Family instability continues to grow in the U.S. despite falling divorce rates for families with children. Researchers say an increase in cohabitation is part of the problem, adding that society’s “retreat from marriage” harms children and has particularly hurt poor and working-class communities.
For background, read No Marriage in Most U.S. Households: Census and also read Defeating Marriage & Destroying Family: Survey as well as Cohabitation is Too Much of a Commitment plus also read Marriage Essential for Children: Studies
UPDATE 8/20/11: Married couples four times more likely to be faithful to one another than cohabiting couples
-- From "More Unwed Parents Live Together, Report Finds" by Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times 8/16/11
The number of Americans who have children and live together without marrying has increased twelvefold since 1970, according to a report released Tuesday. The report states that children now are more likely to have unmarried parents than divorced ones.
The report cites data from the Census Bureau as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and includes work from 18 researchers who study family issues.
According to the National Survey of Family Growth, part of the Centers for Disease Control, 42 percent of children have lived with cohabiting parents by age 12, far more than the 24 percent whose parents have divorced.
Cohabiting parents . . . are more than twice as likely to break up as parents who are married.
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From "Study: Are Cohabiting Parents Bad For Kids?" by Jennifer Ludden, NPR 8/16/11
The study is put out by the National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values, groups whose missions include strengthening marriage and family life. . . .
Brad Wilcox, a report co-author and head of the National Marriage Project . . . says the children of the divorce revolution grew up to be understandably gun-shy about marriage. Many are putting it off, even after they have kids. But research shows such couples are twice as likely to split.
Forty-one percent of all births are now to unwed mothers, many of them living with — but not married to — the child's father.
In fact, another recent study finds that a quarter of American women with multiple children conceived them with more than one man. Psychologist John Gottman, a co-author of Tuesday's report, says that kind of instability can have a negative impact on kids in all kinds of ways.
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From "Increased cohabitation rates mean more instability for children" by Kevin J. Jones, Catholic News Agency 8/17/11
More than 40 percent of U.S. children now spend time in a cohabiting household. They are much more likely to experience a parental breakup than children of married couples.
In the U.S., the breakup rate is 170 percent higher for children born to cohabiting couples up until age 12.
The report found that children in cohabiting households are at least three times more likely to be physically, sexually or emotionally abused, compared to children from intact marriages between their biological parents.
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Also read Liberalism Causes Poverty in America: Study
