Family & Relationships

Today's decision settles the issue in some states, but it has not ended the battle over same-sex marriage.

A Vatican synod on the family comes at a time when most American Catholics say they disagree with their church’s teachings on issues such as birth control and divorce.

The share of American adults who have never been married is at a record high (20%), and young adults are at the leading edge of this national trend.

Young adults who would like to get married naturally start looking for love in the community they live in, but it turns out that in some parts of the country, the odds may be against them.

One-in-five adults ages 25 and older have never married, up from 9% in 1960. Shifting public attitudes toward marriage, hard economic times and changing demographic patterns may have all played a role.

The Census Bureau last week released a new estimate of the number of U.S. same-sex married couples that is 38% higher than the bureau’s 2012 estimate, but agency officials note that the estimates are likely inaccurate.

People with consistently conservative political values are particularly likely to say it is important to teach children religious faith, while those with consistently liberal values stand out for the priority they give to teaching tolerance.

Respondents in the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel were surveyed about which of 12 traits they feel are “especially important to teach children,” and to then choose the three most important. The total percentages who name each trait among the most important are presented in this interactive chart along a scale of political ideology.

Census Bureau officials and other experts do not expect counting same-sex spouses along with all other married couples to make a big impact on overall statistics for married couples. But if the number of same-sex married couples continues to rise, that could change.

For the first time in decades, the non-marital birth rate in the U.S. has been declining. It's likely that the decline occurred as a result of the economic recession of 2007-2009.