There are, again, many articles and surveys about the decline in the family structure. One of the best sources on this subject is David Popenoe’s Journal of Marriage and Family[1]. He analyzes and gives survey results on a variety of subjects relating to the following topics: Children, Families, Parents, Divorce, Demography, Divorce rates, Cohabitation, Family members, Mothers and motherhood, and Family relations.

However, more recently the PEW Research Center in 2015[2] published survey results that show the following declining family situation;

% of children living with two parents in first marriage-

1960-  73%

1980-  61%

2014-  46%

Also, PEW reports-

  “While in the early 1960s babies typically arrived within a marriage, today fully four-in-ten births occur to women who are single or living with a non-marital partner.” “Black children and those with less educated parents are less likely to be living in a two-parent household.” 54% of black children but only 19% of white children live in single parent households. 46% of children whose parents have less than a high school education live in a single parent home and 12% of children whose parents have a college degree or more live in a single parent household.”

 Now those of us who are senior citizens have many family members, relatives and friends who can attest to this decline in family structure and how it has helped cause the decline of Catholicism. We do not need a study to confirm what we have seen with our own eyes and have had to live through.

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[1]The American Family Decline, 1960-1990: A Review and Appraisal by David Popenoe’s Journal of Marriage and Family, published by the National Council on Family Relations, August 1993

[2] PEW Research Center, Parenting in America, December 17, 2015