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Changes in American Families

Sociologists often refer to the traditional American family as the "Leave it to Beaver" nuclear family with two to five children, the father as breadwinner and the mother as caretaker of the kids. While this picture of the family was certainly not universal, the American family of today is dramatically different from the "Leave it to Beaver" family of 30 to 40 years ago.

The family of today is much more diverse-more diverse ethnically, culturally, and socially; more diverse economically; more diverse in structure: two parent, single parent, step parent; more diverse in sexual orientation as well as lifestyles and activities. The final report of the National Commission on Children (1991) devoted a chapter to "The Changing American Family." This chapter highlights some of the most pertinent changes in families:

Overall, birthrates have fallen, families are smaller and parents and children are spending less time together. Increasingly, children are living with only one parent (usually their mother) and many lack the consistent involvement and support of their fathers.

Our country has the highest divorce rate in the world, about half of all marriages end in divorce and the majority of divorces involve children. Out-of-wedlock births have also risen dramatically: 5% of all births were to unmarried mothers in 1960, compared with 25% (or one million babies) in recent years.

The rapidly rising divorce rate and a rising rate of out-of-wedlock childbearing have dramatically increased the number and proportion of children in single parent families: 12% of children in 1970 and 25% (or 16 million children) in 1989. African American children are far more likely to live in single parent families than white, Hispanic, Asian or Native American children.

There is a striking difference between African Americans and Caucasians in terms of mother-only families. For whites, the increase is primarily due to divorce and separation; for blacks, it is primarily due to childbearing outside of marriage. The result is that half of all white children and three fourths of all African American children born in the past two decades will live part of their formative years in mother-only families.

Another dramatic shift has been the steady movement of women into the workforce: from 1970 to 1990, the proportion of mothers with children under age six who were working or looking for work outside their homes rose from 32% to 58%; in 1990, more than 74% of women whose youngest child was between 6 and 13 years of age were working or looking for paid work outside the home.

About 70% of children with employed mothers, nearly 20 million are cared for by an adult other than a parent, grandparent or sibling. Preschool children are nearly always in the care of an adult, yet an estimated 1 to 3 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 care for themselves during times when they are not in school.

Approximately 12 to 15% of children and adolescents experience mental disorders, ranging from disruptive behavior (attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity) to more severe problems such as depression, anxiety, and serious difficulties in learning.

The suicide rate for youth has escalated over the past three decades: from 3.6 per 100,000 in 1960 to 7.2 in 1980 and 10.2 in 1986. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death (behind accidents) for adolescents. White adolescents are the highest risk group with a rate of 16 per 100,000.

Older Americans are living longer and families are having fewer children: As a result, the proportion of older persons in the population has risen (9.2% in 1960 to 12.6% now) and the proportion of children in the population has declined sharply (36% in 1960 to 26% now).

The ratio of wage earners to Social Security pensioners has dropped dramatically due to shifts in the age structure: from 16 to 1 in 1950 to 5:1 in 1960 to 3:1 in 1990. By the year 2020, the ratio of workers to Social Security pensioners is projected to drop to 2.2:1.