Family Trends


     This week as part of my class I was able to dive deeper into trends of the family. Even though throughout my life I have figured I had a pretty good idea about families, how they worked, and what they should be like, I learned many new things. I was able to watch a documentary that had a lot of useful information and facts that I found very interesting. 
     There are ten main trends with family that I was specifically able to look at this past week. They are these, not in order of any specific importance. I will go over some details . of each. 
       
        1. Premarital sex
        2. Births to unmarried women
        3. Living alone
        4. Delayed marriage
        5. Cohabitation
        6. Extended Family
        7. Birth rates
        8. Household size
        9. Divorce
        10. Employed mothers

1. Premarital sex is a trend that is rising. Even though it was something that has always happened, the numbers have recently continued to go up, especially of those who are still in high school. 
2. In the book Marriage and Family, The Quest for Intimacy, it shows that women born between 1925 and 1929 almost 1 in 10 had at least one non martial birth by age 30. Then among women born between 1965 and 1969 more than 1 of 4 had at least one non marital birth by age 30. Now, by 2007, 39.7% of all births were to unmarried women. This was a surprising jump in numbers to me, I did not think that it would be that high, and I am sure that now, 10 years later, the number is even higher. 
3. I was surprised to find that more women than men live alone. I personally, would have thought that it would be men to live alone more often. However, no matter man or woman to live alone, it poses some problems. Everyone needs to have some sort of intimate relationship in their life, and if someone is living alone, it may be hard for them to fulfill that need. They are then more likely to fall into depressions or other unhealthy mental states. 
4. The figures by 2007 of the age men and women at which they were married was 26 for women and 28 for males. This age has dramatically gone up since the 1950s. A statistic that I found very interesting was that many people who delay marriage are those who spent part or all of their childhood without a father in the home. To me, it says a lot about the effects of children in the home. I have always believed that having two parents, a mom and a dad, is best for the children and the more that I have studied the family, the more I come to realize that it is true. 
5. Cohabitation is living with someone in an intimate, sexual relationship without being legally married. Many use cohabitation as a way to test their compatibility for marriage hoping to lower their chances of divorce. What they don't know is that is actually a myth. Studies have shown that those who cohabitate before they are married are actually more likely to get a divorce than those who are married before living together. 
6. Years ago, it was not uncommon to live with multiple generations of family in one house. Now, it is very unusual to see even grandparents living in the same house as their children. 
7. Women now are more likely to postpone having even their first child until they are into their 30's. This means that if they start at that age, there is less time for them to have more children which means that overall, there will be less children born. Right now, the rate in the U.S. is lower than what is necessary for the natural replacement of the population. What does this mean? It means that more people are dying than are being born, which will eventually lead to an extreme decline in population. 
8. Household size in 1790 was approximately 5.8 people. It has slowly decreased since then, but as of 2008 it was only 2.56 people per household. 
9. Divorce is thought to be really bad right now, but actually, it was worse in the 1970's. It got really bad there for a while, but then the rates started to level out and are on a slight downward climb and continue to go that way. 
10. "Census Bureau figures show that the proportion of married women (with a husband in the home) who are employed increased from 23.8 percent in 1950 to 62.6 percent in 2007." 

        These are only some of the main points for each trend. I had the privilege to listen to a class discussion on each of them in more depth. If you have questions about any of them, feel free to contact me and I will answer them to the best of my ability. I am excited to finish this course and expand my knowledge on the family. I am looking forward to starting my own family and I know that by learning about it now, I will be more prepared to have a successful family later. I know that it is my responsibility to start a family as soon as I can and am able. I believe that each of us have a calling to bring children into this world and to support the traditional family. 


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