A family is a group of two or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption who reside together. There are two main types of family, nuclear and extended family. The nuclear family is the immediate group of father mother and children living together. The extended family includes the nuclear family plus other relatives such as grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, and in-laws. The family into which one is born is called the family of orientation, whereas the one established by marriage is the family of procreation. Household is another term frequently used by marketers when describing consumer behavior.
Household differs from family, in that household describe all the persons both related and unrelated who occupy a housing unit. Families have higher median incomes than do households because of the greater number of employed individuals in families. For both families and households the four structural variables that impact purchasing decisions most and that are therefore of primary interest to marketers are the age of head of household or family, marital status, presence of children and employment status. However, the way families make decision can be better understood by consulting sociological dimensions such as cohesion, adaptability and communication.
