Library Index :: Family and Social Issues of the United States :: Family Marital Status and Living Arrangements - Marital Status, Teenage Pregnancy, Minority Family Structure, Living Arrangements Of Children, Home Ownership

Family Marital Status and Living Arrangements - Minority Family Structure

African-American Families

The Bureau of the Census defines a family as two or more persons living together who are related by birth, marriage,

TABLE 2.4
Percent reporting two or more races by specified race, 2000

Specified race Alone or in combination1 Alone2 In combination3 Percent in combination4
White 216,930,975 211,460,626 5,470,349 2.5
Black or African American 36,419,434 34,658,190 1,761,244 4.8
American Indian and Alaska Native 4,119,301 2,475,956 1,643,345 39.9
Asian 11,898,828 10,242,998 1,655,830 13.9
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 874,414 398,835 475,579 54.4
Some other race 18,521,486 15,359,073 3,162,413 17.1
1People who reported only one race, together with those who reported that same race plus one or more other races, are combined to create the race alone or in combination categories.
2People who reported only one race create the race alone categories.
3People who reported more than one of the six race categories create the race in combination categories.
4The "percent in combination" is the proportion that the "in combination" population represented of the "alone or in combination" population. This is the equivalent of the percent of people reporting a specified race who reported two or more races.
SOURCE: Nicholas A. Jones and Amy Symens Smith, "Table 5. Percent Reporting Two or More Races by Specified Race: 2000," in The Two or More Races Population: 2000, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, November 2001

TABLE 2.5
Birth rates for teenagers 15–19 years by age, race and Hispanic origin of mother, 1991, 1999, and 2000
[Rates are live births per 1,000 women in specified group]

Non-Hispanic
Year and age Total1 White Black American Indian2 Asian or Pacific Islander2 Hispanic3
15–19 years
2000 48.5 32.5 81.9 67.8 21.6 94.4
1999 49.6 34.0 83.7 67.8 22.3 93.4
1991 62.1 43.4 118.9 85.0 27.4 106.7
Percent change, 1991–2000 −22 −25 −31 −20 −21 −12
Percent change, 1999–2000 −2 −4 −2 0 −3 1
15–17 years
2000 27.4 15.8 52.0 39.6 11.5 60.0
1999 28.7 17.1 53.7 41.4 12.3 61.3
1991 38.7 23.6 86.7 52.7 16.1 70.6
Percent change, 1991–2000 −29 −33 −40 −25 −29 −15
Percent change, 1999–2000 −5 −8 −3 −4 −7 −2
18–19 years
2000 79.2 56.8 125.1 113.1 37.0 143.6
1999 80.3 58.9 126.8 110.6 38.0 139.4
1991 94.4 70.5 163.1 134.3 43.1 158.5
Percent change, 1991–2000 −16 −19 −23 −16 −14 −9
Percent change, 1999–2000 −1 −4 −1 2 −3 3
1Includes origin not stated.
2Includes persons of Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin.
3Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
SOURCE: Joyce A. Martin, Brady E. Hamilton, Stephanie J. Ventura, Fay Menacker, and Melissa M. Park, "Table A. Birth Rates for Teenagers 15–19 Years by Age, Race and Hispanic Origin of Mother: United States, 1991, 1999, and 2000, and Percent Change, 1991–2000 and 1999–2000," in Births: Final Data for 2000, National Vital Statistics Reports, vol. 50, no. 5, February 12, 2002

or adoption. A household, however, can be family or nonfamily, and is simply all persons who occupy a housing unit. Among family households, the proportion of married-couple families declined from 1970 to 2000 for both African-Americans and whites. In 1970, 89 percent of white families were married-couple families, compared to 81 percent in 2000. In 1970, 68 percent of African-American families were married-couple families; thirty years later, the rate had dropped to 47.8 percent. In 2000 there were 4.1 million black married-couple families. (See Table 2.6.)

The proportion of family households headed by females with no husband present has grown for both African-Americans and whites, from 28 percent in 1970 to 44 percent in 2000 for African-Americans, and from 9 percent to 13.9 percent for whites. In 2000, 8.4 million family households were headed by white women, and 3.8 million were headed by African-American women. (See Table 2.6.) Single mothers are frequently poorer and less educated than mothers in married-couple families.

Hispanic Families

Among Hispanic families in 2000, 67.9 percent were married-couple families, down from 69 percent in 1998. The proportion of female-headed family households was 23.4 percent in 2000. That year there were 1.8 million family households headed by Hispanic women, higher than the number of family and nonfamily households headed by Hispanic men. (See Table 2.6.) Among Hispanic subgroups, Cubans were the least likely to have never been married.

Asian and Pacific Islander Families

As with all other American families, the proportion of married families among API families has dropped—from 82 percent in 1990 to 79.6 percent in 2000. But in 2000, among the 2.5 million Asian-American family households, the proportion of married-couple family households was higher than that for any other minority race or ethnicity. (See Table 2.6.)

In addition, females with no spouse present headed only 13.2 percent of API families in 2000, far less than for African-Americans (44 percent) and Hispanics (23.4 percent), and less than whites (13.9 percent). API male householders with no spouse present accounted for 7.1 percent of all API families, a lower rate than their African-American (8.1 percent) and Hispanic (8.7 percent) counter-parts.

TABLE 2.6
Households by selected characteristics, March 2000
(In thousands)

Family households Nonfamily households
Total Total Married couple Male house-holder Female house-holder Total Male house-holder Female house-holder
White
ALL HOUSEHOLDS 87,671 60,251 48,790 3,081 8,380 27,420 12,204 15,215
SIZE OF HOUSEHOLD
One member 22,307 - - - - 22,307 9,198 13,109
Two members 30,142 25,943 20,933 1,333 3,677 4,199 2,301 1,898
Three members 13,837 13,221 9,671 882 2,668 616 478 138
Four members 12,798 12,603 10,913 508 1,182 195 148 48
Five members 5,682 5,620 4,910 212 498 62 49 13
Six members 1,837 1,811 1,504 90 217 27 21 6
Seven or more members 1,066 1,053 858 57 138 13 8 5
MARITAL STATUS OF HOUSEHOLDER
Married, spouse present 48,790 48,790 48,790 - - - - -
Married, spouse absent 1,163 461 - 159 302 701 345 356
Widowed 9,842 2,107 - 342 1,764 7,735 1,487 6,249
Divorced 12,293 4,658 - 1,228 3,431 7,634 3,842 3,793
Separated 2,057 1,125 - 217 908 932 558 374
Never married 13,526 3,110 - 1,136 1,974 10,416 5,973 4,444
Black
ALL HOUSEHOLDS 12,849 8,664 4,144 706 3,814 4,185 1,876 2,309
SIZE OF HOUSEHOLD
One member 3,605 - - - - 3,605 1,580 2,025
Two members 3,436 3,002 1,317 307 1,378 434 198 236
Three members 2,525 2,438 998 178 1,262 87 58 29
Four members 1,739 1,701 938 118 645 39 24 14
Five members 898 883 512 66 304 15 11 4
Six members 418 412 243 31 138 6 6 -
Seven or more members 229 229 136 7 87 - - -
MARITAL STATUS OF HOUSEHOLDER
Married, spouse present 4,144 4,144 4,144 - - - - -
Married, spouse absent 216 131 - 27 104 85 42 43
Widowed 1,397 591 - 69 522 805 168 638
Divorced 2,044 1,004 - 130 874 1,040 557 483
Separated 900 560 - 97 463 340 169 172
Never married 4,149 2,235 - 384 1,851 1,915 941 974
Asians and Pacific Islanders
ALL HOUSEHOLDS 3,337 2,506 1,996 179 331 831 432 399
SIZE OF HOUSEHOLD
One member 625 - - - - 625 313 311
Two members 870 714 525 75 113 157 84 73
Three members 639 604 461 33 110 35 25 10
Four members 645 635 540 41 54 10 6 4
Five members 287 282 231 13 38 5 5 -
Six members 166 166 149 8 9 - - -
Seven or more members 105 105 91 8 7 - - -
MARITAL STATUS OF HOUSEHOLDER
Married, spouse present 1,996 1,996 1,996 - - - - -
Married, spouse absent 119 69 - 32 37 50 38 12
Widowed 176 70 - 9 62 105 14 91
Divorced 232 106 - 20 86 126 55 71
Separated 83 51 - 13 38 32 20 12
Never married 732 214 - 105 109 518 305 213

(See Table 2.6.) In comparison, white males with no spouse present headed only 5.1 percent of white families.

User Comments Add a comment…