Families aren't what they used to be, study finds

They now come in many more shapes and sizes

The 60's were wonderful. Everybody had an Afro, even the girls. Black lights would make a white tee shirt glow and everything was psychedelic. Go-go boots were hot and bellbottoms were the craze. Families were intact -- traditional families.

No more. 

The latest survey on families from Pew Research finds that just 46% of kids who are under 18 live in "traditional" families headed by hetrosexual couples who are in a first marriage. Going back to the year 1960 it was 73%.

Having kids before you're married is up as well from the 60's; 41% of kids are born outside of marriage, up 5%.

Lots of people are staying single. In fact the amount of people who aren't married is at a record high. In 2012, one-in-five adults ages 25 and older had never been married. In 1960, only about one-in-ten adults (9%) in that age range had never been married.

These days, 15% of kids are living in "blended" families, meaning their are in a second (or third, or fourth) marriage. 

Single parents

One of the biggest changes in the way families are structured now is single-parent households. 

Today, 34% of children are living with an unmarried parent - up from just 9% in 1960, and 19% in 1980. 

Grandparents as parents has become a new phenomenon. Years ago it wasn't uncommon for a traditional family to be living with grandparents. Now it is grandparents doing the parenting minus the parents. That translates to the remaining 5% living with grandparents -- no parents to be found.

Gay couples were not broken out in the study.

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