Mrs. Rose had three children with her first husband. She divorced him when their youngest child was two years old. Two years later she remarried, and she and her second husband raised her three children as well as one child from his first marriage.
(A) Single-parent family
(B) Nuclear family
(C) Blended family
(D) Extended family
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is C) Blended family.
A blended family is formed when two parents, who have children from previous relationships, come together and raise their children from both sides in a single household. In the case of Mrs. Rose, she had three children from her first marriage, divorced her first husband, and remarried. Her second husband, who also had a child from a previous marriage, then became part of the household. The children from both marriages are now being raised together by both parents in one home.
This is a key characteristic of a blended family: it includes children from both parents’ previous relationships. The family dynamic involves merging different family structures, where biological children of one parent and stepchildren from the other parent live together as one family unit. Blended families often require adjusting to new family members, roles, and relationships, which can be a significant process for everyone involved.
In contrast, other family types mentioned in the question are different from a blended family. A single-parent family involves one parent raising children without the support of a partner. A nuclear family consists of two parents and their biological or adopted children, living together in a single household. An extended family includes additional relatives such as grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, living together or in close proximity to the nuclear family.
Therefore, based on the description of Mrs. Rose’s family situation, where her children from her first marriage and her new stepchild from her second marriage live together, the family structure best fits the definition of a blended family.