{"id":38448,"date":"2023-09-14T09:59:41","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T14:59:41","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-09-11T14:37:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T18:37:55","slug":"the-modern-american-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2023\/09\/14\/the-modern-american-family\/","title":{"rendered":"The Modern American Family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-horizontal__on-mobile__vertical has-sans-serif-font-family has-small-font-size is-content-justification-space-between is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-93c2ce85 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-bottom:0;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\"><nav style=\"--breadcrumbs-gap: var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\" class=\"wp-elements-1 wp-block-prc-block-breadcrumbs has-text-color has-ui-gray-light-color\" id=\"breadcrumbs-1\" 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class=\"wp-block-prc-block-bylines-display is-horizontal is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-prc-block-bylines-display-is-layout-4effdc6a wp-block-prc-block-bylines-display-is-layout-flex\" class=\"wp-block-prc-block-bylines-display__bylines\"><span class=\"wp-block-prc-block-bylines-display__prefix\">By<\/span> <a rel=\"author\" href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/staff\/carolina-aragao\/\" aria-label=\"View author archive for Carolina Arag\u00e3o\">Carolina Arag\u00e3o<\/a><span class=\"prc-platform-staff-bylines__separator\">, <\/span><a rel=\"author\" href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/staff\/kim-parker\/\" aria-label=\"View author archive for Kim Parker\">Kim Parker<\/a><span class=\"prc-platform-staff-bylines__separator\">, <\/span><a rel=\"author\" href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/staff\/shannon-greenwood\/\" aria-label=\"View author archive for Shannon Greenwood\">Shannon Greenwood<\/a><span class=\"prc-platform-staff-bylines__separator\">, <\/span><a rel=\"author\" href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/staff\/chris-baronavski\/\" aria-label=\"View author archive for Chris Baronavski\">Chris Baronavski<\/a> <span class=\"prc-platform-staff-bylines__and-separator\">and<\/span> <a rel=\"author\" href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/staff\/john-carlo-mandapat\/\" aria-label=\"View author archive for John Carlo Mandapat\">John Carlo Mandapat<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date has-small-label-font-size has-text-align-center\"><time datetime=\"2023-09-14T09:59:41-04:00\">September 14, 2023<\/time><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-georgia-font-family has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e1a0efe0 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The American family has undergone significant change in recent decades. There is no longer one predominant family form, and Americans are experiencing family life in increasingly diverse ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group scrolly-container has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group fixed is-style-fluid has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<figure id=\"graphic-insert-1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure id=\"graphic-insert-2\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group scrolly is-style-fluid is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-2c90304e wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p class=\"scene-1 has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In 1970, 67% of Americans ages 25 to 49 were living with their spouse and one or more children younger than 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"scene-2 has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Over the past five decades, that share has dropped to 37%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"scene-3 has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">With the drop in the share of adults living with a spouse and children, there has been an increase in other types of family living arrangements, like unmarried adults raising children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A recent survey finds that the U.S. public is <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2023\/09\/14\/public-has-mixed-views-on-the-modern-american-family\/\">more accepting of some family types than others<\/a>. And, broadly speaking, Americans are more pessimistic than optimistic about the future of the institution of marriage and the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"what-s-behind-the-change-in-family-structure\" class=\"wp-block-heading has-sans-serif-font-family\">What\u2019s behind the change in family structure?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">There are several factors that have contributed to these changes. Americans are marrying later in life, and a rising share have never been married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ui-gray-dark-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.114), 15px);\"><em>% of U.S. adults ages 18 and older who are married or have never been married<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure id=\"graphic-insert-3\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ui-gray-dark-color has-text-color has-sans-serif-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:11px\">Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 1970-2000 decennial census and 2010-2021 American Community Survey (IPUMS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">While the overall share of married adults has declined, certain types of marriages have become more common over time. Since the 1970s, a growing share of Americans are in interracial or interethnic marriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ui-gray-dark-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.114), 15px);\"><em>% of U.S. married adults ages 18 and older who are intermarried<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure id=\"graphic-insert-4\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ui-gray-dark-color has-text-color has-sans-serif-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:11px\">Note: Intermarried refers to marriages between a Hispanic and a non-Hispanic spouse, or marriages between non-Hispanic spouses who come from different racial groups.<br>Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 1970-2000 decennial census and 2010-2021 American Community Survey (IPUMS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In 2015, same-sex marriages became legal nationally, and since then there has also been an increase in the proportion of Americans in same-sex marriages. In 2021, there were over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/library\/stories\/2022\/11\/same-sex-couple-households-exceeded-one-million.html\">700,000 same-sex married couples in the United States<\/a>, accounting for approximately 1% of all married couples.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ui-gray-dark-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.114), 15px);\"><em>% of U.S. married adults ages 18 and older in a same-sex marriage<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure id=\"graphic-insert-5\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ui-gray-dark-color has-text-color has-sans-serif-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:11px\">Source: Pew Research Center analysis of&nbsp;2015-2021 American Community Survey (IPUMS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Changes in fertility patterns have also had a significant impact on family dynamics. Compared with their counterparts in the 1970s, women today have fewer children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The relationship between marriage and parenthood has also shifted, as more women are having children <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2018\/04\/25\/the-changing-profile-of-unmarried-parents\/\">without being married<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Taken together, these changes help explain why married couples raising children together is no longer the norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s take a closer look at the changes in family life over the past decades to understand how the American family has evolved and what it looks like today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"differences-by-education-race-and-ethnicity\" class=\"wp-block-heading has-sans-serif-font-family\">Differences by education, race and ethnicity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">What form a family takes is increasingly shaped by educational attainment and varies significantly across racial and ethnic groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Today, individuals with a bachelor\u2019s degree are much more likely to be married than those with less education \u2013 a change from the 1970s, when adults with a high school diploma were as likely as college graduates to be married. There are also growing racial and ethnic disparities since that time, with Asian and White adults increasingly more likely to be married than those who are Black or Hispanic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Explore the data to see how these differences play out in American families. To start, click on&nbsp;a tab&nbsp;to&nbsp;display<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>data on the share of Americans who are&nbsp;married;&nbsp;the number of children women have, on&nbsp;average; or<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>the share of children living with two married parents.&nbsp;Then, choose a filter to show differences by education or by race and ethnicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure id=\"graphic-insert-6\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-prc-platform-feature-loader\" id=\"js-modern-family\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key trends in marriage and family life in the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":46654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"layout-essay-no-breadcrumbs","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"\u00a0Key trends in marriage and family life","sub_title":"\u00a0Key trends in marriage and family 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