Unmarried Households Reign For First Time

Since this is a social issue, I figure it belongs here.

A new survey has shown that traditional marriage has ceased to be the preferred living arrangement in the majority of US households.

The findings, which were released in August but largely escaped public attention until now because of the large volume of data, indicated that marriage did not figure in nearly 55.8 million American family households, or 50.2 percent.

More than 14 million of them were headed by single women, another five million by single men, while 36.7 million belonged to a category described as "nonfamily households," a term that experts said referred primarily to gay or heterosexual couples cohabiting out of formal wedlock.

In addition, there were more than 30 million unmarried men and women living alone, who are not categorized as families, the Census Bureau reported.

By comparison, the number of traditional households with married couples at their core stood at slightly more than 55.2 million, or 49.8 percent of the total.


SOURCE:
news.yahoo.com

This actually does surprise me, considering all the hype about family
values and what not, I figured there actually were more traditional
families.

I don't consider this to be a bad thing, though I'm sure some will.
When it comes down to it, family are the people you care about and
who care about you as well.

I definately think that alot of the traditional preachers and conserva-
tive polityicians will initially use this to try and get people to be how
they want, but when it comes right down ot it, the numbers show that
people just really don't want to live the way the conservatives and
religious right want them to.

This is indeed a social issue, as is everything else in the world that involves more than one person, but it is a very important one, at that.

I don't want to interject too much of myself into the discussion just yet, but could there be any social corollaries to these data?

The findings, which were released in August but largely escaped public attention until now because of the large volume of data, indicated that marriage did not figure in nearly 55.8 million American family households, or 50.2 percent.

More than 14 million of them were headed by single women, another five million by single men, while 36.7 million belonged to a category described as "nonfamily households," a term that experts said referred primarily to gay or heterosexual couples cohabiting out of formal wedlock.

By comparison, the number of traditional households with married couples at their core stood at slightly more than 55.2 million, or 49.8 percent of the total.

"Overall, what I see is a situation in which people -- especially children -- will be much more isolated, because not only will their parents both be working, but they'll have fewer siblings, fewer cousins, fewer aunts and uncles," the scholar argued. "So over time, we're moving towards a much more individualistic society."

news.yahoo.com...

I find this statement to be very interesting. Does anyone really expect that one president's efforts to shore up the family to undo several generations of change in less that two terms?

It indicated that efforts by President George W. Bush and his allies, who over the past five years have made a concerted effort to shore up traditional marriage and families through tax breaks, special legislation and church-sponsored campaigns is bearing little fruit.

This must be the journalist speaking because the expert acknowledges my take on the subject.

Douglas Besharov, a sociologist with the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think tank, said it is difficult for the traditional family to emerge unscathed after three and a half decades of divorce rates reaching 50 percent and five decades out-of-wedlock births.

So, is there any link between the alarming changes in our society that bombard us on a regular basis and these data?


[edit on 2006/10/16 by GradyPhilpott]

I also wonder about the opening sentence of the source. How many single-parent families are living that way because of personal choice? There are large numbers of minority families with no father. I recently read a study that stated that 80% of black mothers were unmarried in Philadelphia. That has to have some effect on the numbers.

Interesting point jso I was a single parent well still am for 19 years. It wouldn't have been my first choice; however, we deal with what we have to deal with. My advice would be if possible have a two parent home and lets face it the security of marriage. My circumstance dictated single parenthood but its not the easiest route to take.

My situation is almost identical to yours, gh. Not my first choice, but in retrospect, it was the right thing to do.

The point I'm trying to make with all this is that statistics are like lamposts; they can be used for illumination or for support. Traditional family values can and do exist in a single-parent household.

Jso, you understand the challenges faced by single parents. It isn't easy however, sometimes it is the better choice and for me and obviously you it was. I just hate to hear people say it's no big deal to have a baby by themselves yes indeed it is a big deal. I've been fortunate in that I have a great kid now a freshman in college, very happy and well adjusted but it would have been easier if there had been 2 parents not necessarily however, better.