Families and households

single person households

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Families and households

Single person households: Someone who lives alone, and alternative to marriage. 

Single person families may be formed as a result of divorce, seperation, sudden death of a patner or just a deliberate choice... E.G. decided to stay single and unmarried with no children in order for a career. 

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Families and households

Single-person household are becoming more common. According to government statisctics, in 1971 '6' percent of people lived alont in Great Britain, by by 2005 this had doubled to '12' percent. 

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Families and households

Studies to back up single-person household increase:

  • Jennifer Somerville (2000) sees the rise in single-person households as a significant trend. She argues there has been a particularly large rise in the %age of young men who live alone, this is due to the high rate in divorce and the decision to marry later on in life. 
  • John Macionis and Ken Plummer (1997) claim that among women ages 20 to 24 in the USA the proportions who were single(not neccisarily living alone) increased from 28 % in 1960 to 67% in 1994. They said that underlying this trend is womens greater participation in the labour force: women who are economically secure view a husband as a matter of choice rather than a financal necessity. 
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