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The Modern Nuclear Family: A Content Analysis

An Exploration into the Shifting Portrayal of the American Family
Within American Television Sitcoms

I.

Introduction
The portrayal of the stereotypical American family in the media has transformed

drastically since the original concept of the nuclear family. The nuclear family, which was the
basis for all family television sitcoms in the beginnings of televisions popularity, is now often
seen as unconventional, whereas only a few decades ago this concept was an accurate look at the
standard American Family. The nuclear family was first defined as two heterosexual parents: a
strong, but loving father and a nurturing mother that stayed at home with their two or three
respectful children (Encyclopedia Brittanica). Now, the definition of the nuclear family is being
altered to fit the more modern look at the standard family. The concept has now expanded into
the realm of same-sex and interracial marriage, as well as having children that are not full-blood
relatives of the parents (i.e. Adoption). Take the new nuclear family and exploit it satirically,
you have the basis for one of the most popular and revolutionary family sitcoms to date. Modern
Family, a sitcom shot in a mockumentary style, is a show centered around three individual
immediate families who are all connected into one somewhat large extended family. No two
characters in the show are alike, and neither are the relationships between them which make this
show ripe for content analysis, however difficult to code. A large portion of stereotypes,
character flaws, and controversial relationships are represented. This is what makes Modern

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Family so interesting as a sitcom in this decade: there are certain aspects of the show that would
not have been as acceptable had the show not been as modern as it is.
There are many elements of this show that allude to the stereotypical American family
sitcom, but its got a bit of a mix to it. The central family of the show involves a dopey but
loving father (Phil), a headstrong mother who always thinks she is correct (Claire), and their
three kids: one rebellious teenage girl (Hailey), a intellectual scholar as another daughter (Alex),
and a son that is just as dopey as the father, but often gets into mischief (Luke). American
audiences have seen very similar instances through such shows as All in the Family, Leave it to
Beaver, Married with Children, The Cosby Show, and many others. Considering this is a
Modern Family, we get a bit of a look into what exactly it means to be a family living in the
21st century, and the exemplification of the new nuclear family.
Lets start off with Claires brother, Mitchell. Mitchell is gay and has an overweight
flamboyant life partner named Cam, who he eventually gets engaged to. Mitchell and Cam also
adopt a Vietnamese child named Lily, who becomes their daughter and the love of their life. A
gay couple, soon to be married, with a Vietnamese daughter is a situation that on television that
only a show called Modern Family could bring.
Now lets look at the Patriarch of the extended family, Jay. Jay is the father of the
mother, Claire, and Mitchell. He is your stereotypical strong willed retirement aged white male
who was involved with the military in his youth who now owns his own business that he built
from the ground up. After divorcing with Claire and Mitchells mother, he then proceeds to meet
and get married to a Miss Gloria Ramirez, a Colombian woman who also happens to be 10

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months younger than Claire, Jays daughter. So not only do we have divorce and a resulting
interracial marriage, but the marriage consists of an entire generational gap.
These are modern situations strung into and played out at the same time as your classic
American family: which illustrates the structure of the brand new nuclear family. My goal is to
show just how much the portrayal of the nuclear family has changed from earlier family sitcoms
by creating a coding system to compare the standards of family in American television using
such shows as Modern Family, The Cosby Show, and All in the Family for measurement.
Hopefully through this content analysis, I can display how far the media has come to acceptance
of newer standards for the family.

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II.

Literature Review

My thesis, the shift from the traditional nuclear family to the modern family as portrayed in
media through family sitcoms is heavily supported by an abundance of scholarly works by
professors who specialize in the cultural shifts of the American Family. I have chosen five
which I feel could give a grand perspective and substantially support my hypothesis.
Whatever Happened to the Nuclear Family? Written by Sandra Timmerman, EdD, is a
segment of the journal Journal of Financial Service Professionals about the general view of the
financial difficulties that different types of households face. The segment centers most of its
content on the Traditional Nuclear Family, and compares each of the variants (people living
alone, single parents, blended families, domestic partnerships, other family configurations) as
Timmerman identifies them, to this concept. It is comprised primarily of statistics and important
theories as to why the nuclear family seems to be deteriorating in the United States, which in her
opinion is a result of the financial instability of the majority of the American population of this
century. Timmerman tends to fall in a very neutral point of view, allowing the statistics that she
got from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources speak for themselves. And these statistics
are exactly what Im going to be using this source for because the numbers strongly support my
thesis in a real world setting, which seamlessly translates to the television screen.
Changing Perspectives on the American Family in the Past is a scholarly paper written
by Susan M. Juster (Department of History, University of Michigan) and Maris A. Vinovskis
(Department of History and Center for Political Studies of the Institute for Social Research,
University of Michigan) about the historical use of the nuclear family as a means of measuring
trends in the family. This paper taught me that historians, anthropologists, and sociologists alike

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have been using the mean household index for the purpose of measuring and analyzing
household lives up until the late 1960s. However, this proved to be problematic because of the
growing trend of non traditional nuclear families. Western Europeans had relied on this data
for so long because Western European families had been primarily nuclear (Patriarchal
immediate family: Breadwinning Father, Subordinate mother, two obedient children) for
centuries, but this concept was being challenged, so experts looked for more dynamic ways of
measuring family behavior. Some key terms that this article uses are as follows: mean household
index (The average number of family members within a particular household based on the
standards of the nuclear family), fertility decline (Less children in the standard household),
Traditional Patriarchal Family (The Nuclear Concept), Modern Affectionate Family (To describe
the shift of the Family), Domestic Feminism (A result of the shift and its effects on the womans
role), and individualism. The paper uses a particularly unbiased point of view of the topic, the
use of sources is vast and plenty, with no use of original opinion.
Industrialization and the American Family: A Look Backward written by Frank F.
Furstenberg, Jr, Ph.D.(Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania) is my next
potential source for the exploration of my hypothesis. This paper focuses on how the author
feels that the American family has undergone considerable change since the era of
industrialization. By referring to the accounts of European travelers visiting the United States
during the first half of the 19th century, the author feels that it is possible to bring together
significant observations on the American family prior to industrialization. He has found through
his research that great similarities are indeed found between the modern family and the family
from over a century ago, however there are specific tensions between them which include free
mate selection, stress on early marriage, permissive childbearing, and the womans role. The

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basis for his argument is that pre-industrialization involved much more importance on agriculture
and the family values/ethics that go hand in hand with this. Two key terms that are substantial
for my thesis within this paper are Isolated Nuclear Family to describe the gradual shifting of
family structure, and Modern Family (The completed shift). I find this source to be very useful;
however the author takes the shift back to the pre-industrial era which is much further than I had
been planning to take my analysis considering my emphasis on television portrayals of the
American families in the past 60 years..
The American Family of the Future, an excerpt from the Journal of Marriage and Family
by Reuben Hill dives into a more methodological way of observing the change in family
structure that each of the sources before it have concluded. Basically, the author believes that
there are four prominent methods for projecting the contemporary American family into the
future: (1) The extrapolation of current trends in the family, (2) Making inferences from
differences among the generation lines, (3) Inferring from the alleged impacts of current
inventions on the family, and (4) Deriving value preferences from the writings and researches
undertaken by family specialists of various periods of time. According the Hill, his findings
suggest that accelerated upgrading in the amenities, increasingly flexible family organization,
and improved competence in planning and decision making will occur if the structure of the
family continues to shift at the rate and direction that it has been going for so long.
The last source that I intended on using, Variant Family Forms and Life Styles: Rejection
of the Traditional Nuclear Family is an article written by Betty E. Cogswell Ph.D. In her paper,
Dr. Cogswell explains that the recent emergence of variant family forms suggests that the myth
of the idealized nuclear family has become obsolete and that the majority of families nowadays
are represented by what she calls a variant family form. She uses this term to refer exclusively

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to experimental forms such as communes, group marriage, cohabiting couples, homosexual

unions, and open marriages. The use of variant is basically to describe all deviations from the
traditional nuclear family, which is characterized by households of husband, wife, and children
living apart from both sets of parents with male as the breadwinner and female as homemaker
(Quote by Marvin B. Sussman, Cogswells associate.) Cogswell appears to be in support of the
breaking down of the nuclear family structure, using sources that show solid evidence that the
system is inadequate, restrictive, and counter-productive in meeting goals, aspirations, and
desired lifestyles for the family.

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III.

Method and Results

In order to test my claim that the standard portrayal of the American family in the media has
changed over time, I have chosen to use American sitcoms as my basis for comparison. The
three programs that I feel could best display this trend change are All in the Family (One of
televisions most influential comedic programs, topping the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive
years during its run beginning in 1971), The Cosby Show (Which was TVs biggest hit in the
1980s according to TV Guide. And it helped to make possible a larger variety of shows with a
predominantly African-American cast according to Entertainment Weekly), and Modern Family
(an award winning family sitcom that began in 2009, which shows controversial issues and
relationships in a mockumentary style).
In order to successfully explore my hypothesis, I compiled a list of quantifiable codes to
test 3 episodes of each of the shows mentioned above. The code list has been split between two
categories so I can properly execute my tests. The first category is Appearance On Screen,
which is defined as each individual occurrence where a specific class as defined by the codes
listed appears on screen in a scene. The second category is Physical Signs of Affection, which is
defined as any physical interaction between two specified characters that is endearing in any
way: such as holding hands, hugging, kissing, rubbing, caressing, fornication. The use of two
categories makes testing my hypothesis easier because we are able to clearly see through
quantitative analysis the development of the modern family.
Now, within each of the two categories are codes that I consider to be relevant test
statistics for the evaluation of my hypothesis. Each of these codes are classes of relationships
which I have deemed necessary for my study of family transitions. Each time I count an

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appearance on screen for the codes labled Couple or Parents, all parties must be within the
scene, and this will count as a single occurance. These classes are defined as follows:
Parents of the Traditional Nuclear Family: Single race, heterosexual parent relationship
that has children. Used as the major test subject. Expecting a decline over time.
Monoracial Heterosexual Couple without Children: Single race, heterosexual couple
without children. Used as a direct alternative to the traditional parents.
Monoracial Homosexual Couple: Single Race, homosexual couple with or without
children.
Biracial Heterosexual Couple: Multiple race, heterosexual couple with or without
children.
Biracial Homosexual Couple: Multiple race, homosexual couple with or without
children.
Blood Child of Both Parents: Child that had been birthed by both guardians.
Blood Child of One Parent: Child that had been birthed by one guardian.
Adopted Child: Child shown that had not been birthed by either guardian. Includes
adopted, fostered, and orphaned.
With each of the codes defined, the chart is displayed:

CODES

Measurement

:Appearance On Screen:
Parents of the Traditional Nuclear Family
Monoracial Heterosexual Couple without Children
Monoracial Homosexual Couple
Biracial Heterosexual Couple
Biracial Homosexual Couple
Blood Child of Both Parents
Blood Child of One Parent
Adopted Child

:Physical Signs of Affection:

Parents of the Traditional Nuclear Family
Monoracial Heterosexual Couple without Children
Monoracial Homosexual Couple
Biracial Heterosexual Couple
Biracial Homosexual Couple

Note that each of the couples are used in both categories, whereas the children classes are
used in only the Appearance On Screen category. This is because in order to test my hypothesis
against the three shows mentioned earlier, I require the Physical Signs of Affection between the

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adult relationships only; the affection that the children give would be irrelevant statistics. This
compiles a total list of 13 quantifiable codes that I will measure using my three chosen shows:
All in the Family, The Cosby Show, and Modern Family.
The episodes that I have decided to use for these programs are the first three in each
series because they are consecutive, and the first few installments of any television series often
yield much of what the show has to offer in terms of the type of content. There will be one
completed code list for the three episodes of each show, but with a comma separating the first,
second, and third episodes sequentially followed by an equality sign and the total measured for
that show. I expect to see a steady decrease in class activity for Parents of the Traditional
Modern Family and Blood Child of Both Parents, and an increase in the rest over time. The
shows will be measured chronologically based on when they first aired on American television,
which begins my test with All in the Family.

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All in the Family: The first three episodes

CODES

Measurement

:Appearance on Screen:
Parents of the Traditional Nuclear Family
Monoracial Heterosexual Couple without Children
Monoracial Homosexual Couple
Biracial Heterosexual Couple
Biracial Homosexual Couple
Blood Child of Both Parents
Blood Child of One Parent
Adopted Child

5,10,7 = 22
4,5,4 = 13
None
None
None
4,5,4 = 13
None
None

:Physical Signs of Affection:

Parents of the Traditional Nuclear Family
Monoracial Heterosexual Couple without Children
Monoracial Homosexual Couple
Biracial Heterosexual Couple
Biracial Homosexual Couple

1,3,3 = 7
3,2,4 = 9
None
None
None

The chart above shows that, during the first three episodes of the series All in the Family,
there was no representation of homosexual or biracial couples appearing or showing any physical
signs of attraction. Considering this program is centered around a cast of four characters: A
father, mother, their daughter, and her husband, there were not many times when these couples
entered into a new scene. Much of the duration of the show consisted of these four characters
sitting in a room for a lengthy period of time. This could prove problematic for the
quantification of my coding because more time allotted to certain types of couples means that
there are less scene changes. Something else that I have observed is the language used in this
sitcom. Although not shown by the coding, the main patriarch of the family, Archie, uses
prejudiced statements within the dialogue of the show: going so far as to use racial slurs and antisemitic comments. In this way, the dialogue reflects the underdeveloped acceptance of lifestyles.

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The Cosby Show: The first three episodes

CODES

Measurement

:Appearance On Screen:
Parents of the Traditional Nuclear Family
Monoracial Heterosexual Couple without Children
Monoracial Homosexual Couple
Biracial Heterosexual Couple
Biracial Homosexual Couple
Blood Child of Both Parents
Blood Child of One Parent
Adopted Child

4,4,5 = 13
None
None
None
None
15,12,12 = 39
None
None

:Physical Signs of Affection:

Parents of the Traditional Nuclear Family
Monoracial Heterosexual Couple without Children
Monoracial Homosexual Couple
Biracial Heterosexual Couple
Biracial Homosexual Couple

3,3,1 = 7
None
None
None
None

The chart shows that The Cosby Show, although focusing on a traditional nuclear family,
has much more emphasis on supporting characters outside of the family than All in the Family,
where the majority of the content is on the four lead characters. The Cosby Show has strong
elements of the traditional nuclear family, but goes a step into the direction of developed cultural
acceptance because the program has a primarily African-American cast playing a loving upper
middle class African-American family. A step in the right direction because it exemplifies an
attempt to cover more cultural ground than any sitcom had before. As the code chart shows, the
four children in the show make up much of the screen time, and the two parents are not seen
together as much as in All in the Family, which is why their appearance on screen together has a
lower measurement. There is still no sign, however, of biracial or homosexual couples, nor is
there any indication of children that have not been birthed by their guardians in these sitcoms.

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Modern Family: The first three episodes

CODES

Measurement

:Appearance On Screen:
Parents of the Traditional Nuclear Family
Monoracial Heterosexual Couple without Children
Monoracial Homosexual Couple
Biracial Heterosexual Couple
Biracial Homosexual Couple
Blood Child of Both Parents
Blood Child of One Parent
Adopted Child

6,9,4 = 19
None
3,6,4 = 14
4,6,3 = 13
None
18,12,6 = 36
4,3,6 = 13
3,5,0 = 8

:Physical Signs of Affection:

Parents of the Traditional Nuclear Family
Monoracial Heterosexual Couple without Children
Monoracial Homosexual Couple
Biracial Heterosexual Couple
Biracial Homosexual Couple

1,1,0 = 2
None
2,1,1 = 4
0,4,0 = 4
None

Theres a significant amount of information that can be taken from the chart for Modern
Family when you compare the results to the other two shows that I measured against the
codelist. For one, theres a clear difference in the appearance, portrayal of relationships, and
family structures that are shown on screen in this series. This show was the only one of the three
that had any indication of Monoracial Homosexual Couples, Biracial Heterosexual Couples,
Blood Children of one Parent, and Adopted Children in the three episodes tested. The only
statistics that had any quantity shown in All in the Family and The Cosby Show were Parents
of the Traditional Nuclear Family, Monoracial Heterosexual Couples without Children, and
Blood Child of Both Parents, which shows the traditional portrayal of the American family as
single race heterosexual parents with children or planning to have children. This isnt the only
relevant information that can be deduced from these codes. Whats most interesting is the
physical signs of affection between the designated couples. Overall through the three episodes

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viewed for Modern Family, there had been more accounts of affection between the Monoracial
Homosexual Couple and the Biracial Heterosexual Couple than the Parents of the
Traditional Nuclear Family represented in the series.
Through my research and viewings of the first three episodes of each program, Ive
deduced that there is in fact some drastic transition in the portrayal of the standard American
family occurring in television sitcoms between the first airing of All in the Family to the most
recent episodes of Modern Family. There are now more appearances of homosexual and
interracial relationships in our American entertainment, which shows the rational and steady
acceptance of cultural and lifestyle differences. Not only are we becoming more in touch with
the appearance of these relationships and characters in our entertainment, but we are more in
tune with their affection toward one another at an emotional degree. However slow, we are
moving in a direction of pure acceptance of all beliefs, faiths, and lifestyles in our collective
modern culture.

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IV.

Discussion

In order to test my claim that the standard portrayal of the American family in the media has
changed over time, I had chosen to use American sitcoms as my basis for comparison,
specifically All in the Family, The Cosby Show, and Modern Family. The test to explore my
hypothesis was a content analysis: I compiled a code list of the number of appearances on screen
that various types of couples and children had, as well as the physical signs of affection that the
couples had toward one another. I then quantified my specific codes to nine television sitcom
episodes: three episodes to each of the programs mentioned.
I proceeded to explore my hypothesis: since the beginnings of popular American media,
the standard portrayal of the American family has steadily been transitioning to reflect modern
issues and movements. No longer is the definition of the nuclear family (which is characterized
by households of husband, wife, and children living apart from both sets of parents with male as
the breadwinner and female as homemaker according to Cogswell) a standard family structure
within our modern age. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the households comprised of the
traditional nuclear families of Mom, Dad, and two children are quickly disappearing. People
living alone, single parents, blended families, domestic partnerships, along with other family
configurations are growing in numbers to the point where the traditional nuclear family as a
standard is becoming obsolete. According to the same census, only 48.4% of households are
married, and of that group, only 20.2% include children (Timmermann). With this data, I was
able to explore whether or not the media portrayal of the American family had transformed
simultaneously with reality.

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Through my research using All in the Family, The Cosby Show, and Modern Family, I
have found that, over the course of these three shows, there has in fact been a significant change
in the way that American families have been portrayed. In the first three episodes of All in the
Family (1971), there was no indication of any type of family besides the nuclear family. The
only couple variations that appeared in these episodes were a monoracial heterosexual couple
with a child, and a monoracial homosexual couple without a child, however expecting. The
concept of the nuclear family was a powerful force because this was regarded as the ideal family
situation in the west for centuries; only up until the 1960s did this trend begin to change (Juster
and Vinovskis). So, through results of this show, we can see that American media had not yet
begun to reflect the evolving family standard.
The Cosby Show (1984) didnt prove to change too much through the results of the test.
Unfortunately, there was still no indication of biracial or homosexual relationships in the first
three episodes of the show. However, the series did take an alternate step in the right direction
through the use of a predominantly African-American cast to portray an upper-middle class
American family. Although I was only exploring the change in family structure and not the
portrayal of under-represented races and cultures in American media, this illustrates that
American entertainment has taken small but meaningful steps toward acceptance of all races,
cultures, sexualities, and lifestyles.
Modern Family (2009) has proven to be exactly as the title implies: an accurate
representation of the various types of families that can exist within one extended family. In the
series, the extended family is comprised of a traditional nuclear family as a comparable element,
a homosexual relationship with an adopted Vietnamese daughter, and a biracial couple with an
entire generational gap. Almost every aspect of this show has previously been under represented

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in the American media, but these are real world situations outside of entertainment. Through the
quantification of the codes for this show, I have found that in the first three episodes, both the
homosexual and biracial relationships had nearly as much screen time as the nuclear family
parents, and the children portrayed in the program were not just blood children of both guardians
in each instance. This series is a true representation of the modern family.
Through my research and viewings of the first three episodes of each program, Ive
deduced that there is in fact some drastic transition in the portrayal of the standard American
family occurring in television sitcoms between the first airing of All in the Family to the most
recent episodes of Modern Family. There are now more appearances of homosexual and
interracial relationships in our American entertainment, which shows the rational and steady
acceptance of innate personal differences. Not only are we becoming more in touch with the
appearance of these relationships and characters in our entertainment, but we are more in tune
with their affection toward one another at an emotional degree. However slow, we are moving in
a direction of the pure acceptance of all beliefs, faiths, and lifestyles in our collective modern
culture, and the media is beginning to reflect this.

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Works Cited

Cogswell, Betty E. " Variant Family Forms and Life Styles: Rejection of the Traditional Nuclear
Family."The Family Coordinator 24.No. 4 (1975): 391-406. JSTOR. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Furstenberg, Frank F., Jr. "Industrialization and the American Family: A Look
Backward. American Sociological Review 31.3 (1966): 326-37. JSTOR. Web. 21 Apr.
2014.
Juster, Susan M. "Changing Perspectives on the American Family in the Past."Annual Review of
Sociology 13.No. (1987): 193-216. JSTOR. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Hill, Reuben. "The American Family of the Future." Journal of Marriage and Family 26.1
(1964): 20-28. JSTOR. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica. "Nuclear Family (anthropology)." Encyclopedia
Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
Timmermann, Sandra, EdD. "What Ever Happened to the Nuclear Family? Impact of a Changing
America on Financial Services." Journal of Financial Service Professionals 67.1 (2013):
27-29. EBSCO Host. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.