家庭形态是单亲家庭，在这种家庭里,孩子与未婚，离异或丧偶的父亲或母亲同住。