Key difference

1. Key Difference: In simple terms, the main difference between joint family
and nuclear family is that a joint family is a big family, whereas a nuclear
family is a small family.

Family is the most important part of a person;
from an early age a child is taught the importance of a family and the part he/she is expected to play in
the family. Girls are most commonly taught about cooking, while boys are taught the family business.
However, these importances are differentiated according to the families people live in. In this article, let us
mainly focus on two families, i.e. joint family and nuclear family.

In a joint family, even if parents go to work, grandparents will be taking care of the children. They will be
instructing them the right manners and good qualities about life, and turn the life of children in the
opposite way. In the nuclear family, parents quarrel with each other and there is no one to settle the
issue. However, in joint family there are parents or in-laws to give advice to the parents to settle the issue.

Tribes, small villages, group of people and
such small civilization units are the predecessors of the joint families. Joint families are still common in
several parts of the worlds, India, China, African nations and even Arab nations having a large number of
such families. Whereas, nuclear families are widely popular in the United States and Europe.

2. A major importance is placed on family; traditional cultures suggest living in joint families, where parents,
male children, children’s spouses and grandchildren, all reside in the same house. However, nuclear
families have started receiving more importance in urban cultures.

Comparison between Joint Family and Nuclear Family:

Joint Family Nuclear Family
Description
(Dictionary.com)
A type of extended family
composed of parents, their
children, and the children's
spouses and offspring in one
household.
A social unit composed of two
parents and one or more
children.



Qualities Joint Family is mostly helpful
in developing good qualities of
the individual.
In a nuclear family, it is not
necessary that parents can’t
develop good qualities in their
children, but yes, it is true that
this becomes difficult at times.
Emotion The primary emotion is a
general affectionate bond
between two generations and
within the members of the
generations.
Nuclear family is mainly based
upon the emotion of parental
love and sibling connection
and hence the structural
functionalism (mechanism of
relationships) is fairly
straightforward.
Freedom Joint families have less
freedom.
Nuclear families have more
freedom.
Financial needs Joint family has less financial
needs.
Nuclear family has more
financial needs.
Youngsters prefer Youngsters who prefer social
life with better support system
prefer joint families.
Youngsters prefer freedom
and less restriction choose
nuclear family.
Quarrels Joint families have more
quarrels.
Nuclear families have fewer
quarrels.

3. Nuclear family vs Joint Family – A parent’s point
of view
Jul 12, 2010 4 Comments Posted in Parenting
When I saw the topic of ‘the kind of family set up and its impact on raising a child’ being
discussed, I couldn’t resist but to offer an opinion of my own, at first. But when I got down
to actually writing about the subject, I simply couldn’t make up my mind as to which set up
I prefer. I mean it’s not a black and white situation at all! So, here I am – with a
comparative analysis if you will, which I always resort to, when ever I am confused. After all
what better way to decide what you prefer than to list out the pros and cons in any
circumstance!
Let me begin by introducing myself, I am a parent of a 4 year old girl and I have lived in a
joint family for the first 4 years of my marriage and then as a nuclear family over the last 2
years. So I have experienced the extremes of these set ups, the good and the bad! Hence
without further ado, let’s compare the notes:
The Joint Family
According to experts, our family and community networks profoundly influence our values
and attitudes in ways that one can’t even imagine. So how do joint families influence the
child?
 Joint families are like the first training grounds, where a child learns interpersonal
skills. Children in joint families learn lessons of patience, tolerance, cooperation and
adjustment. I have actually seen this happen with my daughter and her cousin who
lived with us. They learnt to share more easily, learnt to co-operate and adjust under
practically every circumstance.
 When a child lives with his/her grandparents and other older members of the fami ly
from the time he/she is born, they grow up appreciating, admiring and loving them.
They also learn to adjust more easily with different kinds of people and learn to be
more flexible. I know this for certain, because, when my husband and I have moved
to another city, we took a long time to settle in, but my little one had made friends in
no time, and found her feet very easily in the new place.
 In a joint family a child learns and is reared by a number of people, thus dividing
work, saving time and creating a spectrum of exposure and awareness. And for
working parents, it’s a blessing to have reliable, trustworthy caretakers for your child,
isn’t it? After all, who better than to impart the same values that you have imbibed
than the grandparents?
However, certain disadvantages do exist:
 In a joint family with more than one child, there is bound to be constant comparison,
something that could lead to the development of unhealthy competition and feelings
of envy.
 There is also a tendency for joint families to be autocratic in nature and the head of
the family, lays down the law in the household. While it may work in some scenarios,

4. it can also be the cause of a lot of friction. Younger members of the household can
feel their self-identity being inhibited and often struggle with a constant conflict
between their conservative orientation and their exposure through their other social
interactions. Joint families can also pose a larger resistance to change as the opinions
on any matter are more than one.
The Nuclear Family
Today, in India, we have a generation of people who after having lived in a joint family
system have taken the initiative to break out and start a nuclear family. A large contributor
to this break away was industrialization. Industrial revolution brought with it increase in job
opportunities in and around major industrialized and commercial cities and towns. So how
have nuclear families panned out for a child’s well being?
 Most parents want to bring up their children with their own set of values and
principles, without any “interference”. This is something that an be easily established
in a nuclear family, wherein the child has to follow only one set of rules, and is not
confused with varying opinions.
 There is more space for individuality and self-expression in a nuclear family set-up.
 Nuclear families make the child more self reliant and decisive as he/she is not as
interdependent on a large number of family members to make decisions and take
action. This independent streak can come in handy, as your child grows into an adult
and has to make many decisions himself/herself.
 Communication channels between the child and parent can also be more open and
transparent, in a nuclear family, as parents have their attention focused on their child,
without having to divide their time with too many household responsibilities and
between other members of the household.
While nuclear families seem to work for today’s generation in a lot of ways, there are
challenges that parents face while raising their child in this set – up.
 If both parents are working, as we were, one may have to leave their children alone
with caretakers for given lengths of time. This can mean children being brought up by
care centers or domestic help, who may not be as attentive or reliable as family
members.
 Parents may also have to deal with attention-related problems which are usually by-
products of nuclear family systems, where the child, finding both parents absent and
no one else from the family, usually resorts to attention seeking behavior. Being sad,
insolent, and reclusive among other things.
 Children raised in nuclear families also tend to be less tolerant and more impatient, as
they are not accustomed to dealing with too many people with varied personalities
from an early age, and living in a nuclear family does not demand a great deal of
flexibility of them. While I may not have experienced this myself, I have seen many of
my friends’ children who come from nuclear backgrounds, strugglin g to adapt
themselves to different situations, especially when they have relatives visiting them.
At the end of the day, it is clear, there is not right or wrong choice. However, too much of
anything is unhealthy. So while staying in a large family may r ob your child off his/her

5. personal space, and independence, staying in a nuclear family for too long also can create a
disconnect between your child and your extended family. The question is taking all factors
into consideration, what would you rather choose?
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