Sociology 1301 Final Chapter 14:2

Single Parents

1. 27 percent of children lived with a single parent only, up from 25 percent in 2008. 2. Of that 27 percent, 23 percent live with their mother and three percent live with their father. 3. Ten percent of children living with their single mother and 20 percent of children living with their single father also live with the cohabitating partner of their parent (for example, boyfriends or girlfriends).

Of the children in same-sex couple households,

1. 31 percent of same-sex couples are raising children, not far from the 43 percent of opposite-sex couples (U.S. Census 2009). 2. 73 percent are biological children (of only one of the parents), 3. 21 percent are adopted only, 4. and 6 percent are a combination of biological and adopted (U.S. Census 2009).

Single women

1. Although both single men and single women report social pressure to get married, 2. women are subject to greater scrutiny. are often portrayed as unhappy "spinsters" or "old maids" who cannot find a man to marry them. 3. Single women report feeling insecure and displaced in their families when their single status is disparaged (Roberts 2007). 4. single women older than thirty-five years old report feeling secure and happy with their unmarried status, as many women in this category have found success in their education and careers. 5. In general, women feel more independent and more prepared to live a large portion of their adult lives without a spouse or domestic partner than they did in the 1960s (Roberts 2007).

the extended family statistics

1. In 2010, three million children (4 percent of all children) lived with a guardian who was neither their biological nor adoptive parent. 2. Of these children, a. 54 percent live with grandparents, b. 21 percent live with other relatives, a c. 24 percent live with nonrelatives.

Cohabitation

1. Living together before or in lieu of marriage is a growing option for many couples 2. when a man and woman live together in a sexual relationship without being married, was practiced by an estimated 7.5 million people (11.5 percent of the population) in 2011, which shows an increase of 13 percent since 2009 (U.S. Census 2010).

Grandparent functioning as the primary care provider

1. Nine percent of all children live with a grandparent, and in nearly half those cases, the grandparent maintains primary responsibility for the child (U.S. Census 2011). 2. often results from parental drug abuse, incarceration, or abandonment. 3. Events like these can render the parent incapable of caring for his or her child.

Same-Sex Couples

1. The number of same-sex couples has grown significantly in the past decade. 2. The U.S. Census Bureau reported 594,000 same-sex couple households in the United States, a 50 percent increase from 2000. 3. Same-sex couple households have an average age of 52 4. an average household income of $91,558; 5. opposite-sex couple households have an average age of 59 and an average household income of $95,075. A

The increase Same-Sex Couples

1. This is a result of more coupling, 2. the growing social acceptance of homosexuality, 3. and a subsequent increase in willingness to report it.

Effects of Cohabitation

1. While couples may use this time to "work out the kinks" of a relationship before they wed, the most recent research has found that cohabitation has little effect on the success of a marriage. 2. In fact, those who do not cohabitate before marriage have slightly better rates of remaining married for more than ten years (Jayson 2010). 3. Cohabitation may contribute to the increase in the number of men and women who delay marriage. 4. The median age for marriage is the highest it has ever been since the U.S. Census kept records—age twenty-six for women and age twenty-eight for men (U.S. Census 2010).

Stepparents

1. are an additional family element in two-parent homes. 2. Among children living in two-parent households, 9 percent live with a biological or adoptive parent and a stepparent. 3. The majority (70 percent) of those children live with their biological mother and a stepfather. 4.

Single, or never-married individuals

1. are found in higher concentrations in large cities or metropolitan areas, with New York City being one of the highest. 2.

Legal recognition of same-sex couples

1. as spouses is different in each state, as only six states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriage. 2. The 2010 U.S. Census, however, allowed same-sex couples to report as spouses regardless of whether their state legally recognizes their relationship.

The decision to marry or not to marry

1. can be based a variety of factors including religion and cultural expectations. 2. Asian individuals are the most likely to marry while African Americans are the least likely to marry (Venugopal 2011). 3. Additionally, individuals who place no value on religion are more likely to be unmarried than those who place a high value on religion. however, the importance of religion made no difference in marital status (Bakalar 2010). In general, being single is not a rejection of marriage; rather, it is a lifestyle that does not necessarily include marriage. By age forty, according to census figures, 20 percent of women and 14 of men will have never married (U.S. Census Bureau 2011).

concern

1. from socially conservative groups regarding the well-being of children who grow up in same-sex households, research reports that same-sex parents are as effective as opposite-sex parents. In an analysis of 81 parenting studies, 2. sociologists found no quantifiable data to support the notion that opposite-sex parenting is any better than same-sex parenting. 3. Children of lesbian couples, however, were shown to have slightly lower rates of behavioral problems and higher rates of self-esteem (Biblarz and Stacey 2010).

This surge in cohabitation

1. is likely due to the decrease in social stigma pertaining to the practice. 2. The vast majority of cohabitating relationships eventually result in marriage; only 15 percent of men and women cohabitate only and do not marry. 3. About one half of cohabitators transition into marriage within three years (U.S. Census 2010). 4. While couples may use this time to "work out the kinks" of a relationship before they wed, the most recent research has found that cohabitation has little effect on the success of a marriage. 5. In fact, those who do not cohabitate before marriage have slightly better rates of remaining married for more than ten years (Jayson 2010). 6. 6. Cohabitation may contribute to the increase in the number of men and women who delay marriage. 7. The median age for marriage is the highest it has ever been since the U.S. Census kept records—age twenty-six for women and age twenty-eight for men (U.S. Census 2010).

Nationally, Same-Sex Couples households

1. make up 1 percent of the population, ranging from as little as 0.29 percent in Wyoming to 4.01 percent in the District of Columbia (U.S. Census 2011). 2. Nationally, 25 percent of all same-sex households reported that they were spouses. In states where same-sex marriages are performed, nearly half (42.4 percent) of same-sex couple households were reported as spouses.

Cohabitating couples

1. may choose to live together in an effort to spend more time together or to save money on living costs. 2. Many couples view cohabitation as a "trial run" for marriage. 3. Today, approximately 28 percent of men and women cohabitated before their first marriage. 4. By comparison, 18 percent of men and 23 percent of women married without ever cohabitating (U.S. Census Bureau 2010).

In a 2010 National Center for Health Statistics survey

1. only 38 percent of the 13,000-person sample thought that cohabitation negatively impacted society (Jayson 2010).

Changes in the traditional family structure

1. raise questions about how such societal shifts affect children. 2. U.S. Census statistics have long shown that children living in homes with both parents grow up with more financial and educational advantages than children who are raised in single-parent homes (U.S. Census 1997). 3. Parental marital status seems to be a significant indicator of advancement in a child's life. 4. Children living with a divorced parent typically have more advantages than children living with a parent who never married; this is particularly true of children who live with divorced fathers. 5. This correlates with the statistic that never-married parents are typically younger, have fewer years of schooling, and have lower incomes (U.S. Census 1997). 6. Six in ten children living with only their mother live near or below the poverty level. 7. Of those being raised by single mothers, a. 69 percent live in or near poverty compared to b. 45 percent for divorced mothers (U.S. Census 1997). 8. Though other factors such as age and education play a role in these differences, it can be inferred that marriage between parents is generally beneficial for children.

In terms of demographics same sex couples

1. same-sex couples are not very different from opposite-sex couples

Of those who cohabitate,

1. the majority are non-Hispanic 2. with no high school diploma or GED and grew up in a single-parent household (U.S. Census 2010).

In 2010,

1. there were 99.6 million unmarried individuals over age eighteen in the United States, 2. accounting for 44 percent of the total adult population (U.S. Census 2011). 3. never-married individuals in the twenty-five to twenty-nine age bracket accounted for 62 percent of women and 48 percent of men, up from 11 percent and 19 percent, respectively, in 1970 (U.S. Census 2011).

nuclear family,

1. two-parent family structure i 2. referring to married parents and children as the nucleus, or core, of the group. 3. Recent years have seen a rise in variations of the nuclear family with the parents not being married. 4. Three percent of children live with two cohabiting parents (U.S. Census 2011).

the extended family

1. when a a parent is not present at all. 2. may include aunts, uncles, and cousins living in the same home. 3. Foster parents account for about a quarter of nonrelatives. 4. The practice of grandparents acting as parents, whether alone or in combination with the child's parent, is becoming widespread among today's families (De Toledo and Brown 1995).

Staying Single

Gay or straight, a new option for many people in the United States is simply to stay single.

Variations in Family Life

Recognize variations in family life Understand the prevalence of single parents, cohabitation, same-sex couples, and unmarried individuals Discuss the social impact of changing family structures

Single men

are typically portrayed as lifetime bachelors who cannot settle down or simply "have not found the right girl.

Family structure

has been shown to vary with the age of the child. Older children (fifteen to seventeen years old) are less likely to live with two parents than adolescent children (six to fourteen years old) or young children (zero to five years old). Older children who do live with two parents are also more likely to live with stepparents (U.S. Census 2011).