Census: Arizona's traditional families are getting smaller

Census: Arizona's traditional families are getting smaller "I think it's possible to get married again, but it's not something I have to do...

Census: Arizona's traditional families are getting smaller "I think it's possible to get married again, but it's not something I have to do" Whitlock, a 32-year-old single mother who lives with her parents in Chandler, has a full-time job and is applying to graduate school. Women like Whitlock are not in the minority, and newly released census data shows that family structures in Arizona are changing and becoming more complex, according to 2010 census data. Traditional family values are similar across the United States and in Arizona. A married man and woman and their children are the basic family unit. The next family units are divorced, single parent families, DINK and gay families becoming more common as children take care of their aging parents or move in with their parents after losing their jobs. Experts say two main factors are driving this trend. People, especially women, with college degrees and better-paying jobs have more choices about whether they want to get married or stay married. Even so, a large number of people still hold to traditional family values. , a professor of family and human studies at the University of Arizona, said there is still a big difference in acceptance and liking. In 2000, 23% of Arizona families were married and living with children under the age of 17. By 2010, that number had dropped to less than 20%. Married couples still make up a majority of the society, accounting for 47% of households. Smaller families clearly dominate. The number of women living alone without children has climbed from 6.3% to 8.1% in Arizona. Arizona and California have more than 3.2% of households with three generations, surpassing the 2.8% in 18 other states. In Arizona, 1.8% of households have at least one stepchild, and in California it is 1.5%. Conservative Arizona already has one of the highest percentages of gay people in the country, at 0.9 percent, and experts say the actual number is higher because more than half of same-sex couples in Apache, Greenlee, are reluctant to define their relationships. and Graham County, where data shows one in four gay couples support children (News via The Arizona Republic).