ABSTRACT
This chapter explores both the cultural and the structural changes that have created major shifts in how families form in the United States today, looking beyond popular culture. It also explores four key issues that have contributed to the increase in single-parent families and the rise in divorce rates since the mid-twentieth century. First, economic changes have created the need for most adults to work in the paid labor force and have affected families in other ways. Second, legal changes have altered marriage, divorce, and single parenthood. Third, these shifts have led to new expectations for marriage itself, leading people to marry later and sometimes walk away from marriages. Marriage evolved to become less of an economic arrangement and more about personal fulfillment, although certainly a financial factor remains. Finally, the chapter concludes by looking at how all of these served to create new cultural meanings and norms for families and marriage.
