Family type
Definition
A family is defined as a group of people who are:
- married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple, with or without child(ren),
- lone parent with child(ren),
- married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple with grandchild(ren) but with no children present from the intervening generation, or
- single grandparent with grandchild(ren) but no children present from the intervening generation.
Children in couple families need not belong to both members of the couple.
For single or couple grandparents with grandchildren present, the children of the grandparent(s) may also be present if they are not the parents or grandparents of the youngest generation present.
Classification
Total number of categories 12
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 01 | Lone parent family, Male parent |
| 02 | Lone parent family, Female parent |
| 03 | Couple family, married, no children |
| 04 | Couple family, Married, Non step-family (all children belong to both members of the couple) |
| 05 | Couple family, Married, Step-family |
| 06 | Couple family, Same-sex civil partnership, No children |
| 07 | Couple family, Same-sex civil partnership, Non step-family (all children belong to both members of the couple) |
| 08 | Couple family, Same-sex civil partnership, Step-family |
| 09 | Couple family, Cohabiting, No children |
| 10 | Couple family, Cohabiting, Non step-family (all children belong to both Members of the couple) |
| 11 | Couple family, Cohabiting, Step-family |
| XX | No code required - comprises families with an FT1 value of (0,9,X) where: 0 = ungrouped individual, 9 = other related family, X = students living away from home during term-time, communal establishment residents |
Known Quality Issues
There were 22 records which are categorised as “Cohabiting couple family: no children”, but which are categorised as “One dependent child in the family: aged 12-15” by another variable, DPCFAMUK11 (age of dependent children in a family). This is due to the different methods used to create these variables, specifically how we treat couple families where one member of the couple is a dependent child.
Users should be aware that the numbers in different tables for similar categories of family type and household composition may differ depending on the base population of the table. For example, Table DC1118SC looks at all families in households and shows there are 291,081 lone parent families. Table DC1119SC looks at all households and shows there are 263,360 households comprising a lone parent family only, i.e. households with no non-family members present or which include more than two generations. In other words there are 27,721 lone parent families who were living in households where there were non-family members and/or more than two generations present, for example a grandmother living with her daughter (a lone parent) and her daughter’s children.
Definition
This derived variable classifies families into different types.
Classification
Total number of categories 8
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Lone parent family, Male parent |
| 2 | Lone parent family, Female parent |
| 3 | Couple family, Married or remarried, No children |
| 4 | Couple family, Married or remarried, Non step-family (all children belong to both members of the couple) |
| 5 | Couple family, Married or remarried, Step-family |
| 6 | Couple family, Cohabiting, No children |
| 7 | Couple family, Cohabiting, Non step-family (all children belong to both members of the couple) |
| 8 | Couple family, Cohabiting, Step-family |