title: Trends in Attitudes About Marriage, Childbearing, and Sexual Behavior: United States, 2002, 2006-2010, and 2011-2013.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This report describes attitudes about marriage, childbearing, and sexual behavior among men and women aged 15-44 in the United States based on the 2002, 2006-2010, and 2011-2013 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for all three survey periods were collected through in-person interviews with nationally representative, independent samples of men and women in the household population of the United States. The overall response rate for NSFG was 79% in 2002, 77% in 2006-2010, and 73% in 2011-2013. Attitudinal items examined in this report include those related to marriage, divorce, cohabitation, parenthood, and sexual behavior. Where data from all three survey periods were available, differences were tested using trend analysis. Data from the 2002 survey were not available for some attitude items, and in these cases, comparisons were made only between the 2006-2010 and 2011-2013 surveys. Attitudinal differences by age group were analyzed using 2011-2013 data. All results are shown separately for women and men.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 2002 to 2011-2013, there was an increase in the percentages of men and women who agreed with premarital cohabitation, nonmarital childbearing, the right for gay and lesbian adults to adopt children, same-sex sexual relations, and premarital sex for those aged 18. There was a decrease in the percentages of men and women who agreed with divorce. There was no change in the percentages of men and women who agreed with premarital sex for those aged 16. There was no change from 2006-2010 to 2011-2013 in attitudes regarding marriage, cohabitation and the risk of divorce, the necessity of having children for one's happiness, and raising children in a cohabiting union. Several of the attitudinal items varied significantly by age group for both men and women.
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Daugherty
authors.forename: Casey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Copen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001290:Attitude; D004243:Divorce; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D011247:Pregnancy; D011639:Public Opinion; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult