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THE IDEAL VS. THE REAL -- LIKE IT OR NOT, TRADITIONAL AMERICAN FAMILY IS ON THE DECLINE
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The obvious decline of the traditional family, a trend marked by increasing rates of both divorce and cohabitation, is raising concern among sociologists and policy makers, politicians and religious groups.
But it shouldn't come as a surprise, says University at Buffalo sociologist Lynn Magdol.
"The trend scares and disorients a lot of people, but the situation illustrates the paradoxical nature of Americans' attitude toward marriage and family," she notes. When it comes to these institutions, they run hot and cold.
"Marriage and family are very much idealized in this country, and officially, at least, we hold them to be sacred," according to Magdol, UB assistant professor of sociology. "Our public behavior seems to support that position. Nearly all of us express a desire for an exclusive, intimate association; at least 90 percent of us say we want to marry, most of us do and the majority of us want to have children.
"But," she says, "it is clear that traditional marriages and families are apparently not meeting the social and intimacy needs of an increasing number of Americans."
To find out why, Magdol recently began a qualitative study of cohabiting couples. She previously conducted quantitative research among UB students to determine their attitudes toward cohabitation.
Magdol bases her observations on the following evidence:
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