Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions that follow.
The American family unit is in the process of change. In the first half of the 20th century, there were mainly two types of families: the extended and the nuclear. An extended family includes a mother, father, children, and other relatives living in the same house. A nuclear family is composed of just parents and children living under the same roof.
As the American economy progressed from agricultural to industrial, people were forced to move to different parts of the country to get good jobs. These jobs were mainly in the large cities. Three-quarters of Americans live in urban areas that occupy 2.5% of the national total landmass. Of the 118 million in the labour force, only 3 million still work on the farm.
Since moving for better jobs has often divided the extended family, the nuclear family has become more popular. At present, 55% of the families in the US are nuclear families. But besides the two types of traditional family groupings, the family is now being expanded to include various other living arrangements because of divorce. There is an increase in single-parent families, in which a father or mother lives with one or more children. Divorce has also led to blended families, which occur when previously married men and women marry again and combine the children from the former marriage into a new family. Some couples do not want to have children to form two-person childless families.
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