Singlehood: Why are so Many “Going Solo” Introduction to Family Studies

Sorry but…I have to do it!

And then….

How many are single?  The number of single people =  never married + (could be cohabiting)  divorced +  widowed +  Lesbians and gay men who live in states that don’t allow gay marriage  Total single people increased from 37.5 million in 1970 to  102 million in 2011  44 percent of all Americans age 18 and older are single  53% were women and  47% were men.

Why are so many single?  The proportion of adults who have never been married rose from 15 percent in 1972 to 30 percent in  The proportion of adults who are single has doubled in 40 years  The proportion of households consisting of one person living alone  increased from 17 percent in 1970 to  28 percent in 2011;  More than 33 million people live alone.

Why are so many single?  There has also been an increase in unmarried couples  1 percent in 1960  7 percent in 2011  NOTE you are considered “single,” by statisticians even if you are living with an opposite sex or same-sex person Sources: Fields, 2004; U.S. Census Bureau, 2008; U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey.2009; U.S. Census Bureau News, 2009, U.S. Census Bureau, Briefs, 2010, Monitoring the Future, 2006; Kreider & Ellis, 2009, U.S. Census, ACS, 2011; Pew Research Center, 2012; U.S. Census Bureau, 2012.

Why are so many single?  More people are divorced than in the past  But the divorce rate reached a peak in the 1980s and in the past 10 years has remained about the same  The REAL change that has led to more singles is that many people, especially women, are choosing not to REMARRY  So the remarriage rate is down  Why are fewer women choosing to remarry than in the past?

Postponing marriage  Many young people are pursuing a college education, preparing for a job or career, and spending more time in school and career before marrying.  Many of you are marrying later than your parents or grandparents did.  But that doesn’t mean you will NEVER marry  Most people eventually do marry

Source for most recent figures:

Going Solo  New York University Sociologist Eric Klinenberg wrote a book titled:  Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone  His book investigates the growing trend of Americans who are single or living alone  About 50 percent of Americans are single and  1 in 7 people live alone

Going Solo  Because more than 90 percent of all Americans marry at least once, marriage is still the norm.  Household size has been shrinking, however.  An important reason for this demographic shift in the last twenty years has been the increase in one-person households or people “going solo” (Klinenberg, 2012).

Going Solo  Marriage rates among young people have declined in every state  The greatest decreases have been in states that have suffered the most from the recent economic downturn  In Rhode Island, for example, rising unemployment rates were associated with a sharp drop in the proportion married Source: U.S. Census, American Community Survey, 2011.

Going Solo  Singletons (people who live alone) are a growing and diverse group.  Nevertheless, there are some patterns by  gender  age  race and ethnicity and  geographic location

Going Solo Gender and Age  More women live alone than men  30 percent of women over age 65 live alone  There are several reasons for these gender differences.  For example, on average, women live about six years longer than men,  And women are less likely than men to remarry after a divorce or widowhood Source: Federal Interagency for Aging Statistics, 2012

Going Solo Regional Location  Singletons tend to cluster in urban areas.  In the past, singles were concentrated in large rural western states  But today, living alone is most common in big cities.  For example, in San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington, D.C.:  35 to 45 percent of the households have just one person Source: Klinenberg, 2012

Going Solo Race and ethnicity  Of all households, roughly 30 percent of White and African American live alone.  Members of other racial-ethnic groups such as Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans are more likely to live in extended- family households because of values that emphasize caring for family members and pooling financial resources to avoid poverty Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010

Going Solo  What are the pros and cons of living alone?

Going Solo  Singletons are a growing and diverse group.  What TV shows depict the different types of singles?

Going Solo  Summary  50% of Americans are single  1 in 7 live alone  This includes never married, divorced, widowed and gays  Single people cluster in big cities