A Quiz on Families and Change
1. Which of the following years had the highest divorce rate in
the United States?
a. 1935 b. 1945 c. 1955 d. 1965
(B) The divorce rate in this country reached a historical peak at the end of World War II. Several explanations have been given for this: First, it is likely that a number of couples married hurriedly after relatively short courtships when the man was about to be sent off to war. Second, the stress of separation may have resulted in the development of other relationships for both the women at home and the men who were away. Third, both spouses may have changed considerably during the war years. While it is true that divorce rates in this country consistently increased from 1950 through 1980, they did not match the peak of 1945 until the mid- 1970s.
2. Because of the rapid rise in the divorce rate, children are
much more likely to live in a single-parent household than they were
a century ago.
True or False?
(F) Most people do not realize the profound effects on family life that have resulted from rapid declines in the mortality rate since the turn of the century. While divorce has increased throughout this century, the drastic decline in the number of parents who die at an early age more than offsets the increase in single-parent households that results from marital dissolution caused by divorce
3. In the past, most families lived in three-generation
households. It is now much less likely for this to occur, since
grandparents are put into nursing homes instead of cared for in the
home.
True or False?
(F) In fact, well before the industrial revolution, most families appear to have been nuclear rather than extended in reality if not in theory. The reason is the short life expectancy typical of this era: few members of the older generation survived to actually live with their children's children.
4. What percentage of women worked outside the home in 1900?
a. 2% b. 5% c. 10% d. 20%
(D) In 1900 women worked as domestic servants, in agriculture, in the textile mills, as teachers, and in the newly opened clerical sector. While female labor force participation has been increasing through most of this century, there were quite a large number of women working even in 1900.
5. Over the past 100 years, fewer and fewer people have been
getting married, so the number of single people has been
increasing.
True or False?
(F) Rates of singlehood are in fact still lower than they were 100 years ago.
6. The high incidence of female-head households among Black
families today can be traced to the impact of slavery on family life
as well as to the disruption of two-parent, nuclear families among
black Americans during the time of emancipation.
True or False?
(F) Between 1855 and 1880 as many as 90% of black households contained both a husband and wife or just a father with children. The present circumstances of the black family are primarily a result of the move to cities in the North and West after the First World War and also of the declining availability of decent unskilled jobs in the cities over the past few decades.
7. What is the most common household type in the United States
today?
a. single parent with one adult age earner
b. two parents with one adult wage earner
c. two parent with two adult wage earners
(C)
8. Very few families live below the poverty line (as officially
defined by the federal government) for extended periods of time
(i.e., 5 consecutive years).
True or False?
(T) Over a ten-year period, only about 4 percent of all families stay below the poverty line. Most poor families "move in and out of poverty as wage earners lose a job, are rehired, a divorce occurs, or additional children are born, changing the stress upon the family budget.