• Skip to content
  • Skip to footer

Abby Quillen

Freelance Content Marketing Writer and Editor

  • Home
  • About
  • Writing Samples
  • Testimonials
  • Contact

A Snapshot of Parenting in America

By Abby Quillen

Percentage of women between the ages 40 and 44 who’ve had a biological child (2010):

83

In 1990, the percentage of women between the ages 40 and 44 who’d had a biological child:

90

Percentage of men between who’ve had a biological child by age 40 (2010):

76

Percent drop in the birth rate between 2007 and 2010:

7

Average age of a first-time mother in 1970:

21.4

Average age of a first-time mother in 2008:

25.1

Percentage of babies born to unmarried mothers in 1980:

18

Percentage of babies born to unmarried mothers in 2011:

40

Percentage of kids who were adopted (2000):

2.5

Number of kids in the foster care system awaiting placement with a family (2011):

104,236

Percentage of kids being raised in a two-parent home (2011):

69

Percentage of kids living in poverty (2011):

22

Percentage of married moms who stayed at home with their kids in 1969:

44

Percentage of married moms who stayed at home with their kids in 2010:

26

Percentage of dads who stayed at home with their kids in 2010:

0.8

Percentage of kids ages 0 to 4, who have a working mother and are enrolled in center-based child care (2010) :

24

Average cost per year for center-based child care in Massachusetts, the most expensive in the nation (2010):

$15,000

Percentage of children between ages three and five who were read to every day in 2005:

47

Percentage of children between ages three and five who were read to every day in 2007:

40

Percentage of parents who believe it is okay to spank their children:

67

Percentage of parents who admit to spanking their children:

50

Percentage of parents who think it is okay for a grade-school teacher to spank a child:

26

(Click on the hyperlinks to see the sources for the statistics.)

This is part of a New Urban Habitat series: Snapshots of America:

  1. A Snapshot of Car-Usage in America
  2. A Snapshot of Education in America
  3. A Snapshot of Waste in America
  4. A Snapshot of Food in America
  5. A Snapshot of Time in America

Save

October 29, 2012Filed Under: Family life, Parenting Tagged With: Child Rearing, Childhood, Family life, Fatherhood, Motherhood, Parenting, Raising Children, Snapshots of America, Statistics

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Stína says

    October 29, 2012 at 2:39 pm

    Wow – I can’t believe so many people are spanking their kids. I can honestly say I don’t know a single parent who does that. Or maybe they just don’t admit to it…

    • Abby Quillen says

      October 29, 2012 at 3:57 pm

      Same here, Stina! Those three statistics came from an ABCNEWS poll of a random 1,015 parents. I’m always a little suspicious about the accuracy of polls, especially in the age of cell phones. But still, it’s pretty surprising.

Trackbacks

  1. The Best of 2012 « New Urban Habitat says:
    December 31, 2012 at 4:02 am

    […] A Snapshot of Parenting in America […]

Before Footer

Ready to ramp up your content and see results? Drop me an email, and we'll find a time to chat.

Footer

  • Email
  • LinkedIn

Copyright © 2025 · Wellness Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in