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Diversity in U.S. Families 385

Bureau 2013:Table C3). The concerns—even alarm—that many express about one-
blended family a family whose
parent families may have more to do with their poverty than with children being reared members were once part of other
by one parent. families
For a glimpse of why family structure is important, read the Down-to-Earth
Sociology box on the next page.
FIGURE 12.9 The Decline

Couples without Children of Two-Parent Families

While most married women give birth, about one of five do not (Livingston and The percentage of children under 18
Cohn 2010). This is double what it was thirty years ago. As you can see from who live with both parents
Figure 12.10, childlessness varies by racial–ethnic group, with whites represent- 100%
ing the extreme. From this figure, you can also see that, except for women with
85%
Ph.D.s, the more education women have, the less likely they are to have children.
80% 78%
Some couples are infertile, but most childless couples have made a choice to 72%
69% 69%
not have children—and they prefer the term childfree rather than childless. Some 67%
decide before marriage that they will never have children, often to attain a sense 60%
of freedom—to pursue a career, to travel, and to have less stress. Other couples
keep postponing the time they will have their first child until either it is too late
40%
to have children or it seems too uncomfortable to add a child to their lifestyle.
With trends firmly in place—more education and careers for women, advances
in contraception, legal abortion, the high cost of rearing children, and an empha- 20%
sis on possessing more material things—the proportion of women who never
bear children is likely to increase. Here is how one woman expressed her view:
0
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020*
I’d rather continue traveling the world, running my business, getting massages,
*Author’s estimate.
getting pedicures and manicures, working out with my trainer, enjoying great
Source: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract
dining experiences and enjoying life to the fullest.
of the United States 1995:Table 79; 2013:Table 69.
A couple summed up their reasons for choosing not
to have children this way: FIGURE 12.10 What Percentage of U.S. Married
We are DINKS (Dual Incomes, No Kids). We are happily Women Ages 40-44 Have Never Given Birth?
married. I am 43; my wife is 42. We have been married
for almost twenty years. . . . Our investment strategy has
a lot to do with our personal philosophy: “You can have By Race-Ethnicity By Education
kids—or you can have everything else!”(in a newsletter) 30%

25%
Blended Families 25% 24% 23%
The blended family, one whose members were once
20%
part of other families, is an increasingly important type 20%
18%
of family in the United States. Two divorced people 17% 17% 17%
16%
who marry and each bring their children into a new 15%
15%
family unit form a blended family. With divorce com-
mon, millions of children spend some of their child-
hood in blended families. I’ve never seen a better 10%
explanation of how blended families can complicate
family relationships than this description written by one
5%
of my freshman students:
I live with my dad. I should say that I live with my 0
Some College
Master’s Degree
Latinas
African Americans
dad, my brother (whose mother and father are also my Ph.D.
mother and father), my half sister (whose father is my Asian Americans High School
dad, but whose mother is my father’s last wife), and White Americans High School Dropout Bachelor’s Degree
two stepbrothers and stepsisters (children of my father’s
current wife). My father’s wife (my current stepmother,
not to be confused with his second wife who, I guess, is no Source: By the Author. Based on Livingston and Cohn 2010.