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388 CHAPTER 12 Marriage and Family

reared by heterosexual parents (Gelderen et al. 2012). Their children are not more likely
to have a gay or lesbian sexual orientation (Farr et al. 2010; Tasker 2010).
Sociologist Paul Amato (2012) points out that these studies have statistical flaws that
make them unusable for discovering differences in the children’s adjustment. The one study
that passes statistical standards shows that children reared by gay and lesbian parents are
slightly less well adjusted. He adds that this finding is not clear, because parents of many of
these children were divorced, and children of divorce show slightly worse emotional adjust-
ment. Regardless, he says, we would not deny adoption to heterosexual couples who had
divorced because the children of divorced parents do slightly less well. Future research in
this area will be interesting—and destined to land in the midst of controversy.
Why do gay and lesbian couples want to adopt children? When anthropologist Ellen
Lewin (2009) interviewed homosexual couples who had adopted, she found the same
reasons that you would expect of heterosexual couples: to establish a family, love of
children, wanting to give parentless children a home, to feel more adult, and to give
meaning to one’s life.

Trends in U.S. Families
Discuss changes in
12.5
the timetable of family life,
As is apparent from our discussion, marriage and family life in the United States are
cohabitation, and elder care.
undergoing fundamental change. Let’s look at some of the other major trends.
The Changing Timetable of Family Life:
Marriage and Childbirth
Figure 12.11 illustrates a profound change in U.S. marriage. As you can see, the average
age of first-time brides and grooms declined from 1890 to about 1950. In 1890, the
typical first-time bride was 22, but by 1950, she had just left her teens. For about twenty

FIGURE 12.11 When Do Americans Marry? The Changing Age

at First Marriage

30
29
28

27
26
Men
Age 25
24

23
Women
22
21

20
19
1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
cohabitation unmarried cou- Year
ples living together in a sexual Note: This is the median age at first marriage. The broken lines indicate the author’s estimate.
relationship
Sources: By the author. Based on U.S. Census Bureau 2010; Elliott et al. 2012.