parents and children

childbearing stats

• 47% of children are now born outside marriage, often to cohabiting parents.

• Average age at first birth rose from 24.1 in 1971 to 28.1 in 2012.

• Women are having fewer children: average fell from 2.95 (1964) to 1.63 (2001), rising slightly to 1.94 (2010).

reasons

• decline in stigma of children out of marriage

• career priorities before motherhood

• later childbearing = less children due to fertility

lone parents families

• Lone-parent families make up 22% of all families with children.

• One in four children lives in a lone-parent household.

• Over 90% of lone-parent families are headed by women.

reasons

• Increase in divorce and separation.

• Rise in births to never-married women.

matrifocal lone parent

• Beliefs that women are naturally suited to childcare.

• Custody laws favour mothers.

• Men may be less willing or able to give up work.

welfare and poverty

• murray

• dependency culture

stepfamilies

• Over 10% of families with dependent children are stepfamilies.

• 85% of stepfamilies include children from the woman’s previous relationship.

• 11% include children from the man’s previous relationship.

• 4% include children from both partners’ previous relationships.

reasons

• Stepfamilies form when lone parents re-partner — often due to divorce or separation.

• Children usually stay with their mother after breakups, explaining maternal dominance in stepfamily structures.

• Stepfamilies may face poverty due to larger household sizes and financial obligations to children from previous relationships.

• Tensions may arise from unclear social norms about roles in stepfamilies.

LATs

• 1 in 10 adults are in a LAT relationship — not married or cohabiting.

• Half of those officially classified as single are actually in LATs.

• LATs reflect a move toward less formalised relationships and ‘families of choice’.

• Reasons include financial constraints, desire for independence, past relationship trauma, or early-stage relationships.