[originaltext] Social changes together with reorientation of social values an

Social changes together with reorientation of social values and increased participation of women in production of economic goods and services promoted functional and structural changes in the institution of the family. New patterns of marriages emerged superseding arranged marriages.
   There is a tendency on the part of younger generations, to overlook the consent of the "procreated" family for conduct of sexual behavior. Divorce and remarriage gained ground in most countries, especially in the Western World. Children born out of wedlock became a common phenomenon. Cohabitation became popular among the young generations. Some of them tended to think of such sexual behavior as some kind of pre-marriage experiment. As much as in Western European countries, this phenomenon is visible in Asian countries too. This situation poses a strong potential to change the attitudes, particularly of the younger generation, who experience and experiment with the changes, causing a pattern of delayed marriage. A resultant outcome is the decline in birth rate. Another issue arising out of such situations is the absence of a legal heir for property if one of the partners met with an accident.
   Overall increase in divorces almost in every region of the world from the 1960’s is another important development in the demographic sphere. Two major reasons can be identified for this trend. New legislation had been enacted making the procedures associated with the act of divorce easier, to meet the newly emerging economic and development needs. The attitudes towards women and the social status of women underwent a change. Comprehension and conceptualization of gender equity and gender based discussions occurred during the period. Economic empowerment of women through employment tended to loosen their bonds to the patriarchal family and gave them the taste of economic independence. Women experienced a greater confidence to discontinue a bad relationship with a married partner. Increases in divorce rates imply that the number of single parent families also increases. This situation severely affects the socio-economic conditions of families with children, which means that security, education and welfare of these children would hardly be met. Most frequently single parent families are headed by women.
   Another new trend is the increasing number of childless families, improvement in social status of women from about 1970’s, partly as a result of increased access to higher education and the labor force have changed fundamentally family roles. Newly married couples have greater choice, thanks to the availability of various contraceptive methods, to have fewer children, or to delay child birth until they have their careers well established.
   As the number of children in families decrease the proportion of older family members increases. With this increase, the structure and functions attributed to various members of the family undergo changes. Such a process places a burden on the wider society in the form of need for provision of welfare services for older persons, and the need for provision of more capital. Generally the family as a social institution provides lifetime emotional, social, economic and health support for each of its members.
   Therefore, the family has two different aspects in relation to the process of population ageing. First the family itself undergoes a transformation as a result of demographic changes, which are part of the ageing process. Second, the family serves as a buffer lessening the social and economic impact of population ageing on its members.
   Another thing is that the " new" family life became much more home centered in various senses. The house had become a more pleasant place and people now had increased means with which to make themselves comfortable. Intra family relationship within the wider kin group is becoming less significant and the nuclear family household increased its importance. More and more home centric men and women could be identified in a significant way.
   There is a need to identify various problems that emerged due to the changes in functions and the structure of the family unit. Reduction of emotional and physical support by the family would directly affect the personality development of children and their health.
   There are unmet needs of social security provisions and care for older persons, which result in additional social costs at macro-levels. These are key issues in the policy making process particularly in developing nations. There is a need for policy-making, taking in to consideration the needs of the family at the grass root level, which would be different from a "top down" approach, but tending towards a "bottom up" technique of planning and the recognition of sociological aspects of family life in policy making.