Reply #1: The extended family structure was alive and well in the US [View All]

in my lifetime. My mother, brother, and I lived with my grandparents for a time, and my grandmother continued to look after me until I was grown--and then I looked after her until I moved away. I think that economics does have something to do with the weakening of family structure here, but that's not all of it. Even back in the 1800s, you had folks who ran off from the family when they turned 21. In some families, there is a lot of fighting and such; in others, the sense of adventure lured children away.

For the record, my mother lives in the same town as my brother, his children, and his grandchildren. Maybe they are not in the same household, but they operate as a family.