THE RAPIDLY CHANGING AMERICAN FAMILY

SHARED From;

Malaysian Reserve, Wednesday 27 November 2013

International New York Times

Health and Science

By Natalie Angier

 

The typical American family has become multi-layed and full of surprises.  Researchers who study the evolution expressed astonishment at how rapidly it has changed in recent years.  According to Professor Andrew J. Cherlin of Johns Hopkins University, the turnover in the intimate partnerships is crating complex families an a fast scale.  Researchers say that families are becoming more socially egalitarian.  Families are more ethnically diverse than half generation ago.

There are really good studies showing that single people are more likely than married couple to be in touched with friends, neighbors, siblings and parents.  But that doesn’t mean that they remain single forever.

The old fashion family plan of stably married parents residing with their children remains a source of considerable power, but one that is increasingly seen as out of reach to all but the educated elite.

In charting the differences between today’s families and those of the past, demographers start with the lack of children.  The United States birth rate today is half what it was in 1960 with last year hitting the lowest point.  Fewer women are becoming mothers, and fewer reproducing average 2 children now, compare with 3 in 1970s.

One of the reasons is the cost.  As steep as the fertility decline has been, the marriage rate has fallen more sharply, particularly among young women.  Also de-mode is the old debate over whether mothers of dependent children should work outside the home.  The mother’s pay check is not a central organizing principle of the modern American family.  The share of mothers employed full of part-time has quadrupled since the 1950s and today accounts for nearly ¾ of women with children at home.  The number of women who are their family’s sole or primary bread-winner has risen to 40% today from 11% in 1960.

Cultural attitudes are adapting accordingly.  Most view the ideal marriage as one in which husband and wife both work and share child care and household duties.  Mothers are bringing more of the bacon and getting more of the education.  Women are better educated than their mates.  One cause that caught many family researchers by surprise was the recent dip in the divorce rate.  They began falling in 1996.  The decline has been even more striking among middle and upper-middle income couples with college degree.