The proportion of black children living with one parent has climbed to nearly 58 percent, up from 32 percent in 1970, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
As of 1991, the bureau reports, 57.5 percent of black children lived with one parent, compared with 19.5 percent of white children, and 29.8 percent of Hispanic children.
Black children were also three times as likely as white ones, and twice as likely as Hispanic ones, to live in their grandparents’ homes.
Over all, the data also show that 44 million American adults have never married--nearly twice the number who reported that status in 1970.
Americans are also waiting longer to get married, the bureau reports, and are getting divorced more often. Married persons now make up only 61 percent of all adults, down from 72 percent in 1970.
Copies of the report, “Marital Status and Living Arrangements: 1991,’' are available for $6.50 each prepaid from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. The G.P.O. stock number is 803-005-00062-1.
