{"id":18923,"date":"2014-05-09T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-05-09T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/5-questions-and-answers-about-american-moms-today\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:44:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:44:22","slug":"5-questions-and-answers-about-american-moms-today","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/05\/09\/5-questions-and-answers-about-american-moms-today\/","title":{"rendered":"5 questions (and answers) about American moms today"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Blacks,<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Credit:
Credit: Thanasis Zovoilis\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

American mothers today look far different from mothers\u00a0celebrated 100 years ago<\/a>\u00a0when President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation calling for a day of reverence for mothers. Here’s what we know about today’s\u00a0American moms and how they’ve changed over time.<\/p>\n\n

Who are\u00a0American moms?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"marital<\/figure>\n\n

There are about\u00a085 million mothers in America<\/a>, according to a recent\u00a0U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Our analysis of census data shows that the share of mothers with kids younger than 18 at home has declined. Today, about a third (34%) of women ages 18-64 have young children at home; in 1960, 52% did. And women are having children at a later age than they used to. In 2012, the average age of a first-time\u00a0mother\u00a0was 25.8 years<\/a>,\u00a0up from 21.4 years in 1970.<\/p>\n\n

The marital status of mothers has also changed dramatically. In 1960, nearly all mothers with young children were married, compared with just seven-in-ten today. About four-in-ten\u00a0(41%)\u00a0of all births today are to unmarried women<\/a>; up from just 5% of births in\u00a01960.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

How many kids do they have?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The\u00a0Census reports<\/a>\u00a0that among women ages 40 to 44 — who are\u00a0near\u00a0the end of their child-bearing years and likely to have already completed their lifetime fertility\u00a0— one third has had two children, 19 percent have either had one or three and about 10%\u00a0have had four or more. About one-in-five women (19%)\u00a0in this age group has had no children<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

American mothers are now expected to have, on average, 1.9 children<\/a>,\u00a0compared with 3.7 children in 1960. But this number varies by race and ethnicity. The average for Hispanic mothers is\u00a02.2 children over the course of their lifetime, compared with 1.9 for non-Hispanic black mothers, and 1.8 for Asian and non-Hispanic white mothers.<\/p>\n\n

[someone]<\/p>\n\n\n

How do moms\u00a0spend their time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Today’s moms work more hours outside the home<\/a> and spend far less time on housework than they did 50 years ago. They also\u00a0spend more time with their children than mothers did in the 1960s, and about twice as much time\u00a0as today’s fathers do. For their part,\u00a0dads now spend\u00a0more time on\u00a0housework and child care than they used to, but they haven’t caught up to moms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

When it comes to leisure time, fathers out-relax moms, spending 28 hours per week on leisure activities on average, compared with 25 hours for moms. The leisure gap between moms and dads is especially wide\u00a0on the weekends<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

How many moms are working?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

About seven-in-ten mothers (71%) with children younger than 18 were in the labor force in 2012<\/a>, compared with less than half (47%) in 1975. Meanwhile,\u00a0after decades of decline, the share of stay-at-home moms has ticked up<\/a>\u00a0since 1999.<\/p>\n\n

More mothers are also now providing for their families. A record 40% of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family<\/a>, up from just 11% in 1960.\u00a0About two-thirds of these “breadwinner moms” are single mothers.<\/p>\n\n

When you ask mothers what their “ideal” working situation would be, most say they would rather work than stay at home<\/a>, but they prefer part-time work over full-time. And\u00a0half of all working moms with young kids say that being a working parent has made it harder for them to advance in their careers<\/a>. Only 16% of working dads say the same.<\/p>\n\n

However, Americans have mixed views today about the ideal situation for children<\/a>.\u00a0A plurality of adults (42%) in 2012 say having a mother who works part time is ideal for a young child, and one-third say having a mother who doesn\u2019t work at all is ideal. Only 16% say a mother who works full-time is the ideal.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

How do moms\u00a0feel about the job they’re doing raising their kids?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Despite spending more time with their kids than they did a generation ago, about a quarter of mothers (and half of fathers) say they do not spend enough time with their children<\/a>. Even so, about\u00a0three-quarters of moms\u00a0give themselves high ratings on their parenting<\/a>. Working mothers are particularly likely to give themselves a thumbs up.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s American mothers look far different from the mothers celebrated 100 years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254,229,221,223,228],"bylines":[932,836],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[],"class_list":["post-18923","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-birth-rate-fertility","category-fertility","category-household-structure-family-roles","category-marriage-divorce","category-parenthood","bylines-andrea-caumont","bylines-wendy-wang","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":664,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/05\/09\/5-questions-and-answers-about-american-moms-today\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":29459,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp?w=564&h=300&crop=1","width":564,"height":300,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":29459,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":29459,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":29459,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":29459,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp?w=640&h=300&crop=1","width":640,"height":300,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":29459,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/05\/FT_14.05.09_Marriedmoms-jpg.webp?w=640&h=300&crop=1","width":640,"height":300,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"5 questions (and answers) about American moms today","description":"Today's American mothers look far different from the mothers celebrated 100 years ago.","og_title":"5 questions (and answers) about American moms today","og_description":"Today's American mothers look far different from the mothers celebrated 100 years ago.","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":[],"custom_schema":[],"og_image":29459,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"prepublish_checks":{},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"relatedPostsOrdered":[],"bylinesOrdered":[{"key":"00fc20fdda50308924728f222f030178","termId":932},{"key":"003aabbbd7a7a31873365dfb79a6d688","termId":836}],"acknowledgementsOrdered":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/18923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/short-read"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/18923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106966,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/18923\/revisions\/106966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=18923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}