Hispanic Families Join Black Families in Major Decline

There has been a lot of coverage of the demise of the black family structure. Hispanic families are joining that danger line. 

A recent Pew Research Center poll shows very similar rise lines for never-married blacks and hispanics. Rises among whites and Asians were more moderate.

"The share of never-married adults has gone up for all major racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., but the rate of increase has been most dramatic among blacks. Among black adults ages 25 and older, the share who has never been married has quadrupled over the past half century—from 9% in 1960 to 36% in 2012. For whites, the share has doubled (from 8% to 16%).

"Among Hispanics and Asian Americans, whose numbers have swelled in recent decades due to a large influx of immigrants, the share of adults who have never married also has increased. Among Hispanic adults, the share has doubled since 1980 (12% vs. 26%). And for Asian American adults, the share has gone up from 13% in 1980 to 19% in 2012."

Pew links to a National Health Statistics Report on cohabitation rates. The data shows that white woman are two to three times as likely to get married when a pregnancy results from cohabitation as black or Hispanic women.

This does not bode well for communities that have traditionally valued family/community over rugged individualism. One wonders if the U.S. welfare structure and encouragement of family break up by not enforcing border security and immigration laws have been a major factor in decline in marriage among Hispanics.

It also calls into question the impact of the church (especially Protestant for blacks and Catholic for Hispanics) on these communities. Their values seem to be coming from surrounding societal circumstances rather than from the church.