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Review
. 2018 Sep;28(3):591-608.
doi: 10.1111/jora.12391. Epub 2018 Aug 18.

The Increasing Diversity and Complexity of Family Structures for Adolescents

Lisa D Pearce  1 , George M Hayward  1 , Laurie Chassin  2 , Patrick J Curran  1
Affiliations
Review

The Increasing Diversity and Complexity of Family Structures for Adolescents

Lisa D Pearce et al. J Res Adolesc. 2018 Sep.

Abstract

The structure of adolescents' families, and thus parental forms, in the United States, have become more heterogeneous and fluid over the past several decades. These changes are due to increases in never-married, single parents, divorce, cohabitation, same-sex parenting, multi-partnered fertility, and co-residence with grandparents. We document current diversity and complexity in adolescents' families as important context for rethinking future parenting theory and research. We also discuss how understandings of adolescents' families are somewhat limited by current methods used to measure characteristics of families. We recommend social network and profile-based methods as alternatives to capturing key dimensions of family structure and processes. Understanding the diversity of households and families in which adolescents are raised can improve theory and research on parenting.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Living Arrangments of Children Under 18 Years Old, 1960–2016 Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2017e) Notes. The Census report does not have statistics for 1961–1967; for graphical purposes, a linear trend in each category is used between the data points for 1960 and 1968.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Living Arrangments of Children Under 18 Years Old, by Race/Ethnicity, 1960–2016 Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2017g Notes. The Census report does not have statistics for 1961–1967; for graphical purposes, a linear trend in each category is used between the data points for 1960 and 1968. Data for Hispanics begin in 1980 since they were not available before then for the subcategories shown here.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Children Under 18 Living with Grandparents as Percentage of All Children Under 18 Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2017f)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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