The number of children living with both their biological parents reportedly recorded the highest in three decades based on data released by the Institute For Family Studies for 2020.
According to the Christian Post, the Institute has analyzed the United States 2020 Census data along with the Department of Education's National Household Education Survey 2012-2020 data that showed a striking increase in people under 18 living with their parents.
The Institute For Family Studies' report is entitled, "Growing Up With Mom and Dad: New Data Confirm The Tide Is Turning." The 2020 report showed that 4.1% of people under 18 live with neither parent, 25.5% live with one parent and, 70.4% live in a home with both of their parents based.on the US 2020 Census.
While the National Household Education Survey showed similar results for high school students. Results for 2020 show that 59.1% of white high school seniors living with both parents increased in an eight-year period from the 55.8% of 2012, while a 29.6% increase was recorded for black high school seniors from 24.3% for the same time period.
Comparatively, the 70.4% increase represented a slight difference to that recorded for 2010 at 69.4% and for 2000 at 69.1%. The increase still has not leveled to that recorded in 1990 at 72.5% and fares below the 1960 record of 87.7%.
"Although certainly not out of intensive care, the supposed corpse of the two-parent family seems to be breathing new life," Institute For Family Studies Senior Fellow Nicholas Zill said in their report.
Zill, a research psychologist, told The Christian Post in an email the increase in children living with both parents are "somewhat surprising" and were brought about by people's "greater awareness of the benefits of two-parent upbringing," the "decline in teen childbirth," and people marrying "at older ages and education levels."
IFS Research Director Dr. Wendy Wang elaborated on these factors as people's way of avoiding the experience of divorce.
"People are getting married later in life these days, and they are less likely to rush into a marriage which they may regret later on," Wang said in a 2020 interview with The Christian Post.
"On the other hand, we've seen the record low marriage rate happening in the U.S.," she added. "College-educated adults are more likely than those without a college degree to get married, and their divorce rate is lower."
However, Zill said this is increasing trend of children living with both parents is expected to change due to the "menagerie of alternate family forms" that have surfaced in the past years and in the trend raised by the Census Bureau in line with the increase of children living only with one parent if compared to 1968 data.
"The Bureau lumps stepparent and adoptive families with both birth-parent families, making their two-parent category more inclusive than commonly understood. Furthermore, children in stepfamilies and adoptive families have experienced family disruption. The evidence is that they have higher rates of emotional, behavior, and learning problems than those residing with both birth parents," Zill told The Christian Post.
Data for 2020 from the bureau show that 21% of children live with their mothers only, which is almost double to the 11% recorded for 1968. While children living with their fathers only were recorded in 2020 at 4.5%, skyrocketing to that of 1968's mere 1%.
