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family , a group of persons united by the ties of marriage , blood, or adoption , constituting a single household and interacting with each other in their respective social positions, usually those of spouses, parents , children , and siblings. The family group should be distinguished from a household, which may include boarders and roomers sharing a common residence . It should also be differentiated from a kindred (which also concerns blood lines), because a kindred may be divided into several households. Frequently the family is not differentiated from the marriage pair, but the essence of the family group is the parent-child relationship, which may be absent from many marriage pairs. At its most basic, then, a family consists of an adult and his or her offspring. Most commonly, it consists of two married adults, usually a man and a woman (almost alw...