Pew Social & Demographic Trends

The Return of the Multi-Generational Family Household

18 Mar 10 The multi-generational American family household is staging a comeback — driven in part by the job losses and home foreclosures of recent years, but more so by demographic changes that have been gathering steam for decades. As of 2008, a record 49 million Americans, or 16.1% of the total U.S. population, lived in such a household, up from 28 million, or 12.l% in 1980. Such households had been more common a century ago, but began to fall out of favor after World War II. Now they are coming back.

Confident, Connected and Open to Change

23 Feb 10 Generations, like people, have personalities, and Millennials – the American teens and twenty-somethings currently making the passage into adulthood – have begun to forge theirs: confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living.

They are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. The Great Recession has set back their entry into the labor force, but they are more upbeat than their elders about their own economic futures and the overall state of the nation. And they are the first “always connected” generation, steeped in digital technology and social media.

QUIZ: How Millennial Are You?

GRAPHIC: Demographic portrait of four generations

Women, Men and the New Economics of Marriage

19 Jan 10 The institution of marriage has undergone significant changes in recent decades as women have outpaced men in education and earnings growth. These unequal gains have been accompanied by gender role reversals in both the spousal characteristics and the economic benefits of marriage.

A larger share of men in 2007, compared with their 1970 counterparts, are married to women whose education and income exceed their own. The reverse is true for women. In the past, marriage enhanced the economic status of women more than that of men. Now the economic gains associated with marriage are greater for men.

A Year After Obama’s Election

Blacks Upbeat about Black Progress, Prospects

12 Jan 10 Assessments about the state of black progress in America have improved more dramatically among blacks during the past two years than at any time in the past quarter century, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Barack Obama’s election as the nation’s first black president appears to be the spur for this sharp rise in optimism, which also is reflected in the upbeat views of blacks on race relations, local community satisfaction and expectations for future black progress. In each of these realms, the perceptions of blacks have changed for the better over the past two years, despite a deep recession and jobless recovery that have hit blacks especially hard.

Recession Brings Many Young Adults Back to the Nest

Home for the Holidays… and Every Other Day

24 Nov 09 The journey home for Thanksgiving won't be quite so far this year for many young adults. Fully 13% of parents with grown children say one of their adult sons or daughters has moved back home in the past year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Census data confirm that the proportion of adults ages 18 to 29 who live alone declined from 7.9% in 2007 to 7.3% in 2009. Young adults are putting their lives on hold in other ways: 15% of adults younger than 35 say they have postponed getting married because of the recession and an additional 14% say they have delayed having a baby.

Other Recession-Related Reports

Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer: America’s Changing Workforce

Different Age Groups, Different Recessions: Oldest are Most Sheltered.

College Enrollment Hits All-Time High

29 Oct 09 The share of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college in the United States hit an all-time high in October 2008, driven by a recession-era surge in enrollments at community colleges, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Just under 11.5 million students, or 39.6% of all young adults ages 18 to 24, were enrolled in either a two- or four-year college in October 2008. Both figures—the absolute number as well as the share—are at their highest level ever. Virtually all the increase from 2007 to 2008 came at community colleges, which saw enrollment by young adults increase by about 10%.

Lots of Ex's Live in Texas

The States of Marriage and Divorce

15 Oct 09 Men and women marry young in Arkansas and Oklahoma. They also marry often: about one-in-ten married adults in those two states have been married three times or more. Texas leads the nation in the number of thrice-married adults, but that’s partly because it has so many adults, period. Its rate is close to the national average. Click here for an interactive map showing these and other state-based marriage and divorce statistics, or read the Pew Research Center’s analysis of new Census Bureau data.

The Harried Life of the Working Mother

1 Oct 09 Women now make up almost half of the U.S. labor force, up from 38% in 1970. The public approves of this trend, but the change has come with a cost for many women – particularly working mothers of young children, who feel the tug of family responsibility much more acutely than do working fathers, according to a Pew Social and Demographic Trends nationwide survey. Most working moms would prefer to work part time, but relatively few do. About four in ten working moms say they always feel rushed, compared with about a quarter of working dads and stay-at-home moms.

The Public Assesses Social Divisions

Black-White Conflict Isn’t Society’s Largest

24 Sept 09 Fewer people perceived strong conflicts between blacks and whites than saw strong conflicts between immigrants and the native born, or between rich people and poor people, according to a survey conducted this summer by the Pew Research Center. A majority (55%) of adults said there are “very strong” or “strong” conflicts between immigrants and people born in the United States while 47% said the same about conflicts between rich people and poor people and 39% believe there were serious conflicts between blacks and whites.

Take this Job and Love It

Job Satisfaction Highest Among the Self-Employed

17 Sept 09 Frustrated with your job? You might consider working for yourself. Self-employed adults are significantly more satisfied with their jobs than other workers. They're also more likely to work because they want to and not because they need a paycheck. But don't count on becoming financially secure: Self-employed men and women have virtually identical family incomes as other workers but they feel more financial stress, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

Forty Years after Woodstock, a Gentler
Generation Gap

12 Aug 09 Forty years after the Woodstock music festival glorified and exacerbated the generational fractures in American life, the public today says there are big differences between younger and older adults in their values, use of technology, work ethic, and respect and tolerance for others. But this modern generation gap is a much more subdued affair than the one that raged in the 1960s, for relatively few Americans of any age see it as a source of conflictoeither in society at large or in their own families.

Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality

29 Jun 09 Getting old isn't nearly as bad as people think it will be. Nor is it quite as good. On aspects of everyday life ranging from mental acuity to financial security, a new Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey finds a sizable gap between expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and actual experiences reported by older adults themselves.

These generation gaps in perception also extend to the most basic question of all about old age: When does it begin? Survey respondents ages 18 to 29 believe that the average person becomes old at age 60 while middle age respondents say 70 and those 65 and older consider 74 to be the threshold.

Related Reports

End-of-Life Decisions: How do families cope?

Go West, Old Man: That's where older adults feel youngest.

Nap Time: On a typical day, a third of all adults take a nap.

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Social & Demographic Trends is one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center.

18 Mar 10 - Public's Economic Woes Persist

17 Mar 10 - Indonesia: The Obama Effect

15 Mar 10 - State of the News Media 2010

15 Mar 10 - Ask the Expert

10 Mar 10 - Deficit Concerns Rise, But Solutions Are Elusive

1 Mar 10 - The New News Landscape: Rise of the Internet

24 Feb 10 - The Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change.

19 Feb 10 - Does Google Make Us Stupid?

The Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project studies behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their lives, including family, community, health, finance, work and leisure. The project explores these topics by combining original public opinion survey research with social, economic and demographic data analysis. Read more

A Year After Obama’s Election

Recession Brings Many Young Adults Back to the Nest

Lots of Ex's Live in Texas

The Public Assesses Social Divisions

Take this Job and Love It

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