The face of the “American Family,” has changed tremendously from the days of the white picket fence, dog, mom, dad, and 2.5 children. However, just because family structures have changed, doesn’t mean that people’s attitudes about what makes a family have evolved. The Pew Research Center released a new study surveying Americans attitudes about single mothers.
Pew polled 2,691 Americans adults to determine if they feel that certain trends are “a good thing for our society, a bad thing for our society or doesn’t it make much difference.” The list of trends included more unmarried couples raising children; more gay and lesbian couples raising children; more single women having children without a male partner to help raise them; more people living together without getting married; more mothers of young children working outside the home; more people of different races marrying each other; and more women not ever having children.
- About a third (31%) of survey respondents are Accepters.
- A similar share of the public (32%) rejects virtually every trend that the Accepters tolerate or endorse. They are the Rejectors.
- The third and somewhat larger group (37%) are the Skeptics.While they generally share most of the tolerant views of the Accepters, they also express concern about the impact of these trends on society.
First off, I’d like to say CHEERS to all of my single mothers! This study is very disappointing…because although many of the respondents don’t feel negatively towards alternative family structures, they overwhelming believe single mother’s are harmful to society.
Single moms, how do you feel about this study? Do you think it’s fair? Or misguided?
Please join our discussion forum and voice your opinions, concerns, and rants today!
*The author did express that this study can be misinterpreted, because not all of the respondents evaluated the trends the same way.
