The Slow Death of 'Traditional' Families in America

[xchrom]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/the-slow-death-of-traditional-families-in-america/281904/

Thanksgiving is perhaps the quintessential American family holiday, but what, exactly, does the quintessential American family look like today? Gay marriage laws have happily extended legal rights to same-sex couples, but over the last half century, a less auspicious family development has been the rise of single moms and dads and the decline of two-parent households, particularly among lower-income and less-educated families.

New Census numbers help tell the story:



The big takeaway here is that college graduates overwhelmingly raise children together (88 percent have a married spouse present). Non-college-grads are more than twice as likely to raise their child alone.

I took the Census figures and turned them into pie charts to accentuate the percentage difference in family arrangements by education. What you might call the "traditional" family structure (two parents raising their kids, together) dissipates as you move down the education ladder.

The blue slice represents what some people might consider a traditional family: Two married parents raising kids together.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. HS grad and non-HS Grad are about the same %...interesting

but the difference in actual numbers is further apart...hmmmm

[w8liftinglady]

2. LOL...see my post on my "extended family"

Reality is reality.