Abstract

As the world becomes more globalized, the developed countries receive increasing attention from other nations. The United States, being the strongest country in economy, gets attention from Chinese young people because of its modern life style. Many Chinese youths even regard American family life with a blind admiration. This paper begins with narrating the types of American family, then analyzes the concepts of American family, the relationship between family members, family education and common problems in American family, and in the end, shows that American people are concerned about family very much. At the same time, this paper advises Chinese people to come to understand American family life correctly and to avoid the blind worship.   

Key words:  types of American family, individualism, family education, family problems
 
摘要

随着世界经济全球化的日益加深，经济发达的国家越来越受到全球的关注。世界头号经济大国美国，其现代化的家庭生活也受到越来越多的中国年轻人追捧，甚至是盲目的崇拜。本文通过美国家庭的类型，家庭生活观念，家庭成员的关系，子女的家庭教育以及普遍的家庭问题的叙述和分析，多方面展现了美国家庭生活的现状。本文指出美国人实际上是非常爱自己的家庭的，同时劝诫中国的年轻一代要正确看待美国家庭生活，避免盲目崇拜。

关键词：美国家庭类型；个人主义；家庭教育；家庭问题

1.Introduction
Today, with the rapid development of intercultural communication, more and more Chinese people desire to know the exterior culture. A lot of Chinese young people think that American life is perfect and great owing to the misguide of movies and TV. This paper introduces to people the American family life in four parts in detail. The first part is the general description about the main patterns of American family; in this part, you can have a general idea of the types of American family. The second part is the concept of American family and individualism; in this part, you can know how the people live in their family with the influence of individualism. The third part is the family members; in this part, you can see clearly the effect of every member upon the family. The last part is the problems that most of American families face, and in this part, you can have a vague knowledge of what the American family life is like on earth.