Changes in American Familial Structure between 1990 and 2000

Between 1990 and 2000, largely influenced by a decrease in the age when many women were having children in the United States and also by a decrease in the number of married couples, many traditional familial structures experienced great change. The decrease in the number of households with married couples was largely fueled by the increasing number of teenage pregnancies or pregnancies for which couples were unprepared, which has greatly shifted the role of grandparents in many families. Especially for young parents who were not prepared to have children, having the child’s grandparents look after the child was a frequently implemented solution (which is still widely used today), and this was reflected in the changes occurring in the percentages of grandparents responsible for their grandchildren.

Between 1990 and 2000, changes in male-female interactions and new views of women contributed to a rise in the number of pregnancies in women who were not married, as is reflected in the distribution of the makeup of various households. Moving from 1990 to 2000, America became less conservative regarding young women and their place in society, thereby enabling many teenagers to become involved in romantic relationships at relatively young ages, a trend which continues to this day. This increase in the number of young women who became pregnant without being married often resulted in a myriad of adverse consequences, among which was the fact that teenage pregnancies often resulted in the mother of the child having to leave school or college. Another issue was that these (often unintended) pregnancies occurred between couples who often did not know if they wished to stay together and who often had little financial stability. All of these components have often resulted in children of teenage parents growing up only with their mother or with grandparents, and teenage pregnancies have also had devastating impacts on the mothers who must often halt their education and career in order to care for a child. As can be seen from the Census 2000 Brief: Households and Families, the percentage of households made up of a married couple reduced from 55.2% in 1990 to 51.7% in 2000. After a young, unmarried woman becomes pregnant, her partner often fails to stay together with her, thereby causing a rise in the relative number of households consisting of single mothers raising their children and a decrease in the relative number of households made up of married couples. Although teenage pregnancies were extremely common in historical times (and are still very widespread in certain nations) they often take place between a couple which is more permanent – possibly even married – to increase the commitment of both parents towards their child. From 1990 to 2000, largely fueled by increasing numbers of premarital relationships and pregnancies, many families have moved from having married or permanent couples to instead consisting of single mothers and their children.

With the rise of the trend of having children before marriage, many young women have had to rely on the help of their mothers in looking after young children, thereby causing a profound difference between the responsibilities of grandparents in looking after grandchildren depending on the age of these grandparents. Given that the time from 1990 to 2000 was marked by a great level of increase in the number of pregnancies in young women, especially teenagers, it makes sense that the parents of these pregnant teenagers would be roughly between 30 and 60 years of age. In order to enable their children to continue with their education, many parents of pregnant teenagers took up the roles of “parents” for the new child, explaining the rapid increase in the percentage of 30-59 year old grandparents responsible for their grandchildren relative to the percentage of 60+ year old grandparents in 2000. Since the children who largely were reliant on care from grandparents were born to parents who were roughly between the ages of 13 and 20, it makes sense that the grandparents of these new children would be under 60 years in age given the fact that few people have children beyond the age of 40-47. According to the Census 2000 Brief: Grandparents Living with Grandchildren, approximately 31% of grandparents aged 60 or over were responsible for their grandchildren at some point, whereas approximately 50% of grandparents aged 30 to 59 years were responsible for their grandchildren, often for a relatively large time span. This dramatic difference between the percentage of grandparents caring for their grandchildren depending on the age of the grandparents seems to be one of the key results of the growing number of teenage pregnancies from 1990 to 2000. Whilst before 1990 many parents stressed a more traditional married lifestyle, in which couples were often financially stable and married before having children, the younger ages at which unmarried teenagers have been having children has led to a growing number of families which function in a very different way. In families relying on grandparents to care for grandchildren, the grandparents often take up the role of their grandchild’s parents in the absence of a father and with only a young and often not-fully-present mother. Fueled by the growth of families consisting of single mothers bringing up their children, many grandparents have been brought into households of young mothers in order to care for their new grandchildren to enable their still-minor child to continue with their studies, causing major changes in family dynamics.

As with many trends which have made their way into society, it is likely that the number of teenage pregnancies will continue to increase (and with that, the number of grandparents looking after grandchildren) in the short term, though these patterns in family structure will likely become decreasingly popular over time and gradually begin to decrease in frequency in the American population. Based on current statistics, it is clear that the situation evident in regard to teenage pregnancies, young mothers without husbands and grandfathers looking after grandchildren has largely increased in size over the past few years. Today, there are many teenagers who have children extremely early – even as early as 13 – and subsequently there has been a great amount of increase in the number of grandparents who must continuously provide care for their grandchildren as “substitute parents.” Given the intensification of the trend of teenage parenthood which has occurred over the last 22 years since 2000, it is likely that this trend will continue for a while. However, the many new initiatives designed to help teenagers better understand responsibilities as a parent are simultaneously gradually bringing familial relationships to an old norm. Through initiatives such as widespread sex education as well as more information about the difficulties of teenage pregnancies, many students are able to make well-informed decisions and decide to have children later in life when they can be cared for by their parents. In turn, this reverses many of the trends seen between 1990 and 2000: in areas which have implemented these new education plans and have a high level of support from parents, many teens are choosing to be more careful with planning when they hope to have children, and less teenagers are becoming pregnant. Gradually, these trends will increase the number of people who settle in households as married couples, will increase the average age at which people choose to have children and will decrease the number of grandparents who must care for grandchildren in the long-term. Though it is likely that short-term trends will continue to show increases in the numbers of teenage pregnancies and increases in the percentages of grandparents looking after their grandchildren, it is likely that improved education will assist in gradually reducing the number of teenage pregnancies and returning familial structures to the normality existing roughly in 1990.

In conclusion, between 1990 and 2000 there was likely a decrease in restrictions placed on young women and teenagers, possibly leading to the increase in teenage pregnancies which in turn played an important role in the increasing number of grandparents caring for their grandchildren in the long-term. Though it is impossible to say whether the changes in grandparents looking after grandchildren and the various other changes in familial structure (e.g. percentages of households in which a couple is married), there is a strong correlation between these various changes in familial structure which would suggest that increasing teenage pregnancies played a role in these changes. Although it is likely that this pattern of increasing teenage pregnancies, decreasing percentages of married couples and increasing percentages of grandparents caring for grandchildren in the long-term will continue in the short-term, educational plans will likely gradually bring familial structure back to a position analogous to what it assumed roughly in 1990.