Defining family - it's crucial, but far from clear-cut

As much as Americans revere the family, they differ sharply on how to define it.

New research being released today shows steadily increasing recognition of unmarried couples - gay and straight - as families. But there's a solid core resisting the trend who are more willing to include pets in their definition than same-sex partners.

How "family" is defined is a crucial question on many levels. Beyond the debate over same-sex marriage, it affects income tax filings, adoption and foster care practices, employee benefits, inheritance rights and many other matters.

The new research is contained in a book-length study, "Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans' Definition of Family" and in a 2010 survey overseen by the book's lead author, Indiana University sociologist Brian Powell.

Between 2003 and 2010, three surveys taken by Powell's team showed a significant shift toward counting same-sex couples with children as family, from 54 percent of respondents in 2003 to 68 percent in 2010. In all, more than 2,300 people were surveyed.

Powell linked the change to a 10 percent rise between 2003 and 2010 in the share of respondents who reported having a gay friend or relative.

Only about one-third of those surveyed said they considered same-sex couples without children to be a family. In 2006, when asked whether gay couples and pets count as family, 30 percent said pets count but not gay couples.

"The sheer idea that gay couples are given less status than pets should give us pause," Powell said in an interview.

In the 2010 survey, 83 percent said they perceived unmarried heterosexual couples with children as a family; only 40 percent extended that recognition to unmarried straight couples without children.

In line with several recent national polls, Powell's 2010 survey showed a near-even split on same-sex marriage - with 52 percent supporting it and 48 percent opposed.