Trend in Children under 18 Living with Single Fathers


More children are living with their divorced or never married dads in the last 40 years, but look at what happened during the recession– more divorced dads with children and a dramatic drop for unmarried fathers.  The employment status of unmarried fathers may have something to do with this change.  More US Census Bureau demographics about living arrangements of children.

Children under 18 living with single father

 

Marital History of U.S. Men from 1940-2012


Over time this figure shows the changes in marital history of men in different birth cohorts (a birth cohort is all the men born in a specific time period).  The men born in the years 1940-44 were ages 77-82 when this report was created.  The men born in the years 1975-79 were ages 32-37.  Keep this in mind when looking at these data.  The younger group (1975-79) is still likely to experience more changes in their marital history.

Nevertheless, you can still see some trends.  On average, about 2/3 of men are married at least once and this has remained constant over much of this period except this most recent period (those born 1975-79 who still have a chance of marriage).  A more difficult trend to determine in whether 2nd and 3rd time marriages are declining– the cohorts between 1950-1969 seem to suggest this trend.  The increase in the number of men never getting married is also apparent, but there is also a trend of marrying at older ages so some of the men born between 1970-1979 may still get married.  Marital History of Men By birth cohorts 2008-2012

Remarriage Rates by State – United States 2008-2012


The U.S. Census Bureau published a recent report on remarriage.  Here are a couple of graphs that illustrate some of the findings. In the graph below you can see which states have a higher than average remarriage rate ( Purple)  and which states have a lower rate (Green).  Interesting to speculate as to why the Midwest  and Northeast has a lower rate.  May be due to age of the population.  Note that about 25% of all adults (older than 15) are remarried.

Percentage of Ever-Married People by State 2008-2012

What Religious Group Has the Highest Divorce Rate in the US?


There are numerous debates about whether there are different divorce rates among the various religions.  Too often these discussions are based on data that has been collected on limited samples or by organizations that have a partisan orientation.  In one of the recent US Census reports, based on the National Survey of Family Growth, there is the most reliable data to date about the probability of divorce among US citizens based on their religious background.

Those individuals that express no religion or religious preference have the highest likelihood of divorce, next is Protestant, followed by Catholics with other religions having the most least likelihood of divorce over the 20 year time period.   Only 43% of the non-religious group is likely to be married for 20 years, while 65% of the “other religious” group is likely to be married.  Protestant (50%) and Catholics (53%) are in between.  Although this information is interesting, it is much more important to ask questions about people’s engagement and/or practice of their religious faith such as church attendance, participation in religious service and so forth.  These activities are likely to be much more influential on marriage and family life than the mere “religious affiliation” tag of “Protestant,” “Catholic,” etc.

More about Religion and Divorce

Note:  The Census category of “other” religions is composed of a wide variety of beliefs including Judaism, Latter Day Saints (Mormon), Hindus, Muslims, Seventh Day Adventist, Neopagan beliefs and more. 

What is the age of first marriage in the US?


This figure shows the changes in the median age that men and women are when getting married for the first time in the United States from 1890 to 2011.  These data are based on a US Census Bureau table.

For men the age at first marriage declinced slightly from 1890 to 1949 when the age was 22. 7 years of age.  Then it rose slowly until about 1974 and then became to rise more rapidly until today when it is 28.7 years of age in 2011.  Note that cohabitation began to be more more in the 1970s and this may account for some of this change.
For women the age at first marriage declined between 1890 and 1947 when it was 20.3 years of age.  The age at first marriage for women did not change much at all from 1947-1962, then it began to increase until the present where it stands at 26.5 years of age.  This age may also be influenced by increased cohabitation among young people.
For more demographics on marriage and divorce….

Children Living with Divorced Mothers and Fathers 1960 – 2011


This graph shows the changes in the number of children living with divorced mothers and fathers from 1960-2011.  The data are provided in “thousands” In 1960, 1,210,000 (1.2 million) children were living with their divorced mothers.  This number grew until the early 1990s almost 6 million children in 1999 and has declined or leveled off for the past decade.  In 2011 5,508,000 children lived with their divorced mothers.

The number of children living with divorced fathers is much smaller, but has been increasing over the past 50 years.  In 1960, only 129,000 children were living with their divorced fathers.  This number of children living with divorced fathers peaked in 2006 at 1,495,000 (1.49 million) children and has been declining since then.  In 2011 1,238,000 (1.23 million) children lived with their divorced fathers.

These data are provided by the US Census Bureau.  The original data are provided at this link. 

You can find other demographic data about divorce and marriage here.