The FINANCIAL — Americans almost universally agree that it’s better for children to grow up in a home with both their parents and feel strongly that such children have an edge over those whose parents are divorced.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 94% of American Adults believe it is at least somewhat important for children to grow up in a home with both their parents. That includes 77% who say it is Very Important. Just four percent (4%) think it’s not very important. Statistically speaking, no one says having both parents in the home is Not At All Important.
These findings are essentially unchanged from a survey a year ago.
Similarly little changed is the finding that 70% of adults think children who grow up in a home with both parents have an advantage over children whose parents are divorced. Eighteen percent (18%) disagree and say that’s not the case. Twelve percent (12%) aren’t sure.
Eighty percent (80%) of those who grew up in a household with both parents rate that family environment as Very Important, compared to 63% of those who did not have two parents in the home. While 76% of those who had two parents at home think that arrangement gives a child an advantage, just 50% of those who didn’t have two parents in the home agree.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 15-16, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
Seventy-two percent (72%) of adults feel that children are at least somewhat important in keeping a marriage together, including 47% who say they are a Very Important factor. A plurality (45%) believes it is too easy to get a divorce in America today.
Men place more importance on a two-parent home than women do and also feel more strongly that children who grow up in a two-parent home have an advantage over those whose parents are divorced. Older adults tend to agree with both positions more than those who are younger.
Blacks are the strongest advocates of two-parent homes but are nearly twice as likely as whites and those of other races not to have grown up in one themselves.
Married adults and those with children in the home are stronger supporters of a two-parent home than unmarrieds and those who don’t have children living with them. The former are also more likely to think a child in a two-parent home has an advantage.
But it’s important to note that across all demographic categories there is substantial belief in the importance of a two-family home and in the view that children growing up in such homes have an advantage over those who do not.
Only 24% of adults think today’s children will be better off than their parents, but 56% disagree. Nineteen percent (19%) are not sure.
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