Parenthood

Women now make up almost half of the U.S. labor force, up from 38% in 1970. The public approves of this trend, but the change has come with a cost for many women -- particularly working mothers of young children, who feel the tug of family responsibility much more acutely than do working fathers.

Fully 72% of married moms who work say dads are now doing as good a job or better than their counterparts did a generation ago.

There is a stronger consensus in public opinion about the social cost of out-of-wedlock births than there is about the morality of these births.

Who makes better candidates — moms or dads? And more broadly, what impact do both the gender and parenting status of candidates have on their chances to win an election?

That's the percentage of U.S. adults who say that when there is a marriage in which the parents are very unhappy with one another, their children are better off if the parents get divorced; only 19% disagree.

In the span of the past decade, full-time work outside the home has lost some of its appeal to mothers. This trend holds for both those who have such jobs and those who don't.

Americans believe that births to unwed women are a big problem for society, and they take a mixed view at best of cohabitation without marriage.

A broad consensus holds that it is harder to be a father now than it was 20 or 30 years ago. But seven-in-ten adults say it's harder to be a mom today than it was in the past, and only 11% see it as easier.

There is broad agreement among the public that it is harder to be a parent today - especially a mother - than it was in the 1970s or 1980s.

Summary of Findings From managing busy schedules to dealing with outside influences, mothers have their hands full these days. There is broad agreement among the public that it is harder to be a parent today – especially a mother – than it was in the 1970s or 1980s. Fully 70% of the public says it […]