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DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

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Figure 5. Births within marriage and out of marriage to women in 20-40 age range,<br />

1974-2004<br />

500000<br />

400000<br />

Number<br />

300000<br />

Within marriage<br />

Outside of marriage<br />

200000<br />

100000<br />

0<br />

1974<br />

1975<br />

1976<br />

1977<br />

1978<br />

1979<br />

1980<br />

1981<br />

1982<br />

1983<br />

1984<br />

1985<br />

1986<br />

1987<br />

1988<br />

1989<br />

1990<br />

1991<br />

1992<br />

1993<br />

1994<br />

1995<br />

1996<br />

1997<br />

1998<br />

1999<br />

2000<br />

2001<br />

2002<br />

2003<br />

2004<br />

Year<br />

The change has been constant and substantial; births outside marriage have<br />

increased and births within marriage have decreased. If this trend continues, then<br />

births outside marriage will overtake those occurring within marriage within a decade.<br />

Related to this statistic, the percentage of children living in a lone-parent family has<br />

increased from 7% in 1972 to 25% in 2004 4 .<br />

Alongside the changes in family structure and partnership have been changes<br />

in gender roles. Traditional conceptions of masculinity have been revised over the<br />

past three decades and challenged by a new politics of masculinity in which some<br />

men develop a masculinity away from the mainstream macho image (Connell, 1987).<br />

This involves new codes of conduct for treating women, e.g. not pushing for control<br />

within families and not demanding the initiative in sex. It means new responsibilities<br />

for caring for children and opening up emotionally to other men. It has meant<br />

“shifting the focus of life from careers and money to human relationships and from<br />

the mechanical world to the natural world” (Connell, 1987, p.19).<br />

Corresponding to this, the Office of National Statistics cites a rise in the<br />

number of stay-at-home fathers who take primary child-rearing responsibility, from<br />

being not even statistically registered in the 1970s, to 118,000 in 1993 to 194,000 in<br />

2006. 5 Cabrera et al. (2000) chart that in the USA there are now more single mothers<br />

than in the 1970s, but for those fathers who do live with their children, there has been<br />

a doubling in the amount of time spent with their children since the 1970s. This<br />

4 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=1163&Pos=6&ColRank=2&Rank=320<br />

5 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/lmsuk0407.pdf<br />

34

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