228 DIVorCe wItH DeCenCY
The rise of single-parent households. Another key factor contribut-
ing to this trend has been the rise in the number of single-parent
households. Births out of wedlock have increased dramatically,
and many moms are raising their children by themselves. It has
been estimated that perhaps as many as 33 percent of all births
nationwide occur out of wedlock. Obviously, the increasing fre-
quency of divorce has also created many single-parent and single-
person households.
According to a recent University of Chicago study entitled
“The Emerging 21st Century American Family,” the number of
children living with single parents increased from less than 5
percent in 1972 to almost 20 percent in 1998. It is commonplace
nowadays for more and more children to live with someone other
than both parents. Whereas fully 85 percent of all children under
age eighteen lived with both parents in 1970, this percentage had
dropped to about 50 percent by 1998.
Some kids aren’t even being raised by either parent. According
to a recent AARP survey, one out of nine grandparents is defined
as a primary caregiver for a grandchild.
Is cohabitation cool? It now seems pretty obvious that the grow-
ing emergence of cohabitation in lieu of formal marriage has
become an ever-increasing phenomenon in American society.
According to the Year 2000 U.S. Census, the number of house-
holds consisting of unmarried adults and no children had more
than doubled since the early 1970s and is now up to approxi-
mately 30 percent. People of all ages are adopting the cohabitation
mode. While living together seems particularly popular among
the young and the divorced, senior citizens also now routinely
hold off on a formal marriage in order to preserve their individual
estates, social security, or other retirement benefits. Since living
together is much more widely accepted nowadays, and is less
likely than before to attract societal disapproval, it seems safe to
predict that cohabitation will continue to be an increasingly vis-
ible part of American society.
Overall, about half of all cohabiting relationships end within
five years. But, it is also true that approximately 55 percent of cou-
ples who live together first do end up eventually marrying. Oddly
enough, however, according to most studies, living together