Columbus
Dispatch...
Single-parent
households increasingly common, latest Ohio census data show
By Bill Bush and Rita Price
Thursday, May 12, 2011
More kids in Ohio are living with a single parent than a decade ago,
and the number living with an unmarried dad has surged as well, census
data released today show.
The number of households with children headed by single men rose almost
22 percent from 2000 to 2010, while the number of married couples
raising kids continued to decline.
“The American family has been changing for a long time,” said Anastasia
Snyder, an Ohio State University professor who studies family
structure. “This is a trend, and I just don’t see it turning around.”
In 2000, married couples led almost 71 percent of the Ohio households
with kids. By 2010, that number had dropped to just under 65 percent.
More single-parent homes could be one reason why the total number of
households in Ohio rose by 3.5 percent - to 4.6 million - while the
overall population grew only 1.6 percent, to 11.5 million residents.
Nancy Reger, a demographer with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning
Commission, said that household growth is connected to average family
size, “and divorces are probably a big part of things,” she said.
Also, the number of unmarried partners - with kids or without - living
with a head of a household rose 36 percent statewide. And in part
because central Ohio is growing, the number of such pairings here shot
up 46 percent, to about 53,400. As a portion of the state’s population,
though, this group makes up less than 3 percent of all residents.
While the overwhelming majority of Americans marry at some point in
their lives, they don’t necessarily see parenthood as a reason to tie
the knot, experts say.
“Some of the newer family-formation trends are cause for concern,”
Snyder said. “These trends have not been good for children in many
respects.”
Single-parent households, especially those headed by women, are much
more likely to be poor. Single dads do better economically, and they
also are more likely to have another helpful adult living with them - a
girlfriend, mother or other relative, Snyder said.
The census data released today don’t include information on income or
poverty.
Despite growing rapidly as a group, homes headed by single dads
statewide still represent the minority of the households with kids:
about 8 percent of the total. Those headed by single moms make up
almost 27 percent.
“That’s a big percentage of moms that are carrying that,” Reger said.
But “probably, dads are more involved in their families, now more than
ever. It used to be when a family split up, moms got the kids.”
Brian Sturgill, a single father with four minor children, doesn’t run
into many men whose lives look similar.
The West Side resident works all day as an attendant at a Downtown
parking lot, then picks up his children, cooks dinner and tends to
homework and other activities.
“It’s a struggle,” he said.
But Sturgill wants to get it right. He learned a while ago that one of
the best ways to keep control and to communicate was to eat dinner
together. And it’s mandatory that the family sits around the table and
never in front of a television.
“When I got custody of the kids, I took a parenting class - a voluntary
one,” he said. “I didn’t know how to do it all, and I wanted to learn.”
Still, he sometimes longs for a successful marriage, or at least a
partner to share the load.
“My parents were together 50 years,” said Sturgill, 46. “It would be
nice to have someone - someone my age - to talk to.”
In central Ohio, Franklin County had the lowest percentage of
households with kids headed by married couples: 60.5 percent. Delaware
County had the highest percentage, at 83.6 percent.
Pickaway County had the highest percentage of households with children
headed by single dads: 9.7 percent. Delaware County had the lowest, at
5 percent.
Glenn Harris, director of the African American Male Initiative at the
Columbus Urban League, said he often sees success stories behind the
numbers. Although marriage rates are low, Harris said, he works with
growing numbers of men who actively care for their children or seek
outright custody.
“It’s been a great joy for me working in our community to see that,” he
said.
Snyder said it’s difficult to ponder what society and government should
do about the trends. “What should the policies be?” she said.
Promoting marriage, birth-control policies and support for single
parents are all points of discussion.
Snyder also said that it’s important to look at long-term data on
households, “because the census is a snapshot of the population. We
really need panel data to explain what happens over time.”
Sturgill can’t say what his household demographic might look like by
the time the next census rolls around, in 2020.
“It’s interesting when I go home,” he said, laughing. “But we’re happy.
We have what matters. We’re family.”
Read it at the Columbus Dispatch
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