Americans’ Marriage and Family Marriage in the United States tends to look more like serial monogamy than lifetime partnershi

Americans’ Marriage and Family
   Marriage in the United States tends to look more like serial monogamy than lifetime partnership, especially in major cities. Just under half of all marriages end in divorce. However, this statistic is misleading, many people, such as Elizabeth Taylor or Todd Fisher marry repeatedly but three-quarters of Americans who marry for the first time stay that way. The others go through several spouses before settling down and approximately 10% of men and 5% of women never marry at all. When Americans say family, they mean a nuclear family of Mom, Dad, and the kids. An ideal family is a non-working wife, the caring, nurturing mother who greets children after school with a plate of home-baked cookies. Such women, while they do exist, are nearly extinct. More than 80% of women between the ages of 35 and 45 are employed outside the home for the simple reason that they need the money. The children go to daycare nurseries or stay with a relative or neighbor, when they’re old enough, they go to school and to after-school care. Working parents, especially those in demanding careers, must console themselves by spending "quality time" rather than quantity time with their children.