cohabitation

Changing U.S. Family Patterns Pose Policy Challenges

Beginning in the 1960s—and accelerating over the last two decades—changes in marriage, divorce, cohabitation, and nonmarital childbearing have transformed family life in the United States. The family continues to serve a primary role in raising children and caring for elderly relatives. But new family patterns and increased instability are creating complex family and economic ties…

PRB Discuss Online: The Increasing Complexity of Family Life in the United States

Today, Americans are more likely to marry and to divorce than in almost any other Western nation. How has this pattern changed over the last 10 years? What are the implications for current and future generations? Johns Hopkins University professor Andrew Cherlin’s review of the research, “Demographic Trends in the United States: A Review of…