The American family in 1990: growing diversity and inequality

Abstract

Trends that have affected the US family over the past four decades include delayed marriage a decline in marriage an increase in divorce a shift from marital to nonmarital fertility and an increase in maternal employment. These trends differed in prevalence for Blacks and Whites. European families experienced similar trends. In the 1960s over 50% of families had a breadwinner father and a homemaker mother whereas only 20% in the 1980s fit this marital pattern. Dual earner families increased during the same period from under 25% to nearly 40%. Female one-parent households increased from about 9% to around 23%. By 1990 over 50% of White women had nontraditional family roles principally as working wives. 16% of White mothers were unmarried in 1990 but only 7% of White women were single mothers. Single women without children increased from 38% in 1980 to 40% in 1990. White women were in dual earner families and Black women were in single mother families. 64% of White women and only 34% of Black women were married in 1990. Cross national comparison revealed that the US did a poorer job of reducing poverty among single mothers than other industrialized countries. Other countries accomplished this without creating welfare-dependent mothers. In the multivariate analysis high education full-time employment and high median earnings of women were strongly and negatively related to level of marriage among White women in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the US. Changes in government assistance programs and the sex ratio did not account for declines in marriage between 1970 and 1990. Over 70% of the decline in marriage among White women during the 1970s-1990s was explained by womens earning power; mens earning power explained only 9% of the decline. Declines in marriage among Black women were not strongly linked to womens or mens earning power.