of women born in the late 1880s ever married, that share declined to less than ten percent of men and women born after [3, p. 74]. In the 1960s a number of interrelated and mutually reinforcing economic, technological and cultural factors combined to accelerate and extend those changes in existing family features. These changes, and their demographic and social consequences, have raised considerable concern, if not panic, among some researchers and policy makers. Doom mongering about the dying Occident and the disintegration or even the end of the family have been advanced or discussed. Since the late 1960s, the rate of first marriages experienced by individuals aged fourteen and over has declined substantially in the United States. This pattern, which has been characteristic of both men and women and has been quite steady over time, has contributed to the increasing proportion of single young adults in the population. According to some researchers, these facts reflect changes in the timing of marriage, and not changes in its ultimate incidence. For example, according to professor Cherlin, «The higher proportion of single young adults in the 1970s and early 1980s suggests only that they are marrying later, not foregoing marriage». It is unlikely that their lifetime proportions marrying fall below the historical minimum. Indeed, the median age at first marriage increased by more than one year for both males and females during the 1970s [1, p. 24]. End of the 20 th century has witnessed remarkable changes in family structures and dynamics in North America: smaller household sizes, a further shift from extended to nuclear families, a decrease in nuptiality and an increase in separation or divorce, the appearance of new forms of unions such as unmarried cohabitation and living-apart-together, changing gender and intergenerational relations, and, last but not least, a substantial decrease in fertility, often to below-replacement levels.marriage continued to be postponed and so did age at first birth. More young people left the parental home to live some time on their own before cohabiting or marrying. This resulted in an increasing number of single person households of young adults. However, the age of leaving the parental home, after decreasing in the 1970s and 1980s, increased in the 1990s in some countries. The proportion of young adults (age group 25-29) still living in the parental home was particularly high (65 percent among men and 44 percent among women). In Central America those figures were much lower (25 percent for men and 11 percent for women). The same was true for the northern part of the United States (20 percent for men and 12 percent for women). This trend is explained by a number of factors, such as increased unemployment, longer studies, higher affluence and moral tolerance in the parental home and consequently less pressure to leave [6, p. 202]. In North America and in Western Europe postponed marriage is increasingly replaced or preceded by cohabitation or Living-Apart-Together (LAT) relations. Unmarried cohabitation is increasing, premarital as well as after separation, divorce or widowhood.in some American states such as Arkansas and Oklahoma, men and women marry young - half of first-time brides in these states were age 24 or younger on their wedding day . These states also have above-average shares of women who divorced in 2007-2008. «S the opposite state of affairs in Massachusetts and New Y...
