ABSTRACT:Great changes of American family have taken place in the past several decades. The once dominant pattern—breadwinner–homemaker model with husband-wife raising their own biological (or adopted) children has been replaced by various family forms: dink families, single-parent families, step families, unmarried couples (cohabitation), homosexual households, singlehood, etc. What are the reasons for the great changes in such a short period of time? Is this change related to the increasing rate of suicide and crime among the adolescents? How have the changes influenced and will influence the psychology of adolescents? This paper aims to find out the reasons for the changes of American family patterns and the negative influence on the psychology of adolescents, and tries to propose some suggestions for avoiding the negative psychological influences on adolescents under the trend of new family patterns.
Key Words: family; change; influence; adolescents
摘要:美国的家庭模式在过去几十年中发生了巨大的变化。曾经唯一的男主外、女主内并且供养自己亲生小孩的家庭模式，现已慢慢转变为多种家庭模式：丁克家庭、单亲家庭、离婚家庭、独身、同居、同性恋家庭等等。究竟是什么原因导致美国家庭在如此短时间内发生了巨大的变化？这些变化与激增的青少年自杀率以及犯罪率是否有关系呢？对青少年心理又有什么负面影响呢？本论文就是针对自1960年后美国家庭模式的改变，即由单一的传统家庭模式（亲生父母与子女）慢慢发展多样化，来研究其变化的原因和探索此改变给青少年成长，尤其是心理方面所带来的负面影响，并尝试提出如何避免此趋势给青少年心理方面所造成的负面影响。
关键词 ：家庭，变化，影响，青少年
Family is an important component of society, which is an absolutely necessary in the development of politics, economy and culture. The development of society must have influenced the individuals and families in the society, leading to the change of family patterns. Since the first European settler came to America, American family has been changing. The nuclear family which was popular in the 1950s, has been shrinking as the specialized roles between men and women have been undergoing significant transition due to the increased number in the labor force among women.
Nowadays, in America, the percentage of “non family” households has increased a lot, the household size keeps shrinking and there emerge many incomplete families. Objectively speaking, it has also a reasonable side for the transition of American family patterns. To some extent, the new pattern makes up the defect of nuclear family and satisfies personal happiness, which enhances the quality of marriage life. But it can not be denied that the change has brought huge influence on the women and children. Family change in America in the latter half of the 20th century had undoubtedly influenced the members of families and society at large. Particularly, it is the children’s well-being which is arousing most researchers’ concern. And the author has analyzed the negative psychological influence on the adolescents owing to the incomplete families.
