February 9, Daniel A. In addition, the authors would like to thank Beatrice Lee, Dana Popky, and Grace Burns for their research assistance and support with the design of the report figures; Sarah Burns and Josh Delk for their strategic insights and communications support; Abigail Guidera for her detailed oversight and administrative assistance; Rachel Hershberger for her careful and efficient editing; and Danielle Curran and Jennifer Morretta for their design and aesthetic expertise. American family life has profoundly changed over the past half century. The marriage rate is falling, women are having fewer children, and many Americans, young adults in particular, are rethinking what it means to be a family. But despite these changes, few Americans say the institution of marriage is outdated, and it remains a goal for most single Americans, who express interest in getting married one day. The institution of marriage is evolving in important ways. Religion, which at one time was at the center of much of American family and married life, has become less prominent. Not only are interfaith unions increasingly common, so are marriages among people who have no religion. For couples married before , roughly eight in 10 81 percent share the same faith as their partner, and just 3 percent are in secular marriages. In contrast, just over half 52 percent of couples married in the past decade are in same-faith marriages, while 16 percent are in secular unions.
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Americans still report high levels of satisfaction in their relationship with their spouse, and the social benefits of marriage remain considerable. The overwhelming number of married Americans have a positive view about their relationship with their spouse. Compared to Americans who are unmarried, married Americans are more likely to report that they have a satisfying social life and a larger group of close friends. They also say they are more satisfied with their personal health than their single peers do. Yet men appear to accrue these advantages at somewhat greater rates than women do. There is also a massive perception gap between men and women in the division of household labor. The contours of American family life have changed considerably in recent years, but some of our most important formative influences remain the same. Most Americans report growing up with a sibling, and few experiences have a more unique or enduring impact than sibling relationships. Most Americans with siblings say they had a reasonably close relationship with their brothers and sisters growing up, and middle children notably report the closest relationships.
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Parental favoritism appears to exert a crucial role in how Americans relate to their siblings and broader feelings of social connection and kinship. Overall, 40 percent of Americans who grew up with siblings report that their parents had a favorite child. Americans who perceived their parents picked favorites feel less close to their siblings and their parents and were more likely to report feeling lonely while growing up than those who said their parents had no favorites report. The American family has never been a static institution. Rather, the patterns of family formation and function continue to evolve in response to the emergence of new technologies infiltrating American homes, shifting economic realities, and new cultural attitudes. Today, Americans are marrying later and having smaller families. Despite these shifts in behavior, most young Americans still aspire to get married and have children. Few Americans report that marriage is irrelevant, and many believe that society benefits when its members prioritize having and raising children. However, how Americans think about marriage and child-rearing has changed. In their personal relationships, and even religion, Americans appear to be prioritizing individual preferences to a far greater extent.
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Newly married couples are eschewing religious wedding ceremonies that connect them to existing traditions and communities, preferring instead celebrations that reflect their own personal tastes and preferences. The primacy of individual preferences also manifests itself in family life. Fewer Americans growing up today have regular meals with their family, a practice that was routine a generation ago. And Generation Z reports having lonelier childhoods than those born in earlier generations. But not all changes in family life are exclusively the culmination of shifting personal desires; the loss of faith in formative institutions, rising cost of childcare, and feelings of economic insecurity among young adults may play a role as well. There is evidence that the extensive financial obligation raising children requires is a formidable hurdle for many Americans. Americans who are uncertain about having children cite the cost of doing so as the most important reason they would choose not to do so. Most Americans continue to be fairly upbeat about marriage—and for good reason. Both married men and women generally feel satisfied with their spouse. In aggregate, both men and women derive considerable benefit from being married.Married Americans have more satisfying social lives and larger social networks and report greater satisfaction in their personal health. Despite signs of greater parity between men and women in taking on domestic duties, women appear to take on a far greater burden, particularly with decisions regarding children. Women report performing far more of the household chores, including cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. Married mothers are also far more likely to say they are primarily responsible for making health decisions and planning social activities for children. The ongoing tension may be one reason women are much more likely than men to leave their marriage and, after doing so, less likely to get married again. But despite the many changes and distinct experiences, American family life has enduring qualities. In many families, mothers remain the most important source of personal and emotional support, although there are considerable cross-cultural variations.
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Our siblings continue to play a crucial role during our formative years and beyond. Parental decisions and behavior can have lifelong influence. Parental favoritism, the notion that parents have a favorite child, has far-reaching negative effects on family dynamics and relationships. And parental divorce continues to disrupt American family life. After nearly two years of life under a pandemic, economic upheaval, social disconnection, and political turmoil following the election, most Americans do not feel overly optimistic about how things are going in the country. More than half 53 percent say they feel pessimistic about where the country is headed. White Americans are far more pessimistic about the future than Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are.Black Americans are among the most optimistic about the direction the US is headed. Nearly two-thirds 64 percent of Black Americans report feeling at least somewhat optimistic, as do 59 percent of Asian Americans and 55 percent of Hispanics. Only 41 percent of White Americans share this feeling of optimism about the future of the country. Six in 10 60 percent White Americans report feeling pessimistic. No group expresses greater pessimism about the future of the country than White evangelical Protestants. Nearly three-quarters 74 percent of Americans say things in the US have mostly been getting worse, while 26 percent say that things in the country have generally been improving. Optimists and pessimists think differently about how the country has changed. Americans who are optimistic about how things are going generally focus on the long arc of history, while those who express pessimism are more focused on recent events. The vast majority 90 percent of Americans who say things are generally getting better in the US say this is happening slowly over time. Conversely, the majority 61 percent of those who say things have been getting worse believe it is happening very quickly.
Emerging Trends and Enduring Patterns in American Family Life
Despite widespread negative views about the state of the country and its future, Americans are largely satisfied with how things are going in their own communities. More than eight in 10 87 percent Americans report feeling at least somewhat satisfied about the quality of life in their local community, although less than half 45 percent say they feel very or completely satisfied. Only 14 percent of the public say they are not satisfied with the quality of life in their community. The structure of American family life has undergone profound changes over the past half century. The nuclear family, which at one point served as the unchallenged cultural ideal, has slowly been replaced with a more diverse set of social arrangements. First, there is the rise of single-parent households. A generation ago, the overwhelming majority of children were raised in two-parent households, but fewer children are raised in this type of household today. One of the most important changes in American family life has likely been brought about by the decline in marriage. Over the past several decades, the marriage rate in the US has plummeted. According to an analysis from Pew Research Center, just over half 53 percent of to year-olds are married—a 14 percentage point drop since
Despite waning participation, few Americans believe that marriage is irrelevant today. Only about one in four 26 percent Americans believe marriage has become old-fashioned and out-of-date. Nearly three-quarters 74 percent of the public disagree. Although young adults today are less likely to be married than previous generations at their age were, their views of marriage roughly mirror those of the public overall. Views are consistent among men and women as well.
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Nearly identical numbers of men 73 percent and women 74 percent reject the idea that marriage has become a dated institution. Perhaps due to the historic association between marriage and religion, religiously unaffiliated Americans are among the most likely to believe marriage is old-fashioned and out-of-date. Thirty-six percent of religiously unaffiliated Americans believe marriage is an outmoded institution. This view is far less common among religious Americans. For instance, less than one in five Mormons 15 percent , Jews 15 percent , and White evangelical Protestants 14 percent say marriage is out-of-date. Despite a widely held belief that marriage is still a relevant institution in American society, many of those who have never been married remain skeptical or ambivalent about getting married themselves. More than one-third 34 percent of Americans who have never been married say they have no intention of ever doing so. Roughly two-thirds 65 percent of unmarried Americans report that they would be interested in getting married at some point in their lives. There is even less interest in marriage among Americans who are single and have never been married—those not currently in a committed romantic relationship or living with a partner. Sixty-one percent of singles say they would be interested in getting married someday.
Perhaps because marriage is difficult to think about in the abstract, Americans who are currently in relationships are much more likely to express an interest in getting married. Roughly three-quarters 76 percent of those who are in a relationship but have never been married say they want to get married someday. Among single Americans, interest in marriage varies surprisingly little. Single Americans without a college education are about as likely to express an interest in marriage as those who graduated with a four-year degree 61 percent vs. Single men 60 percent and women 62 percent also report nearly equal interest in marriage. The one exception to this pattern is religion. Only half 50 percent of religiously unaffiliated singles report being interested in getting married someday, compared to two-thirds 66 percent of Christian singles.
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