9781422282670

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Single-Parent Families Today, only 46 percent of kids live in what would be described as a nuclear family. In fact, increasing numbers of kids are being raised by one parent, rather than two—not adhering to the classic definition of a nuclear family. TYPES OF SINGLE PARENTS The basic situation of all single parents is the same: one adult, without a partner, is raising one or more children. But within that general description, there are many different single parents, and many ways to become one. Never Married. Of all single parents, about 49 percent were never married at all. There are a variety of reasons for this. Sometimes two people are in a relation- ship and the woman gets pregnant, but the couple decides not to marry. Many teen parents fall into the “never married” category. In 2013 there were more than 270,000 babies born to mothers aged 15 to 19—and of those, about 80 percent of the mothers were unmarried. (For much more on teen parents, please see the book Teen Parents in this series.)

The vast majority of pregnant teenagers will become single mothers.