Charting Parenthood:
A Statistical Portrait of Fathers and Mothers in America

Produced by Child Trends
Tamara Halle, Ph.D., Project Director

With support from:
The Ford Foundation
The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
The Administration for Children, Youth, and Families
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The NICHD Family and Child Well-being Research Network

This report is available on the Internet at:
http://fatherhood.hhs.gov/charting02

Printer Friendly version in PDF format

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Acknowledgements
Index of Tables

Introduction

• Who is a Parent?

Parenting Section

Attitudes Towards Parenting

• P1 - Importance of Becoming a Parent
• P2 - Adult Attitudes About the Value of Children
• P3 - Parents: Can One Be as Good as Two?
• P4 - Parents' Beliefs About Raising Children
• P5 - Adults' Attitudes Toward Spanking
• P6 - Parents' Responsibility for Children

Parenting Practices

• P7 - Limit Setting
• P8 - Conflict Resolution in Families

Closeness and Conflict between Parents and Children

• P9 - Degree of Closeness Adolescent Feels Toward Parent
• P10 - Warmth and Affection
• P11 - Conflict Between Parents and Adolescents
• P12 - Incidence of Harsh Punishment, Violence, or Abuse

Child Care and Other Activities with Children

• P13 - Direct Care of Pre-school Children by Fathers
• P14 - Time Spent with Children
• P15 - Parents' Activities with Children
• P16 - Religious Activities With Children

Parenting and School

• P17 - Parental Participation in Child's School Activities
• P18 - Encouragement of Child(ren)'s School Achievement

Nonresidential Parenting

• P19 - Child Custody Arrangements
• P20 - Contact With Nonresident Parent

Parental Income

• P21 - Earnings and Income
• P22 - Receipt of Child Support
• Endnotes for Parenting Section

Family Formation Section

• Marriage and Divorce
  • FF1 - Marriage
  • FF2 - Divorce
  • FF3 - Age at First Marriage and Divorce
  • FF4 - Characteristics of Current Spouse
  • FF5 - Attitudes Toward Divorce
• Cohabitation
  • FF6 - Cohabitation Status
  • FF7 - Age at First Cohabitation
  • FF8 - Characteristics of Current Partner
  • FF9 - Attitudes Toward Cohabitation Without Intent to Marry
• Endnotes for Family Formation Section

Fertility Section

Fertility

• F1 - Birth Rates
• F2 - Age at First Birth
• F3 - Number of Pregnancies
• F4 - Premarital Birth

Sexual Activity

• F5 - Age at First Sexual Intercourse
• F6 - Number of Sexual Partners
• F7.a - Characteristics of Sexual Partners - Type of Relationship
• F7.b - Characteristics of Sexual Partners - Length of Relationships
• F7.c - Characteristics of Sexual Partners - Race/Ethnicity
• F7.d - Characteristics of Sexual Partners - Age
• F8 - Regular Sexual Intercourse

Contraception and Abortion

• F9 - Contraceptive Use
• F10 - Attitudes Toward Abortion
• F11 - Incidence of Abortion
• Endnotes for Fertility Section

Appendix

• Appendix A: Data Dictionary

Index of Data Tables

Parenting Tables

• Table 1 Percentage of adults who have ever had a biological child: 2000
• Table 2 Percentage of adults living with one or more of their own children under age 18: 2001
• Table P1.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who either agree or strongly agree that people who have never had children lead empty lives: 1988 & 1994
• Table P1.2 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who either agree or strongly agree that a marriage without children is not fully complete: 1988
• Table P2.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who either agree or strongly agree that watching children grow up is life's greatest joy: 1988 & 1994
• Table P2.2 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who either agree or strongly agree that it is better not to have children because they are such a heavy financial burden: 1988
• Table P3.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who either agree or strongly agree that one parent can bring up a child as well as two parents together: 1994
• Table P4.1 Percentage of parents who reported various qualities as the most important for their child (under age 13) to learn to prepare him/her for life: 1997
• Table P5.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who either agree or strongly agree that it is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a good, hard spanking: selected years: 1986-2000
• Table P6.1 Percentage of parents who reported particular responsibility for playing with their child(ren) (under age 13): 1997
• Table P6.2 Percentage of parents who reported particular responsibility for disciplining their child(ren) (under age 13): 1997
• Table P6.3 Percentage of parents who reported particular responsibility for selecting a child care program, preschool, or school for their child(ren) (under age 13): 1997
• Table P7.1 Percentage of parents who reported that they often or very often set various limits on their children's activities (ages 3 to 12): 1997
• Table P8.1 Percentage of parents of children under age 13 who agree or completely agree with various statements about family conflict and various resolution styles: 1997
• Table P9.1 Degree of closeness child feels to parent: 1996
• Table P10.1 Percentage of parents of children under age 13 who treated their children with various forms of warmth and affection every day in the past month: 1997
• Table P11.1 Percentage of parents who had open disagreements with their child age 12 to 18 in the last 12 months about his or her friends, by frequency of disagreement: 1988
• Table P11.2 Percentage of parents who had open disagreements with their child age 12 to 18 in the last 12 months about how late children stay out at night, by frequency of disagreement: 1988
• Table P12.1 Percentage of parents who reported ever physically abusing their child: 1995
• Table P13.1 Percentage of children ages 0 to 5 whose father is the primary care provider while mother is working, looking for work, or attending school: 1996
• Table P14.1 Average daily time in hours children under age 13 are engaged in some activity with parents: 1997
• Table P15.1 Percentage of parents who engaged in the following activities with their child(ren) at least once a week: 1997
• Table P16.1 Percentage of children who report having gone to a church-related event with their parent in the last 4 weeks: 1996
• Table P17.1 Percentage of parents with high involvement at their child's school (participation in three or four activities): 1996 & 1999
• Table P18.1 Mean number of days in a typical week parents report the following school encouragement behaviors: 1992
• Table P19.1 Type of child custody per most recent agreement (in percents): 1994
• Table P19.2 Type of child custody per most recent agreement (in percents): 1996
• Table P19.3 Type of child custody per most recent agreement (in percents): 1998
• Table P20.1 Percentage of children with contact with nonresident parent in the previous year, as reported by resident parent: 1993, 1995, & 1997
• Table P20.2 Average number of days in the past year child had contact with nonresident parent (among those with any contact), according to resident parent: 1993, 1995, & 1997
• Table P21.1 Median adjusted income (2000 Dollars) for families with one or more children under age 18 (U.S. Census Bureau)
• Table P22.1 Characteristics of child support agreements held by resident parents (in percents): 1998
• Table P22.2 Percentage of resident parents with an agreement who received child support payments in the previous year: 1998
• Table P22.3 Mean dollar amounts received in the previous year for families receiving child support payments as reported by resident parent: 1998

Family Formation Data Tables

• Table FF1.1 Percentage married among adults ages 18 and older: 1991-2001
• Table FF1.2 Lifetime number of marriages (in percents): 1996
• Table FF2.1 Lifetime number of divorces (in percents): 1990 & 1996
• Table FF3.1 Average age at first marriage: 1990 & 1996
• Table FF3.2 Average age at first divorce: 1996
• Table FF4.1 Percentage of respondents by spouse characteristics: 2001
• Table FF5.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who agree or strongly agree with the following statements about divorce: 1994
• Table FF6.1 Percentage of adults cohabiting: 1991-2001
• Table FF7.1 Average age at first cohabitation: 1988
• Table FF8.1 Percentage of respondents by current partner characteristics: 2001
• Table FF9.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who agree or strongly agree that it is all right for a couple to live together without intending to get married: 1994 & 1998

Fertility Data Tables

• Table F1.1 Fertility rates for males: selected years: 1980-1999
• Table F1.2 Fertility and birth rates for females: selected years: 1980-1999
• Table F2.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 59 who had their first birth at a certain age (among those who have had a live birth): 1992
• Table F3.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 59 who have had pregnancies: 1992
• Table F4.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 59 who had their first birth before their first marriage: 1992
• Table F5.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 59 who had their first sexual intercourse by the specified age: 1992
• Table F6.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who had two or more sex partners in the last 12 months: selected years: 1988-2000
• Table F7.1 Seriousness of relationship at first sex with current or most recent partner (in percents): 1995
• Table F7.2 Length of sexual relationship with first sexual partner (in percents): 1995
• Table F7.3 Length of sexual relationship with current or most recent partner (in percents): 1995
• Table F7.4 Race and Hispanic origin of current or most recent sexual partner (in percents): 1995
• Table F7.5a Current age of current or most recent female partner in past year (in percents), Males: 1988 & 1995
• Table F7.5b Current age of current or most recent male partner in past year (in percents), Females ages 15-44: 1995
• Table F8.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who had sex two or more times a month during the last 12 months: selected years, 1989-2000
• Table F9.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 59 who used contraceptives at their first sexual intercourse: 1992
• Table F9.2 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 59 who used some form of contraception during their most recent intercourse: 1992
• Table F10.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion under six different reasons: selected years, 1980-2000
• Table F10.2 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 65 who think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if the woman wants it for any reason: selected years, 1980 - 2000
• Table F11.1 Percentage of adults ages 18 to 59 who have ever had an abortion: 1992

Acknowledgements

Project Management at Child Trends Brett Brown, Co-Principal Investigator Tamara Halle, Project Director Susan Jekielek, Task Leader: Family Formation Akemi Kinukawa, Task Leader: Fertility Erik Michelsen, Task Leader: Parenting Kristin A. Moore, Co-Principal Investigator Contributing Child Trends Staff Sharon Bzostek Julia Calkins Stephanie Cochran Anne Driscoll Carol Emig Sarah Garrett Angela D. Greene Justin Jager Amanda Kellar Rachel King Thomson Ling Laura Lippman Cristina Lizarazu Melissa Long Jennifer Manlove Eric Moore Angela R. Papillo Lindsay Pitzer Suzanne Ryan Juliet Scarpa Berkeley Smith Elizabeth Terry-Humen Sharon Vandivere Private Data Providers Randal Day, Brigham Young University Sue Eshleman, S. Eshleman Systems Management Gary Gates, The Urban Institute Kathleen Harris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Sandra Hofferth, University of Maryland Edward Laumann, University of Chicago John Sandberg, Population Studies Center,   Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan Tom Smith, National Opinion Research Center Murray Straus, University of New Hampshire Freya Sonenstein, The Urban Institute

Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics Child Trends thanks the member agencies for providing funds and technical support for the production of this report. The following staff are particularly to be thanked. Department of Health and Human Services National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Joyce Abma Deborah Blackwell Matthew Bramlett Anjani Chandra William Mosher Deborah Rose Paul Sutton Stephanie Ventura National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health Chris Bachrach Natasha Cabrera Lynne Casper Jeffery Evans Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Julia Isaacs Linda Mellgren Child Care Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and Families Ivelisse Martinez-Beck Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor Thesia Garner David Johnson National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education Patrick Rooney Jerry West National Institute of Justice, Office of Research and Evaluation Shelly Jackson Cynthia Mamalian Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau Jason Fields Timothy Grall Robert Kominski

Child Trends would like to recognize the funders and our federal and private colleagues for their sizeable contributions to this effort. Child Trends is solely responsible, however, for the content and accuracy of the report.

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Last updated: 06/09/06