There are no obvious or easy prescriptions for reversing the trends of the familial challenges that have grown deeper and wider in the last fifty years in regard to the number of babies born to unwed mothers, with the majority of all children born to women in their 20s. This article discusses the challenges regarding the marriage crisis in…

Robert Hummer and Erin Hamilton note that the prevalence of fragile families varies substantially by race and ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics have the highest prevalence; Asian Americans, the lowest; and whites fall somewhere in the middle. The share of unmarried births is lower among most foreign-born mothers than among their U.S.-born…

Over past decades, the demographics of the United States have changed markedly. The proportions of married and single people are changing; so too are the nature and functions of marriage and the family. However, people who are single, and perspectives not based on conventional marriage, remain underrepresented or misrepresented in scholarship and…

Suggests that preventing early childbearing among those who are still young and unmarried is likely to yield significant social benefits, including the restoration of marriage, discussing whether marriage is the solution to the problem of early motherhood. Explains the need for strong efforts to prevent early childbearing, examining teen pregnancy…

The social and political implications of marriage, divorce, and the one-parent family are discussed. (LD)

At most colleges and universities, fringe benefits are offered only to married faculty. Requiring marriage for benefit eligibility discriminates against all unmarried couples, homosexual or heterosexual. Resistance to providing benefits to unmarried couples is declining, but both gay and straight couples will have to lobby together for domestic…