Final answer:
As of 2010, 66 percent of children under seventeen lived in nuclear families with married parents, a decrease from past decades. By 2017, 32 percent of children lived with a single parent. The data underscores a broad shift in the composition of U.S. households away from the traditional nuclear family and towards more varied family structures.
Step-by-step explanation:
In 2007, nuclear families, which refer to family units composed of married parents and their children, were found in a substantial but not overwhelming percentage of households. By 2010, data revealed that only 66 percent of children under seventeen years old were living in a household with two married parents, indicating a decrease from 77 percent in 1980. Over recent years, there has been a noticeable shift with an increase in single-parent households and variations of nuclear families, with the parents not being married. This change in family structures reflects a broader social transformation and a move away from the traditional nuclear family model.
Single-parent households have seen a substantial rise. According to 2017 statistics, 32 percent of children lived with a single parent only. Specifically, 21 percent lived with their mother and 4 percent lived with their father. Additionally, other family compositions such as unmarried couples, same-sex couples, and extended family households have been on the incline, showing the diversity of modern family dynamics.