AMERICAN FAMILIES - TRENDS AND CORRELATES

This paper reviews demographic trends in marriage, divorce, fertility, and labor force participation that have dramatically affected the str ucture of families in the United States in the last four decades. We s ummarize what is known about the determinants of these trends, the int errelations among them, and their consequences for women, men, and chi ldren. Increases in divorce and nonmarital childbearing have led to a considerable increase in the number of children living in single-paren t (usually female-headed) households. The purported consequences of li ving in such families (or of having a teenage mother) tend to be overs tated if one does not take into account the selectivity of those who b ecome single mothers (or teenage mothers). Another important trend aff ecting families is the dramatic increase in the proportion of women, a t all stages of family formation, who work outside their homes. This h as led to some changes in roles within the household and appears to be an important correlate of many of the other demographic trends review ed herein.