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By: Jill Mizell

December 9, 2011

Americans’ views of family are undergoing major shifts. Divisions arise over definitions of family, and many still hold a negative view of single parents, particularly mothers. Polling research shows the wide range of attitudes and perceptions that lead Americans to judge other people’s families, including families that do not mirror their own. 

What Qualifies as a Family?

A 2011 Pew survey on changing family structure found that generally, the American public breaks evenly in to three different groups: a third are accepters who believe changes in the family structure are a good thing, a third are skeptics, who mostly mirror acceptors with a few exceptions, and a third are rejecters, who believe changes in the family structure are bad for society. This analysis of an October 2010 poll found that marriage and/or children appear to drive the meaning and definition behind the idea of what constitutes a “family.” Majorities say that married couples without children are a family (91% of Accepters, 91% of Rejecters, and 83% of Skeptics) and that a single parent with children is a family (96% of Accepters, 87% of Skeptics, and 74% of Rejecters). Notably, almost every member of the Rejecter and Skeptic groups say that more women raising children without a male partner is bad for society (see the August Public Opinion Monthly for more iformation on this trend), although large majorities of both groups say that this arrangement still constitutes a family. 

Support by Rejecters starts to wane with unmarried couples raising children and drops significantly when same-sex couples and unmarried couples with no children are discussed. An unmarried couple with children is considered a family by 96% of Accepters, 86% of Skeptics, and 55% of Rejecters. Same-sex couples are more likely to be considered a family if they are raising children (84% Accepters, 75% Skeptics, and 31% Rejecters) than if they do not have children (68% Accepters, 47% Skeptics, and 16% Rejecters). Unmarried couples with no children are considered family by 60% of Accepters, 48% of Skeptics, and 21% of Rejecters.

A meta-analysis of public opinion surveys conducted by the Frameworks Institute in 2003 found that the public viewed the decline of two-parent families and the rise of dual-income families as problematic. Most believe that children with two parents are better off, and, further, society would be better off if one parent stayed at home or worked only part-time. The move away from two-parent households with one parent at home causes great concern over society’s children: many believe life has gotten worse for teens and children in the past 60 years; the public views teens and children as wild, rude, irresponsible, and amoral; and most believe the next generation is unlikely to make the country a better place in the future. 

What About Those Two Parents?

The one trend changing families that garners a great deal of disapproval is the increase in single mothers raising children alone, which is strongly viewed as an issue of morality by many Americans (see the August Public Opinion Monthly). The public may be tough on fathers as well. Nearly half of all fathers (47%) believe they are doing a better job as a parent than their own father did, but the general population does not share this sentiment, according to a study on fathers by Pew. A quarter of all adults (24%) believe fathers today are doing a better job as parents compared to 20 to 30 years ago, whereas 34% believe they are doing worse (40% think they are doing the same). A majority of adults (57%) concede that it is more difficult to be a father today compared to 20 or 30 years ago. Opinion is split 46% to 45% on whether fathers today play a greater or lesser role in raising their children, and respondents are more likely to believe that fathers today spend less time with their children (43% somewhat less or a lot less) than more time with their children (36% somewhat more or a lot more).

Regarding the changing roles of mothers leading to the decline of the stay-at-home parent, the Pew report from February 2011 found that 61% of Rejecters say working moms with small children at home are bad for society, but 63% of Skeptics and 77% of Accepters believe the opposite—that this trend has not been damaging. Regarding the single mother, approximately two thirds (65%) of American adults believe that the growing number of single women having babies is a bad thing for society, according to a poll on the American Family by Pew. 

The good news for non-traditional families is that the 2010 Pew study reports there has been an increase in the share of people who agree that a single parent “can bring up a child as well as two parents together,” citing the General Social Survey. In 1994, 36% agreed, 49% disagreed, and the rest were neutral or didn’t answer. In 2002, 42% agreed that a single parent could equal two parents, 45% disagreed, and the rest were neutral or did not answer.