The family is still the first and most important social group of people and one of the most significant social institutions. Over the years its importance as the nucleus of life has if anything increased rather than decreased. For almost 90 percent of the population the family comes first in their list of personal priorities. Young people also value it very highly: 72 percent of 12 to 25-year olds are of the opinion that being happy is dependent on having a family.

Yet ideas about what form families should take, as well as their structure, have changed dramatically in the wake of social change. In the traditional family, the roles played by a couple that was married for life, and bringing up several children, were strictly divided: the father was the breadwinner, the mother a housewife. This “breadwinner” model is certainly still lived out – for example in the lower social classes, by migrants, or for a certain period of time, as long as the children are still small – but it is no longer the predominant way of life.

A far wider range of forms of cohabitation has emerged. There is now far greater leeway in choosing between various family forms and even deciding not to have a family at all. This is in no small way connected to the altered role women play: Nowadays some 64 percent of mothers are in employment. Families have become smaller. There are more instances of single-child families than those with three or more children. Two-child families are typical. There are also increasing numbers of people living alone or as a couple with no children. Almost one third of women born in 1965 still have no children today.

Not only the Ways of life, but also basic moral attitudes are undergoing change. Faithfulness to one’s partner remains an important value, but the norm of staying together for life has become more relaxed. The expectations associated of a partnership, on the other hand, have risen. This is one of the reasons for some 40 percent of marriages over the past few years ending in divorce. As a rule most people marry again of find another partner. There has also been a marked increase in the number of couples living out of wedlock.

This form of cohabitation without actually being officially married is particularly popular with young people and those whose marriage has recently failed. As a result the number of illegitimate children has also risen: In West Germany about a quarter and in East Germany more than half of all children are born to unwed mothers. One result of this change is an increase in the number of step-parents and single- parent families: One fifth of all households with children have Single parents, and as a rule these are single mothers.

Over the past few decades the relations within families themselves have also progressed. As a rule the relationship between parents and children is exceedingly good and for the most part is no longer characterized by obedience, subordination and dependence but rather by involvement and equal rights, support, affection and being brought up to be independent.

Despite the fact that nowadays instances of three generations of one family living under the same roof are very rare, there are strong emotional bonds between grown-up children and their parents and between grandparents and their grandchildren.