Changing Views on Families

Family Facts: BC Council Blog

Nov 29

by Marilee Peters
Director of Communications, BC Council for Families

Last month, in a HealthyFamilies article on October 12, we reported the results of a poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of Postmedia News and Global TV that asked Canadians what they considered to be a family. The results were startling.

As reported in the National Post:

80% of Canadians agreed that two married heterosexual parents and their children were a family,
66% agreed that a common-law couple and children were a family,
55% agreed that a single mom and child were a family,
54% believed a single dad and child were a family,
50% saw grandparents raising grandchildren as a family, and
45% agreed that a same-sex married couple with children were a family.

Just in time for American thanksgiving, a similar poll was released last week from the American nonpartisan "fact tank" the Pew Research Center. The poll report, The Decline of Marriage and Rise of New Families , paints a picture of a society with quite different views on family than those found on this side of the border. Americans surveyed indicated that

99% considered a married couple with children to be a family,
80% considered a common-law couple and children were a family
86% agreed that a single parent and children were a family
63% agreed that a same-sex couple with children were a family.

Many who believe that Canadians have in general more progressive social views than Americans will likely be startled by the differences in these poll results. Why do you think the findings of the two polls are so different?
We want to hear your thoughts -- share your comments on this story.

And, in an effort to resolve this question, we're conducting our own survey about what our readers consider to be a family. Each week for the next four weeks in our online Family Matters poll we'll be asking our readers to vote on what they consider to be a family. This week: Do you consider a married couple with children to be a family?

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How do I access the poll to

How do I access the poll to cast my vote? I seem to just keep coming to the results of the first poll, and not on to the other questions.

Penny Soderlund

Submitted by Anonymous on Dec 14.

Hi Penny, You can find the

Hi Penny,
You can find the other polls here: http://www.bccf.ca/poll

Submitted by bccf on Dec 17.

I don't see how you can

I don't see how you can compare 2 different polls due to the differences in wording, population surveyed, methods, number of questions etc.

Submitted by Anonymous on Dec 01.

You're quite right -- the two

You're quite right -- the two polls have differently worded questions, and we don't have full information about how they were conducted. Still, the survey questions are close enough, and yet the results different enough, to make for some intriguing questions. We'd love to see this investigated seriously. Until that happens, we're conducting our own entirely unscientific webpoll on attitudes to family structures at www.bccf.ca

Submitted by bccf on Dec 03.

I am commenting on the posted

I am commenting on the posted link to the survey question regarding what I feel constitutes a family unit. I feel that how the question was posted as having one option you can answer yes, no or unsure for is not an accurate measure of what I thought you were trying to determine. A family is whatever form of a loving, care giving relationship it comes in. If a child has the support of a loving adult(s) and are having their psycho-social-spiritual needs met then it does not matter who is providing that, be it Grandparents, same-sex couple or otherwise. The survey question is misleading and biased and I hope it will be followed up with supplementary questions to start to come closer to a true measure of public opinion.

Submitted by Anonymous on Nov 29.

The BC Council for Families

The BC Council for Families celebrates the diversity of families, and believes wholeheartedly that "families are who you love." Our families all look different, and have always done so. We work to strengthen and support family relationships -- whatever they look like.

Our current webpoll, asking whether visitors to our site consider a married couple with children to be a family unit, is a response to two recent national polls (one Canadian, one American) reported in the media, that had startlingly different results. While the Canadian poll indicated that respondents had fairly conservative views about what constituted a family, the American poll results displayed a greater openness to "non-traditional" family forms (same-sex parents, single-parent families, etc.). Over the next few weeks, the Council will be asking a series of poll questions on our website to measure what our site visitors feel about this issue. Here's a look ahead at what we'll be asking in the next few weeks:

December 6 -- "Do you believe a common-law couple with children constitutes a family unit, as you would see it?
December 13 -- "Do you believe a single mother and children constitutes a family unit, as you would see it?
December 20 -- "Do you believe a single father and children constitutes a family unit, as you would see it?
January 4 -- "Do you believe grandparents raising grandchildren constitutes a family unit, as you would see it?
January 10 -- "Do you believe a same-sex married couple and children constitutes a family unit, as you would see it?

These questions are simply an attempt to measure public attitudes to different family structures. We know that what matters in families is the love and support that family members share. That's much more important, and much harder to measure.

Submitted by bccf on Dec 03.

The real question is not

The real question is not whether one or other is a family, but the quality of relationships that counts. All of the above mentioned mixtures, are families. As immigrants, close friends of my parents were uncles and aunts, and I still consider their children my cousins - closer than blood cousins who I do not know. Yes there is the reality that there is "blood family" but that is less important than emotional family if it does not fill develpmental and emotional needs. Best of all is the combination plus extended family, where extended can include everyone who one feels really close to.

Submitted by Anonymous on Nov 29.

BC Council for Families

Family Facts: BC Council Blog