CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Family is the basic social unit of the society. It is made up of a group of people that reside together and are related by blood or adoption. According to Anyakoha and Eluwa (2010), family is a group of persons united by ties of marriage or blood (ancestry) and having one or more children of their own or adopted and often times characterized by common residence and economic cooperation. The universality of the family is not in a uniform pattern because it varies in types. Ibia (2006), categorized family into monogamous and polygamous family.
According to the author, monogamous family is a family pattern that is made up of a husband, a wife and their children while polygamous family consists of one man and more than one wife. The man may or may not live under the same roof with the wives and exercises control over them and the entire household. There is also the extended family which consists of the couple, their children, grand parents, siblings, uncles, aunties, nieces, nephews, etc (Groiler, 2006). Irrespective of the type, families constitute the corner stone of the society and key institution that provides customs, strategies, relationships and behavioural patterns in societies (McGregor, 2009).
The family according to McGregor performs multifaceted roles in the society. These include: Emotional care and physical maintenance of group members and relative, addition of new members through procreation or adoption as well as fostering, socialization and education of children into adult roles and responsibilities, social control of members by setting boundaries, disciplining, mentoring and protection of family members against all forms of violence, production, consumption, exchange and distribution of goods and services and maintenance of family morale and motivation to ensure task performance both within the family and in other groups (McGregor, 2009). The roles played by the family in societal development is championed by the spouses who constitute the heads of families. Spouses are two adults male and female 1 xi 14 that are legally married and maintain a socially approved sexual relationship (Ikulayo, 1999).