One of the most vital social indicators of the strength of a society is the condition and strength of its families. Judging by family statistics, it appears we are living in troubling times in the western world, including Canada. Much of the difficulties with families is due to the increase in common-law and same-sex marriages, which have weakened traditional marriage. Common-law and same-sex marriage relationships are not as stable as legally married husband and wife relationships.
Common-Law Relationships
According to Statistics Canada, by the time they are 10 years old, 63% of children with parents living in a common-law union, have seen their parents separate, compared with only 14% of children whose parents were married and had not previously lived common-law.
Same-Sex Marriages
Same-sex marriages appear to be more prone to dissolution than heterosexual marriages, with the literature indicating that few homosexual relationships last longer than 2 – 3 years. Other studies indicate an even shorter period of duration for such relationships. For example, a study of homosexual men in The Netherlands found a duration of only 1.5 years. The short duration of same-sex couples’ relationships creates instability and insecurity in the lives of children living within them.
In comparison, in Canada, according to the National Longitudinal Survey of 23,000 children by Statistics Canada, 86% of legally married opposite-sex couples remain together over a 10-year period. In 2001, the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics Study on marriage and divorce statistics reported that 66% of first marriages last 10 years or longer, with 50% lasting 20 years or longer.
This is one of the reasons that the American College of Pediatricians concluded, in January 2004, that same-sex parents are not an acceptable alternative to heterosexual parenting.
Non-traditional Arrangements Becoming Acceptable
Non-traditional arrangements, however, are becoming more socially acceptable, which signals that traditional marriage has become, for some, merely an optional lifestyle choice and an occasion for a gala, with a bride and groom being the central figures in the entertainment. That is, marriage in many cases is no longer perceived as two individuals solemnly joining together in a union intended to last a lifetime, but is seen, instead, as just a celebration to bring together family and friends. All too frequently marriage has ceased to be an important occasion to witness the formation of a family unit, which is, to form a part of the foundation of society.
Unfortunately, when society tells the young that marriage is optional, a growing number choose the path of least resistance, and join together informally, frequently changing partners in common-law relationships. This is bad for children because of the lack of permanency of the relationship and, therefore, bad for society.
The Traditional Family In Canada
Living arrangements of children under 14 years of age indicate increased lone parent and common-law parenting and a relative decrease of traditional family upbringing.
| Living arrangements for children aged 14 and under: |
| |
1981 |
2001 |
2006 |
| Lived with parents |
81.2% |
68.4% |
65.7% |
| Lived with common law union |
4.5% |
12.8% |
14.6% |
| Lived with lone parent |
13.1%
approximation |
17.8% |
18.3% |
Statistics Canada, Family Portrait - 2006 census analysis
Births
According to the United Nations Common Database the total fertility rate of Canadian women has decreased steadily from 3.73 in 1955 to 1.56 in the year 2000. http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu
In Canada,
| Out of wedlock births in 2005 were |
24.5% |
| Births to married parents accounted for |
63.3% |
| Did not state their marital status |
10.7% |
Statistics Canada Cansim Table 102 – 4506
Divorce
Increases in number of divorces and divorce rates indicate a weakening of marital trend over the years:
| |
1921 |
1941 |
1961 |
1981 |
2003
latest available |
Divorce rate
(per 100,000) |
6.4 |
21.4 |
36.0 |
271.8 |
223.7 |
The situation in Europe is even worse. For example, last year, France became the first non-Scandinavian country in Western Europe where a majority of births are now out-of-wedlock.
The European statistics (kindly provided by the World Congress of Families) are as follows:
France: 50.5% of the 816,500 registered births last year were to unmarried parents, up from 48% in 2006 and up 40% from a decade ago.
Sweden, Norway, Estonia and Bulgaria: out-of-wedlock births have passed the 50% mark.
United Kingdom: 44% of births were to unmarried women in 2006, up a percentage point from 2005. Curiously, however, according to the office for National Statistics, the divorce rate dropped by 7% in 2006. Further, according to a CIVITAS/ISPDS survey, 70% of Britons between the ages of 20 and 35 actually want to be married.
Italy and Spain: Both these so-called “Catholic” countries registered births to married couples as the norm. However, out-of-wedlock births in Spain were 27% of births, and 17% of births in Italy in 2007. This represents the doubling of out-of-wedlock births in these two countries in the past decade
In the life of any society, the place of family is central. This fact alone makes the above statistics significant and seriously complicates the lives of everyone – especially children.
Hope for the Future
Even with these troubling statistics and the world seemingly spinning into even more decadence and immorality, there is still reason for hope. This is because culture itself exhibits an ebb and flow, as surely as economies pass through cycles of ups and downs. In his book, The Great Disruption (1999), Francis Fukuyama cited historical examples of societies undergoing periods of moral decline followed by periods of moral recovery. The aftermath of the cultural breakdown, which the 1960s triggered, appears even now to be quietly giving way to a reassessment and some recovery of social and moral norms. Such “re-norming” will not occur in every social class all at once; in some instances, it may take hold in one stratum but not in another. This is partial progress, but progress nevertheless.
Changes in Canadian Society
We can see a few signs of some progress in Canada today in a number of ways. The abortion rate in 2005 (96,815) fell 3.2% from (100,039) in 2004. Significantly, this decline occurred mostly among women under 20 years of age. Legislation and structures have recently been put in place to shore up society, such as raising the age of consent for sexual relations from 14 to 16 years of age; drug policies which provide treatment and prevention (education) rather than accepting addiction as inevitable; and strengthening of the provisions of the Criminal law.
The best indication of all, however, that society may be turning around is that the current generation of teenagers and young adults in Canada appear in many respects to be more culturally conservative than their immediate predecessors. This conclusion is based on polls conducted by Ekos Research Associates, one of Canada’s more prominent polling firms which found a marked shift in Canadians’ political identification from liberal to conservative. This is not a simple opinion blip but a clear trend line. This trend also seems to be reflected in the research by University of Lethbridge sociologist, Reginald Bibby. Surveys from 1975 – 2000 called the Canada Research Project reveal with remarkable consistency that teenagers and baby boomers continue to see family as a major source of love, support and stability. Over 90% of teenagers say they intend to marry, have children and stay with the same partner for life. One hopes their dreams coupled with determination to make their marriages work, will overcome the current statistical trends.
Statistics Canada, The Daily, June 2, 1998
McWhirter, David and Mattison, Andrew, “The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop,” Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1984, pp.252, 253; Michael, Robert T. et al., “Sex in America: A Definitive Survey,” Boston: Little, Brown & Company, (1994)
Xiridou, Maria et al., “The Contribution of Steady and Casual Partnerships to the Incidence of HIV Infection Among Homosexual Men in Amsterdam,” AIDS 17 (2003):1031
National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (1996, 1998)
United States, “Advance Data, National Center for Health Statistics (May 31, 2001): 1
Fukuyama, Francis, “The Great Disruption,” Simon and Schuster, New York (1999) |
