Books and reports: Family Matters: Family Breakdown and its Consequences 17 December 2004, Patricia Morgan	View PDF
All Western nations have seen a decline in the institution of the traditional family. Marriage rates and overall fertility are falling while divorce rates and out-of-wedlock births are rising. In New Zealand these trends have been remarkable in their intensity: the family is in a worse state here than almost anywhere else. In some quarters the decline of the family has been celebrated rather than mourned. The traditional family based on marriage is seen as oppressive; "new family forms" offer the opportunity for free expression. In fact, these family forms are not new - there have always been broken and incomplete families. What is new is the scale of their occurrence.