Development. Family Roles and Well-Being During the Middle Life Course

Family roles and well-being — 2 As we embark upon the early years of a new millennium, considerable consternation and debate about what is happening to the family as a social institution in the United States and elsewhere continues (Waite, 2000). During the 20th century family demography charted historic changes in rates of mortality, marriage, fertility, divorce, remarriage, and household composition (Bumpass, 1990). In contrast to 1900, today both men and women live significantly longer, a smaller proportion of the adult life course is spent married, a higher proportion of adults cohabit before marriage or in lieu of marriage, a higher proportion of marriages end in divorce, fewer remarriages follow a divorce, fewer children are born to each woman, a higher proportion of the population lives in a single-person household, and a higher proportion of adulthood is spent with living parents over age 65 (and at risk of dependency due to frailty and/or chronic illness