The One Parent Household

Pew has a new survey out about the number of Millennials who have been raised among two parent families. Six in ten Millennials identify growing up in two parent homes, but that number is down compared to generations before it.

"A smaller share than was the case with older generations. That compares with 71% of Gen Xers, 85% of Boomers and 87% of Silents. Roughly one quarter of Millennials (24%) say their parents were divorced or separated, and 11% say their parents were never married (2% say their parents were widowed and 1% did not answer the question). Still, in weighing their own life priorities, Millennials (like older adults) place parenthood and marriage far above career and financial success. But they aren't rushing to the altar -- just one-in-five Millennials (21%) are married now. Still, they get along well with their parents. Looking back at their teenage years, Millennials report having had fewer spats with mom or dad than older adults say they had with their own parents when they were growing up. And now, hard times have kept a significant share of adult Millennials and their parents under the same roof. About one-in-eight older Millennials (ages 22 and older) say they've "boomeranged" back to a parent's home because of the recession."

You have to wonder if this is one of the main reasons that young people believe in marriage for everyone. Because LGBT couples couldn't screw it up any worse than Millennials' straight parents, right? Young people are also more likely to get married later in life. Some of that I think has to do with the economy, higher ed being more of a requirement than an option, and an increase in rejections of religious institutions. But given this new data I wonder the extent to which the increase in single parent homes has impacted Millennials as well.