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      WASHINGTON (AP) - Is marriage becoming obsolete?


      As families gather for Thanksgiving this year, nearly one in
three American children is living with a parent who is divorced,
separated or never-married. More people are accepting the view that
wedding bells aren't needed to have a family.


      A study by the Pew Research Center, in association with Time
magazine, highlights rapidly changing notions of the American
family. And the Census Bureau, too, is planning to incorporate
broader definitions of family when measuring poverty, a shift
caused partly by recent jumps in unmarried couples living together.


      About 29 percent of children under 18 now live with a parent or
parents who are unwed or no longer married, a fivefold increase
from 1960, according to the Pew report being released Thursday.
Broken down further, about 15 percent have parents who are divorced
or separated and 14 percent who were never married. Within those
two groups, a sizable chunk - 6 percent - have parents who are
live-in couples who opted to raise kids together without getting
married.


      Indeed, about 39 percent of Americans said marriage was becoming
obsolete. And that sentiment follows U.S. census data released in
September that showed marriages hit an all-time low of 52 percent
for adults 18 and over.


      In 1978, just 28 percent believed marriage was becoming
obsolete.

      When asked what constitutes a family, the vast majority of
Americans agree that a married couple, with or without children,
fits that description. But four of five surveyed pointed also to an
unmarried, opposite-sex couple with children or a single parent.
Three of 5 people said a same-sex couple with children was a
family.


      "Marriage is still very important in this country, but it
doesn't dominate family life like it used to," said Andrew
Cherlin, a professor of sociology and public policy at Johns
Hopkins University. "Now there are several ways to have a
successful family life, and more people accept them."


      The broadening views of family are expected to have an impact at
Thanksgiving. About nine in 10 Americans say they will share a
Thanksgiving meal next week with family, sitting at a table with 12
people on average. About one-fourth of respondents said there will
be 20 or more family members.


      "More Americans are living in these new families, so it seems
safe to assume that there will be more of them around the
Thanksgiving dinner table," said Paul Taylor, executive vice
president of the Pew Research Center.


      The changing views of family are being driven largely by young
adults 18-29, who are more likely than older generations to have an
unmarried or divorced parent or have friends who do. Young adults
also tend to have more liberal attitudes when it comes to spousal
roles and living together before marriage, the survey found.


      But economic factors, too, are playing a role. The Census Bureau
recently reported that opposite-sex unmarried couples living
together jumped 13 percent this year to 7.5 million. It was a sharp
one-year increase that analysts largely attributed to people
unwilling to make long-term marriage commitments in the face of
persistent unemployment.


      Beginning next year, the Census Bureau will publish new,
supplemental poverty figures that move away from the traditional
concept of family as a husband and wife with two children. It will
broaden the definition to include unmarried couples, such as
same-sex partners, as well as foster children who are not related
by blood or adoption.


      Officials say such a move will reduce the number of families and
children who are considered poor based on the new supplemental
measure, which will be used as a guide for federal and state
agencies to set anti-poverty policies. That's because two unmarried
partners who live together with children and work are currently not
counted by census as a single "family" with higher pooled
incomes, but are officially defined as two separate units - one
being a single parent and child, the other a single person - who
aren't sharing household resources.


      "People are rethinking what family means," Cherlin said.
"Given the growth, I think we need to accept cohabitation
relationships as a basis for some of the fringe benefits offered to
families, such as health insurance."


      Still, the study indicates that marriage isn't going to
disappear anytime soon. Despite a growing view that marriage may
not be necessary, 67 percent of Americans were upbeat about the
future of marriage and family. That's higher than their optimism
for the nation's educational system (50 percent), economy (46
percent) or its morals and ethics (41 percent).


      And about half of all currently unmarried adults, 46 percent,
say they want to get married. Among those unmarried who are living
with a partner, the share rises to 64 percent.


      - About 34 percent of Americans called the growing variety of
family living arrangements good for society, while 32 percent said
it didn't make a difference and 29 percent said it was troubling.


      - About 44 percent of people say they have lived with a partner
without being married; for 30-to-49-year-olds, that share rose to
57 percent. In most cases, those couples said they considered
cohabitation as a step toward marriage.


      - About 62 percent say that the best marriage is one where the
husband and wife both work and both take care of the household and
children. That's up from 48 percent who held that view in 1977.


      The Pew study was based on interviews with 2,691 adults by cell
phone or landline from Oct. 1-21. The survey has a total margin of
error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, larger for subgroups.
Pew also analyzed 2008 census data, and used surveys conducted by
Time magazine to identify trends from earlier decades.

Gallery

Lifestyle

As families gather for Thanksgiving this year, nearly one in
three American children is living with a parent who is divorced,
separated or never-married. More people are accepting the view that
wedding bells aren't needed to have a family.

Four in 10 say marriage is becoming obsolete

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