Caden's Paper for his AP English Class

 I want to keep a few of Caden's papers that he writes for future.  He ended up with 100 on this.

Argument of Definition: Family

            Nothing is more important than family. This is a common saying today, a saying that addresses one of the most controversial of concepts, the family unit. The purpose of a family is to provide support for the members within it. Society has defined a functional family as the fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children (“family”). This definition is broad and lacks necessary points, but my interpretation is more specific as well as contentious. A functional family is a unit that consists of a unified husband and wife that lovingly support their children; this redefinition is strengthened by the dictations of nature or biology, the psychological evaluations of children living in various family situations, and the comparison of the financial success of traditionally and nontraditionally parented adolescents.

            The first sources of support for my claim that the ideal family is built upon a loving husband and wife are the principles of human nature. A ruling from the Supreme Court in 1859 says that the main purpose of marriage, by the laws of nature, is procreation ("Gay Marriage - ProCon.org.”). According to this ruling, a family that coincides with nature’s intentions must consist of two parents of the opposite sex, for procreation can only occur under these conditions. Single or same-sex parenting fails to meet this criterion, therefore, these practices contradict the objectives of nature. Nature intended for men and women to produce and raise offspring within the bonds of matrimony. The dictations of nature support my redefinition in a secondary way as well, through male and female roles. A 1995 study in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology showed that women have an innate desire to care or empathize, while men have a predetermined desire to protect (Simon-Thomas). These natural qualities, when combined, provide the perfect ingredients for parenthood. The caring nature of a mother is suitable for the nurturing of children, while the protective instinct of a father is suited for the providing of the family. These natural inclinations demonstrate that men and women were intended by the laws of nature to join together to form the most efficient family unit. Some may argue that the laws of nature can be ignored, or that marriage is based solely on love, while reproduction is irrelevant. These claims fail to recognize the potential impacts. If society continues to disregard nature’s intentions, in pursuit of individual gratification, then the sanctity of the family will become corrupted. If parents can be of the same sex now, despite the fact that this goes against nature’s purpose, what is to stop bestial, incestuous, or polygamous practices from being performed by parents in the future? If a man and another man can have an unnatural marriage because they love each other, what is to stop a man that loves his dog from marrying it? According to the requirements for procreation and the natural inclinations of males and females, nature intended for families to be comprised of a loving husband and wife, in order for the sanctity of the family unit to be maintained.

            The second element that verifies my definition of a family is the psychological status of children in single parent and same-sex parent homes. A study performed by Swedish researchers showed that children in a single parent home were more prone to psychological distresses (Cosgrove-Mather). These Swedish scientists tracked approximately 1 million Swedish citizens using the national registries. From analyzing the data they were able to come up with a conclusion. Children that came from single-parent homes were twice as likely to develop psychological issues such as depression or aggression than children that came from two-parent families. These children were also more likely to become addicted to drugs, commit suicide, or develop an alcohol-related illness. The Swedish investigator’s findings allude that children in traditionally parented families are more likely to have better mental health than those raised by single parents. Dr. Paul Sullins conducted a similar study on children that lived with same-sex parents (Sullins). Sullins identified a group of children that were raised by lesbian or gay couples and compared their mental states to those of a few randomly selected group of adolescents living in a traditional household. He discovered that many of the children with homosexual parents experienced health problems such as extreme stress, depression, and even obesity. Sullins believed that these findings were explained by 3 main factors: the presence of parental abuse, the proximity between child and parent, and the lack of adolescent attention. Sullins found that 90% of the children he surveyed were reportedly abused by their same-sex parents. The majority of these children also claimed that their parents were distant and paid little attention to them. I will concede that some studies have produced contrary results, showing a little to no difference in the health of the same-sex or traditionally parented adolescents. In my defense, the majority of these studies were not performed on randomly selected subjects but were instead conducted on volunteers. This means that their data most likely doesn’t reflect the general population’s qualities. The studies that I used, on the other hand, were conducted on a more representative sample. From analyzing the data of these two studies it is clear that the psychological and emotional wellbeing of children living in a single or same-sex parented household is not ideal. Adolescents living in a nuclear family reported far better statistics. These findings support my definition by revealing that children living in a household supported by a husband and wife are far more likely to have favorable mental, physical, and emotional health.

The third and final point that qualifies my redefinition is the comparison of the financial success between former single or same-sex parented children and former traditionally parented children. In a study done by a University of Texas sociologist, Mark Regnerus, he finds that adults that were raised in a same-sex parented household were less financially stable than the individuals that were raised in a traditional family unit (Regnerus). Regnerus claims that his findings are more accurate than others, because he used a significantly large sample. According to his research adults that were parented by same-sex partners are 3 times more likely to be unemployed than those raised in a nuclear family. Regnerus also discovered that approximately 2 out of every 200 children that are parented by a gay couple actually stay with their same-sex parents until the age of 18. From analyzing Regnerus’s research the conclusion can be drawn that the traditional family is the most desirable unit in providing an effective and financially stable environment for a child’s development. Dr. Hakan Usakli performed another similar study, in which he compared the stability of single parenting and traditional parenting (Usakli 258). He found that the average single parent has more difficulty financially supporting his/her children, while the typical husband and wife team has less difficulty. Usakli explains that a single parent has the responsibility to look out for his/her children while financially providing for them. This can spread the parent out thin, making the home unstable. A traditional family on the other hand consists of a husband and a wife that can split up the duties of parenthood. The experiments conducted by Regnerus and Usakli fortify my definition by emphasizing the nuclear families’ potential in ensuring the financially successful future of the children, and its ability to provide a stable home environment.

In conclusion, my redefinition of the functional family as a unit that consists of a devoted husband and wife that support their children can be strengthened by the biological requirements for procreation, the natural tendencies for females to be nurturing and males to be protective, the research demonstrating that children in traditional families have satisfactory health, and the studies showing that the nuclear family is the most financially stable and provides the best opportunities for the children raised within it.