Family in the United States
Over time, the structure has had to adapt to very influential changes, including divorce and more single-parent families, teenage pregnancy and unwed mothers, same-sex marriage, and increased interest in adoption.
[2] Beginning in the 1970s in the United States, the structure of the "traditional" nuclear American family began to change.
[4] These include same-sex relationships, single-parent households, adopting individuals, and extended family systems living together.
Although widely believed to be detrimental to the mental and physical well-being of a child, this type of household is tolerated.
Romantic relationships between men and women were formed and dissolved with little impact on the children who remained in the mother's extended family.
Same-sex couples who were married were previously recognized by the Census Bureau as unmarried partners.
[14] Same-sex marriage is legally permitted across the country since June 26, 2015, when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.
The number of heterosexual unmarried couples in the United States has increased tenfold, from about 400,000 in 1960 to more than five million in 2005.
As divorce rates rise in society, the desire to get married is less attractive for couples uncertain of their long-term plans.
Traditionally, mothers were responsible for raising the kids while the father was out providing financially for the family.
[19] Older parents are financially established and generally have fewer problems raising children compared to their teenage counterparts.
Historically husbands in opposite-sex couples have been breadwinners; that trend is changing as wives start to take advantage of the women's movement to gain financial independence for themselves.
According to The New York Times, "In 2001, wives earned more than their spouses in almost a third of married households where the wife worked.
"[24] Stay-at-home dads or "househusbands" are fathers that do not participate in the workforce and stay at home to raise their children—the male equivalent to housewives.
These are married fathers with children under fifteen years of age who are not in the workforce primarily so they can care for family members, while their wives work for a living outside the home.
Involuntary childlessness may be caused by infertility, medical problems, death of a child, or other factors.
[27] Same-sex parents are gay, lesbian, or bisexual couples that choose to raise children.
[25] In the 2000 United States Census, there were 594,000 households that claimed to be headed by same-sex couples, with 72% of those having children.
[28] In July 2004, the American Psychological Association concluded that "Overall results of research suggests that the development, adjustment, and well-being of children with lesbian and gay and bisexual parents do not differ markedly from that of children with heterosexual parents.
There is a lot of fear surrounding the transgender community, and the negative stigma can lead to familial alienation.
[35] The family structure of African-Americans has long been a matter of national public policy interest.
[36] It hypothesized that the destruction of the Black nuclear family structure would hinder further progress toward economic and political equality.
Jeremy Greenwood, Professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania has explored how technological progress has affected the family.
In particular, he discusses how technological advance has led to more married women working, a decline in fertility, an increase in the number of single households, social change, longer lifespans, and a rise in the fraction of life spent in retirement.
[43] Sociologist Elyakim Kislev lists some of the major drivers for the decline in the family institution: women's growing independence, risk aversion in an age of divorce, demanding careers, rising levels of education, individualism, secularization, popular media, growing transnational mobility, and urbanization processes.
[44] The television industry initially helped create a stereotype of the American nuclear family.
