Reply #19: So more evidence that pre-1900 social structure was normal and the Post WWIi social structure was NOT. [View All]

[happyslug]

One of the stats the US Census bureau finds every ten years is age of first marriage. Around 1900 it was about 26 for men 22 for women. That age DROPPED till the 1970 census (Falling to about 22 for men, 20 for women). Since the 1970 Census it has increased, equally the ages in 1900 about 1990 (for men, for women it was 1980), it has increased since that date.

I bring this up for the above is a clear state that shows we are returning to the Social Structure of 1900, instead of the idealized social structure of the 1950s. Back then it was common for multiple generations to live together (And it is common is much of the old Warsaw Pact Nations and the Third world). It seems to be the norm throughout most of history, even when the nuclear family was considered the ideal situation. Just comments that this change may NOT reflect the fact people need more time to set up their own households, but that such independent households are no longer viable, just like such independent households was NOT viable in 1900. We are now an urban population, not majority rural population we were in 1900, but it looks like we are returning to extended families as more then a social support group, we are reverting to extended families as part of the economic needs of young families. i.e. people in their 20s can NOT afford to buy a house, buy a car AND raise young children WITHOUT direct support from other relatives. That is why people lived with their parents while into their 20s around 1900, and why it appears we are returning to such a situation today.

US Census data:
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html#ht