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The Changing Face of theAmerican Family: Modern History

economicorpoliticalsystem.Despitethese
statistics,90%ofallAmericansmarry,and
mostpeopleremarryafteradivorce(Mintz,
2001).

Cohabitation

Anothersignificantchangewhich
occurredinthelasthalfofthe20thcenturyis
theincreaseinthenumberofcohabiting
couples.In1970,householdsofunmarried
couplesmadeuponly1%ofU.S.
households,whilein2000therateincreased
tonearly5.2%(Simmons&O’Neil,2001).
Coupleswhoarelesseducated,havelow
religiousorientation,andlesseconomic
resourcesaremorelikelytocohabit(Seltzer,

2000;Amato,Booth,Johnson,&Rogers,

2007).Theprobabilityacohabitingunion

willresultinmarriagewithin5yearsisless

than50%(Lichter,Qian,&Mellott,2006).

Premaritalcohabitationhasconsistently

beenassociatedwithanincreasedriskof

divorceandlessmaritalsuccess(KampDush,

Cohan,&Amato,2003;Phillips&Sweeney,

2005;Stanley,Rhoades,&Markman,2006).

Anexceptiontotheprecedingiswhen

cohabitationislimitedtothefuturespouse

(Teachman,2003).Teachman’sfindings

suggestwomenwhohadpremaritalsexand

cohabitatedwiththemantheyeventually

marriedhadthesamechanceofdivorceas

thosewhoabstainedfrompremaritalsexand

cohabitation.However,accordingtothe

sameresearch,multiplesexualpartners

increasedtheriskofdivorceregardlessof

cohabitation.

The Elderly

From the young to the old,dynamics of

the family have changed.Medical

advances have increased the life

expectancy of Americans; therefore,they

can expect to spend a longer time in the

“golden years.”In 2003,people 65 and

older made up nearly 12% of the

American population.Projections are that

by 2030 the elderly will represent 20% of

the population andafter2030,theoldest

old-agegroup,those85andolder,willgrow

rapidly(He,Sengupta,Velkoff,&DeBarros,

After an increase in the birth rate for teens in

the 1980s, the birthrate for adolescents has

steadily declined to about 4 in every 100 births.

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