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Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1996

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Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1996 Current Population Reports Marital Status and Living Population Characteristics Arrangements: March 1996 By Arlene F. Saluter and Terry A. Lugaila C E N S U S B U R E A U P20-496 Issued March 1998 INTRODUCTION Figure 1. Many changes in marital status Unmarried Adults as a Percent of and living arrangements have oc- curred over the last few decades. All Adults: 1970 and 1996 Noteworthy have been the contin- uing trends toward postponement 1996 40% of first marriage and higher levels of divorce. These and other mari- tal status changes, particularly in 1970 28% the family formation ages, have re-shaped the living arrangements of children and adults since the Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census 1970’s–fewer children now live with two parents and more adults Changes in the proportion of the live alone. This report is based Divorced population growing population currently married have on the March 1996 Current Popu- fastest lation Survey and provides implications for fertility trends, and The currently divorced popula- estimates for the resident popula- care and support systems for chil- tion, excluding military in barracks dren and the elderly, as well as tion is the fastest growing marital and people in institutions. for changes in living patterns dis- status category. The number of cussed later in this report. divorced people has more than quadrupled, from 4.3 million in MARITAL STATUS Declines in the proportion of 1970 to 18.3 million in 1996. adults currently married have oc- They represented 10 percent of Declining proportions of adults curred for Whites, Blacks, and adults age 18 and over in 1996, are married Hispanics,1 but the changes have up from 3 percent in 1970. Although the number of current- been most pronounced for Blacks. ly married people has grown 23 In 1996, 63 percent of White Never-married adults more than percent since 1970 (from 95 mil- adults were currently married, doubled since 1970 lion in 1970 to 116 million in down from 73 percent in 1970. In 1996, 44.9 million adults age 1996), the number of unmarried Similarly, the proportion of His- 18 and older had never been adults has grown significantly fast- panics who were currently married, more than twice the er, doubling from 38 million to 77 married declined from 72 percent number in 1970 (21.4 million). million (Table A). These in- to 58 percent between 1970 and Never-married adults accounted creases resulted in a decline in 1996. Among Black adults, 42 for 23 percent of all adults, and the proportion of adults age 18 percent were currently married in made up the largest share (59 and over who are married, from 1996, a considerable decrease 72 percent in 1970 to 60 percent from 64 percent in 1970. percent) of the unmarried popula- in 1996. tion in 1996, followed by those 1Hispanics may be of any race. who were divorced (24 percent) and those who were widowed Table A. (18 percent). Marital Status of People 18 Years and Over: 1970 and 1996 Sharp increases in the propor- (Numbers in thousands) tion never married have been Marital status 1996 1970 primarily seen among men and women in their late twenties and Total, 18 years and over . 193,166 132,507 Percent who are: early thirties (Table B). Between Married . 60.3 71.7 1970 and 1996, the proportion of Unmarried . 39.7 28.3 25- to 29-year-olds who had nev- Never married . 23.3 16.2 Widowed . 7.0 8.9 er married more than tripled for Divorced . 9.5 3.2 women from 11 percent to 38 Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration 2 P20–496 Table B. Marital Status Defined. Marital Percent Never Married: 1970 and 1996 status, as shown in this report, re- flects the person’s status as of the Age 1996 1970 survey date. For example, the Women: category “divorced” represents 20 to 24 years . 68.5 35.8 25 to 29 years . 37.6 10.5 only those currently divorced and 30 to 34 years . 20.5 6.2 not remarried. It is not a count of 35 to 39 years . 13.1 5.4 divorces that occurred in 1996, nor 40 to 44 years . 9.7 4.9 a count of all people who have ever Men: 2 20 to 24 years . 81.0 54.7 divorced in their lifetime. The cate- 25 to 29 years . 52.0 19.1 gory “married” includes adults who 30 to 34 years . 29.6 9.4 live with their spouse and who live 35 to 39 years . 20.8 7.2 40 to 44 years . 14.2 6.3 apart due to marital discord or for any other reason (separated). “Un- Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census married” includes those who have never married or are currently di- percent and more than doubled Postponement of marriage vorced or widowed. for men, from 19 percent to 52 continues percent. Among 30- to 34-year- Median Age at First Marriage The median age at first mar- Defined. These estimates are cal- olds, the proportions never married riage has been rising since the tripled from 6 percent to 21 per- culated indirectly by estimating the mid-1950s and has increased proportion of young people who will cent for women and from 9 quite rapidly during the past two ever marry during their lifetime, cal- percent to 30 percent for men. decades (Figure 2). In the twenty culating one-half of this proportion, The proportion never-married years spanning 1955 to 1975, the and determining the current age of has increased for Whites, Blacks, estimated median age at first people at this half-way mark by os- and Hispanics. Among Whites, marriage increased about 1 full culatory interpolation.3 It does not the proportion increased from 16 year (from 22.6 years to 23.5 represent the actual median age of to 21 percent between 1970 and years for men and from 20.2 to the population who married during 1996. Thirty-nine percent of Black 21.1 for women). Since 1975, the the calendar year. adults in 1996 had never been median age has increased more married, up from 21 percent in than 3 full years for men and 1970. For Hispanics, the propor- women, climbing to 27.1 years for tion rose from 19 to 30 percent men and 24.8 years for women LIVING ARRANGEMENTS during this period. in 1996. OF CHILDREN Children under age 18 are con- siderably more likely to be living with only one parent today than Figure 2. two decades ago. As marital Median Age at First Marriage, by Gender: 1950 to 1996 circumstances of the adult popu- Age lation have changed, so have the living arrangements of children. 28 The rise in divorce and delay in 27.1 first marriage among adults are two of the major factors contribut- 26 ing to the growing proportion of children living with one parent. 24.8 These living arrangements are depicted as of the survey date 24 and are not intended to represent 22.8 Men life-long experience. 22 2For estimates of people ever divorced, see Norton, Arthur J., and Louisa F. Miller (1992) Women Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage in the 1990’s, 20.3 U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P23-180, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1992. 20 3 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 96 For a complete description of the calculation of median age at first marriage, see U.S. Bureau of the Census, The Methods and Materials of De- Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census mography, by Henry S. Shryock, Jacob S. Sie- gel, and Associates, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1971. P20–496 3 living in the home of their grand- Table C. parent(s), of which 1.4 million had Children by Presence of Parents: 1970 and 1996 no parent present. These 4.1 (Numbers in thousands) million grandchildren represented 6 percent of all children under 18, Living arrangements 1996 1970 up from 3 percent of all children in Children under 18 years . 70,908 69,162 1970. These estimates include Percent living with: only those situations where a Two parents . 68.0 85.2 grandparent was designated as One parent . 27.9 11.9 Mother only . 24.0 10.8 the householder; it does not in- Father only . 3.9 1.1 clude grandparents living in a Neither parent . 4.1 2.9 home maintained by the child’s Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census parent(s). Of the children living with grand- parents in 1996, 12 percent also Figure 3. 2 parents had both parents living with them, Children by Presence of Parents: 1996 1 parent 48 percent had only their mother (Percent) Neither parent present, 5 percent had only their father present, and 35 percent White 74.7 22.1 3.2 had neither parent present in the grandparents’ home (Table D). Black children are more likely to Black 33.4 57.4 9.3 live in their grandparents’ home than White children or children of 62.2 32.4 Hispanic origin-13 percent of Hispanic1 5.4 Black children compared with 4 percent for Whites and 7 percent 1Hispanics may be of any race. for Hispanics in 1996. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census LIVING ARRANGEMENTS Only 7 of 10 children live with A child in a single-parent situa- OF ADULTS two parents tion in 1996 was as likely to be Changes in the marital circum- living with a parent who had never stances of the adult population The proportion of children been married (36 percent) as with under 18 years living with two greatly affect the way people live.
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