The family life-cycle model has some inherent limitations including

• A. Focusing on a nuclear-family model.
• B. Stressing the second stage of life-cycle development.
• C. Incorporating ethnic family structures.
• D. Examining the impact of divorce on the family unit.

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that the family life-cycle model is built around a traditional, two-parent, married, middle-class family and a linear progression through stages. This framing makes it feel like every family should follow the same path, which isn’t true in real life. Many families are single-parent, blended, extended, or culturally distinct, and they don’t always move through stages in a neat, predictable order. That narrow focus limits the model’s applicability to diverse family experiences, so the clearest limitation described is its emphasis on a nuclear-family structure. The other options don’t capture this fundamental bias as directly: the model isn’t defined by stressing just one stage, it doesn’t inherently require including ethnic family structures, and while divorce is an important factor, the core critique is the overall traditional family form it centers rather than a single issue like divorce.