Assignment 2

Part 1


1) One of the highlights described was the number of married couples without children is anticipated to increase by 7 million. Another highlight was the number of households primarily functioning by 1 person is expected to increase.
2) Based on the 2 highlights that struck out to me, I would have to say that I am not surprised. People are delaying having children; some may never have children. The 7 million increase is a little larger than I expected, but I definitely expected it to increase.
3)On the chart it was obvious that households with children is expected to decrease, especially with two-parent and single mothers. On the other hand, household with no children is expected to increase in every aspect: married couples, living alone, and living with non-relatives only.
3a) The types of families with higher percentages compared to 1995 are families regarding households with no children.
3b)Types of families that seem to be decreasing are families with children. There's a significant decrease in two-parent households, but in single mother households there really is no significant decrease.
4) The type of family I expect to be living in 5 years involves just my partner and I, no children just yet. However in 10 years I would like to have 2 children with my partner and being married would be a plus. When I am 70?! I guess to be with my partner and be happy to look back on all that we have been through. If not I can't complain, things happen.

Part 2


1)Women are doing the following today: delaying having children, getting married, and pursuing careers not jobs which means more education.
2)Many women are now staying single and now getting more degrees than in the past. Women are marrying into their 30's and if thats even if they decide to marry at all. Women are placing their education before starting their families.
3)Women are working more than they were in the past. For example, in Canada women are buying houses twice as fast as men. This is showing that women can obviously afford to buys houses due to their higher levels of education and gaining higher paying jobs.
4) Well for starters, I am legally not able to get married as of now, but hopefully soon I will be able to. I would honestly love to start my career and then start a family. Sex and the City characters have been a long joke with a few close friends of mine. Although I am a male, my friends and I think that I can mostly identify with Samantha. I tend to be very open about my sexuality and I am very confident about that as well. I also say whats on my mind no matter what it is; I think that is what I like most about Samantha.

Part 3


1) One specific change that I found interesting is regarding divorce. Divorce rates are actually decreasing since the 1960's. It was interesting to know that due to to higher education status among couples, people are less likely to get divorced. However, couples with less education are still at the same risk for getting divorced.

2) I believe the latest research is changing due to additional factors that we may not have looked at. These factors include families without children, with children, and divorced families. Research today is obviously including families that choose not to have children or even get married. There is much more to look at today then there was in past years.

3)The author cited "Trends in Marital Dissolution by Women's Education in the United States" by P.S. Martin in 2006.