How many kids grow up with married parents?
As of 2004, 68% of children lived with two married parents ("Family Structure and Children's Living Arrangements," Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, http://childstats.gov/amchildren05/pop6.asp). Show
In 2004, 23% of children lived with only their mothers, 5% lived with only their fathers, and 4% lived with neither of their parents (ibid.). Only 45% of all teenage children live with their married biological parents ("The Positive Effects of Marriage: A Book of Charts," Patrick Fagan, www.heritage.org/Research /Features/Marriage/index.cfm). Children in single-parent families comprise 27% of all American children, yet they account for 62% of all poor children (ibid.). The three most significant reasons children are raised without their married mother and father are unwed pregnancy, cohabitation, and divorce ("The State of Our Unions: The Social Health of Marriage in America 2006," David Popenoe and Barbara Whitehead, National Marriage Project, http://marriage.rutgers.edu. Print version, p.33). Social Science on the Benefits that Marriage Provides to Children
Church Teaching and Pastoral Response
ConclusionSocial science research shows clear advantages when children are raised by two married parents. This does not diminish the exemplary efforts of many single parents, whose "courage and determination" the U.S. Bishops recognize in "Follow the Way of Love" (p. 10). It does, however, encourage pastoral leaders to promote loving, faithful, and committed marriages as the best gift that parents can give to their children. What percentage of children live in a household with both parents?The majority of America's 72.9M children under 18 live in households with two parents (70%). The second most common are children living with mother only (21%).
What percentage of US children have married parents?In 2016, approximately 73.6 million children under age 18 lived in the United States. The living arrangements of these children varied: 63 percent lived with married parents, 27 percent lived with a female parent with no spouse present, and 8 percent lived with a male parent with no spouse present.
Do children of married parents do better?Over the past 20 years, a body of research has developed on how changes in patterns of family structure affect children. Most researchers now agree that together these studies support the notion that, on average, children do best when raised by their two married, biological1 parents who have low-conflict relationships.
How many children are being raised by single parents?Statistics About Children in Single-Parent Families
In the United States today, nearly 24 million children live in a single-parent family. This total, which has been rising for half a century, covers about one in every three kids across America.
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