What Are the Stages of Family Life?

The family life cycle theory is a cyclical movement process from the formation to the disintegration of the family. There are different family roles to play in each stage of the family life cycle. Different role plays have different role expectations. As time goes by, the age increases As a result, personal ideas are constantly changing due to external environmental influences.

Family life cycle theory

The family life cycle is an important tool for studying the behavioral characteristics and value orientation of customers at different stages.

The following have put forward the theory of family life cycle and have some influence:

R. Hill and Hanson

They first proposed the family life cycle theory in the 1930s, and discussed some characteristics of this research framework in detail. In fact, the family life cycle theory was developed on the basis of comprehensive research concepts in many disciplines. Scholars holding this theory borrowed the concept of the family life cycle from rural sociology, and introduced the concepts of development needs and development tasks from child psychology and human development. A comprehensive conception of the family was collected from the work of sociologists. In addition, the concepts of age and sexual roles, multiple models, functional requirements, and family as an interactive organization were borrowed from the structure-function and symbol interaction theory.

Duval

She believes that just like human life, the family also has various tasks in its life cycle and different stages of development. To continue as a unit, the family needs to meet the needs of different stages, including: 1. physiological needs; 2. cultural norms; 3. human desires and values. The task of family development is to successfully meet the needs of people's growth, otherwise it will lead to unpleasantness in family life and bring difficulties to family development. In the academic world, her life cycle ideas are more systematic and have been widely spread and adopted for a long time.

Roy H. Rogers

The family life cycle is used to describe the entire process of most families from marriage, child birth to child independence and aging. The change in the number of families is the most important indicator for different stages of the family life cycle. Generally speaking, the family life cycle can be divided into formation period, growth period, maturity period and aging period. Families of different generations have intersections in their life cycles. For example, when their own families are in the growth stage, their parents' families may have entered the mature period. Families are at different stages of the life cycle, their assets and liabilities will vary greatly, and financial management needs and priorities will also vary. Therefore, knowing the life cycle stage of a family is of great significance for the development of financial management methods and strategies.

The generally accepted classification of family life cycle stages in family life cycle theory was proposed by Glick in a 1949 paper. He classified families according to The life cycle is divided into six stages: formation, expansion, stabilization, contraction, empty nest and disintegration, as shown in Table 1-4.

Table 1-4 Division of family life cycle stages

stage	Start	End
form	marry	Birth of the first child
Extension	Birth of the first child	Birth of the last child
stable	Birth of the last child	First child leaves parents
shrink	First child leaves parents	The last child left the parents
Empty Nest	The last child left the parents	Death of one spouse
disintegration	Death of one spouse	Death of the other spouse

Many people spend most of their lives in this way: they are raised by their parents as children, married between 20 and 30 years old, and soon have children. They raise children in the next 18 to 20 years and send them to school When the children leave to form their own family, the couple lives again, and then the couple will leave the world one after another. Of course, this typical life cycle is not necessarily suitable for everyone.

The family financial life cycle is concerned only with those stages and issues related to finance in the life cycle. Different financial situations at different stages of life, different

Most people depend on their parents for the cost of living before they have a job and have not been paid for it. Therefore, we will have our own income after work as the starting point of the family financial life cycle.

Combined with the theory of the family life cycle, for the average person, the financial life cycle must go through five phases: single life, family formation, family growth, family maturity, and family aging, as shown in Table 1-5.

Single period: The period from working to getting married, usually 1 to 5 years. Young people in this period had almost no financial burden, low income, and strong ability to take risks.

Family formation period: The period from marriage to the birth of a newborn, usually 1 to 5 years. This period is the main consumption period for households. Economic income has increased and life is stable, and households already have some financial resources and basic daily necessities. In order to improve the quality of life, large family construction expenditures are often required, such as purchasing some higher-grade supplies. Families on loan to buy a house also have to pay a big expense-monthly contributions.

Family growth period: refers to the period from the birth of a child to college, usually 18 to 25 years. At this stage, the number of family members no longer increases, and the age of family members is increasing. The biggest expenses of a family are living expenses, medical care expenses, and education expenses. Financial burdens are usually heavy. At the same time, with the enhancement of children's self-care ability, parents are energetic, and they have accumulated a certain amount of work experience and investment experience, which greatly enhances their investment ability.

Family maturity period: This is the period from when a child joins work until the parent retires, usually about 15 years. At this stage, their own working ability, work experience, and economic conditions have reached a peak. Children have become fully independent and debt has gradually been reduced. The focus of financial management is to expand investment.

Family aging: after retirement. The main content of this period is to spend his old age, and the investment costs are usually conservative.

Table 1-5 Family finance life cycle

cycle	definition	age	feature
Single period	Starting point: join the job Finish: get married	18 to 30 years old	He is not married yet, but in a family formed by his parents. Build yourself from work and economic independence.
Family formation	Starting point: getting married End point: child born	25 to 35 years old	Marriage system formed. The number of family members increases with the birth of a child (hence often referred to as the nesting period).
Family growth	Starting point: child born End point: child independence	30 to 55 years old	Children come, join parenting, economic and domestic work, reorganize relationships with extended families, including parenting and caring for the role of the previous generation. The number of family members is fixed (hence often referred to as the full nest period).
Family maturity	Starting point: child independence Finish: couples retire	50 to 65 years old	Refocus on middle-aged marriage and career issues. Start shifting to take care of the older generation. The number of family members decreases with the independence of their children (hence often referred to as the nesting period).
Family aging	Starting point: couple retirement Finish: The couple died	60 to 90 years old	There are only couples in the family (hence often referred to as the empty nest period).