Characteristics of Large Families
In-House Report No. 118
By Maxine Willitts and Kirby SwalesThis paper presents the findings from a piece of in-house secondary analysis on the characteristics of large families. Large families were defined as those families with three or more dependent children. The analysis employed a large-scale refreshed panel survey, the Families and Children Study (FACS).
The aims of this paper were:
To provide a snapshot of cross-sectional information from FACS about large
families
To identify what characteristics are common to large families
To improve our understanding of the factors that lead to disadvantage being
more prevalent amongst this group
To broaden our knowledge about large families to inform ongoing work to
look at policies to help reduce poverty and improve employment opportunities
of those in this group.
The paper is split into three key sections as follows: -
A comparison of the characteristics of large and small families
A comparison of characteristics within the large family population
An examination of the characteristics of children according to family size
July 2003
ISBN 1 84388 184 5 Paperback
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of Large Families 