The news dropped into newspaper headlines like a demographic Big Bang: "Report: More Children Lived in Nuclear Families in the '90s" (Los Angeles Times); "More Children Live in Traditional Families, Women Marrying Later in Life May Be Behind Trend Reported by Census" (USA Today); "Nuclear Families Bounce Back" (Chicago Sun-Times); "More Children Live in Traditional Family" (Detroit News); "Nuclear Families Make a Comeback" (Baltimore Sun).
Normally reliable news organizations made striking assertions. The Christian Science Monitor, for example, reported, "Between 1991 and 1996, the percentage of American children living with both their biological parents jumped from 51 percent to 56 percent." The Washington Post said: "The share of children living with their biological parents in a married-couple family rose during the 1990s." On ABC's "World News Tonight," Peter Jennings reported: "The Census Bureau said today that the number of children who live with both their parents increased during the 1990s."
Only one problem: It ain't true. Confused by the report's terminology, I contacted Jason Fields of the Census Bureau for a report I co-authored called "The Family 'Rebound' That Wasn't," released by the Institute for American Values on April 23 (www.americanvalues.org).
Are children now more likely to live with their own two married parents? I asked him. The Census Bureau doesn't know for sure, Fields told me, because the 1991 report, used as a baseline "does not distinguish between biological parents who are married and unmarried." OK, then are children at least more likely to live with Mom and Dad, their own two biological parents? He paused a moment to run some tests for statistical significance. "Children are neither more or less likely to live with their own two biological parents," Fields replied.
Maggie Gallagher
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Maggie Gallagher is a nationally syndicated columnist, a leading voice in the new marriage movement and co-author of The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially.
