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Chapter1:CrisisoftheJudeo-Christianfoundationsoffamilylife
17
Anincreaseinthenumberofnon-maritalformsofafamilymaybeperceived
asasocialproblemasitshowsacorrelationwithadroppingchildbirthrate,which
inEuropehasalreadybecomeaserioussocialissue.Inareviewofthechildbirth
rateindiferentfamilyforms-anissuewhoseimportancehasbeenrelatively
underestimated-MarekOkólskinoticesthat“infamiliesbasedonamaritalre-
lationshipthenumberofofspringismuchhigherthaninfamilies(relationships)
takingadiferentform.Inthecaseofalternativeforms,thechildbirthratedoes
notexceedtwo;asarule,itislowerormuchlowerthan1.5.”
12
Asforexample,
theauthorprovidesstatisticalanalysesforafewEuropeanstates.Wewillonly
quoteexamplesofFranceandHollandhere.Tenon-maritalchildbirthrate
inHollandbetween1950-1984constitutedonethirdatmostinrelationtothe
maritalchildbirthrate,whereasinFrancein1994,marriedwomenwhoreached
40-44yearsofageonaveragegavebirthto2.41child(2.45in1986),andwomen
remaininginapermanentcohabitation-1.50child(0.91).
13
Teincreasingimportanceofnon-maritalformsoffamilyisprovedmostly
byarapidgrowthinnon-maritalbirths.Asearlyasin1970,inthemajorityofEU
countries,thenumberofsuchbirthswasverylow,asarulelowerthan10%(ex-
ceptions:Austria,Estonia,andSweden),whereasin2008,almostinallcountries
(exceptions:CyprusandGreece)itexceeded20%,andin10states-even40%(in
4-50%).
14
Alsothenumberofchildrenbroughtupbyasingleparentisgrowing.
Tisalsoprovestheexistenceofthetraditionalfamilycrisis.IntheUnitedStates,
onemaynoticeadramaticdropinthenumberofchildrenbroughtupbyboth
parents,recordedbetween1970-1994,andthisobservationwasindependentof
therace(“thepercentageofchildrenlivingwithtwoparentsfelldramatically
acrossallracialgroupsoverthepastfewdecades”).
15
Tepercentageofchildren
fromwhitefamilies(“whitechildren”)livingwithbothparentsdroppedfrom
90%tofewerthan80%,thepercentageofblackchildrendecreasedfrom60%
toabout33%,whereasthepercentageofchildrenfromHispanic-originfamilies
broughtupbybothparentsdroppedfrom80%to65%.
16
Mostcommonlyappearingfamilyandnon-maritalrelationshipsinclude:
1.Cohabitation,asituationinwhichacouplelivestogetherasmanandwife
althoughnotlegallymarried;17
12M.Okólski:“WyzwaniademograficzneEuropyiPolski.”StudiaSocjologiczne4(2010),
p.49.
13Ibidem,p.49.
14M.Marcu:“PopulationstatisticsinEurope2008:FirstResults.”DatainFocus(Eurostat)
31(2009);citedinM.Okólski:“Wyzwaniademograficzne…,”p.49.
15J.D.Teachman:“Diversityoffamilystructure:economicandsocialinfluences.”In:
TeHandbookofFamilyDiversity.Eds.D.H.Demo,K.R.Allen,M.A.Fine.NewYork2000,
pp.232-251;citedinD.Eitle:“Parentalgender,single-parentfamilies,anddelinquency:Explo-
ringthemoderatinginfluenceofrace/ethnicity.”SocialScienceResearch35(2006),p.728.
16Ibidem,p.728.
17T.Lawson,J.Garrod:CompleteA-ZSociologyHandbook.London2003,p.39.
