I come from an African-American background. My family is primarily from the Westside of Chicago with some family members living in Tennessee, Minnesota, and Hawaii. My mother was eighteen when she found out she was pregnant with me. I was due in mid-September, but my mother gave birth in August during my cousin's birthday party, and now we share the same birthday. There has always been a special bond between us because we have the same birthday. I come from a single parent family and I'm the only child, so it's just the two of us and we're like best friends. I don't have much of a relationship with my father, but that's by personal choice. Our relationship has been rocky since I got to college and I started speaking out for myself because I don't agree with the way he treats me. Moving forward, I don't spend much time with my family from home these days because I'm in school most of the year and most of my cousins ​​have grown up, moved away and have followed their own path. I am close to my mother, my two aunts and a few cousins. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay My grandmother is also included in this list even though she left us for a better life in heaven. My grandmother was like my father or my second mother. She always took care of me and helped my mother whenever she could. To be honest, I wish I had more fulfilling relationships with my family, but it's been like that since my great-grandmother and grandmother passed away. To make this more meaningful, I don't expect anyone to be at my graduation except my mom and maybe my aunts. I think that explains my relationship with the rest of my family. I grew up on the Westside of Chicago. Until I was about eight years old, my mother and I lived with my grandmother in a pretty rough neighborhood. My school was only two blocks from my house and next to our house was an empty lot. Today the school is closed and the house I grew up in has been demolished. Structural-Functional Theory Structural-functional theory can be defined as how a family is organized and serves its purpose in meeting the needs of society (Stinnett, Stinnett, DeGenova, and Rice, 2017). My joint residence family function is where my mother and I share a common residence, but I am in Springfield, Illinois nine months out of the year, classifying myself as a commuter. I see my mother on major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and sometimes come home for Easter. I never shared a common residence with my father, nor with anyone besides my mother. My family is linked to economic cooperation because my mother is the breadwinner of our household. She pays all the bills and makes sure the house has what she needs. Although I have had a job since my freshman year of high school, I have been fortunate to have a parent who doesn't take money from me or make me pay rent, utilities, etc. to keep the house clean, and since I'm a student, I benefit from the Illinois Link Card, which is a card that allows me to do my groceries for free for a certain amount. I get one hundred and eighty-four dollars every month, so whenever I'm home I buy groceries for my mom, which is one less expense for her for the month. Plus, she doesn't need much food because she's home alone. It works wellfor both of us. My mother is not interested in sexual functioning now because she is not married and has acquired the morals not to have sex before marriage. I don't follow that same morality. However, I have only had one sexual partner who is still my sexual panther today as we have been in a committed relationship for almost two years now. According to the text, sexual relations outside of marriage have become more common and more accepted in today's society. My family is connected to education and socialization of children because my mother taught me good manners, respect and how to behave from a very young age. Growing up, I was always mistaken for someone older than me. People would say I was mature for my age. My mother did not tolerate nonsense and expected more from me in terms of grades, behavior and household chores. I believe my mother did an exceptional job raising me considering she was a single parent and had a different upbringing than what she presented me with. The high expectations my mother had for me helped me learn to set high expectations for myself. However, I have cousins ​​who were not as fortunate as I was to have a parent who cared about your social functioning. By that I mean they had no basic respect for older family members, for teachers, or for themselves. Without education and socialization within the family, children must determine what is and is not acceptable by themselves or by their peers who are also learning. Failure to feed and socialize your children is illegal and can result in child neglect or abuse charges. My family adheres to structural-functional theory. Symbolic Interaction Theory Symbolic interaction theory can be defined as a family interacting with each other through symbols. This theory focuses on how families communicate and connect through symbols such as words, gestures, rules, and roles. My mother has the role of mother, and almost 10 years ago, she also had the role of wife. As a mother, she is expected to take care of her child and the home. I play the role of a girl. I learned domestic work from my mother, but I also learned to be independent because she had no one to play the role of husband, just like I had no one to play the role of father at home . As a result, my mother has played the role of mother and father in our household for most of my life as she has only been married for 3 years. There aren't many roles inside our house since there are only two of us, but we conform to the theory of social interaction. Systems TheorySystems theory can be defined as the actions of one family member affecting other family members. Things that involve interdependence among family members are things like love, money, housing, and food. My great-grandmother was born and raised in Covington, Tennessee. She married my great-grandfather and moved to Chicago when my grandmother was only a year old. This affected the whole family as this is where most of us live today. Many of my great-grandmothers' brothers and sisters followed her to Chicago, making the city a special place for our family. Another example of my family interdependence is my mother's marriage. She and I moved 45 minutes away to a town with her new husband. I changed schools and had to make new friends. Moving forward, my mother would be a subsystem in.