Family Life and Living Arrangements - Marital Status, Teenage Pregnancy, Minority Family Structure, Homeownership

The family is regarded as the cornerstone of society in the United States. For many years, particularly when the United States was primarily an agricultural society, extended families—multiple generations living in the same household—were considered typical. As the culture became more urban and mobile, nuclear families—two parents and their children—became the American norm.

However, the makeup of families and their role in society have been undergoing change. Shifts in economics, employment, moral values, and social conditions have led to an increasing number of single men and women living alone, cohabitations without marriage, and single-parent families. A growing number of children, especially minority children, are being raised by only one parent or by neither parent, as in the case of children being raised by grandparents or foster parents. How these changes impact minorities in the United States can be best understood through a detailed look at minority families.