Many Americans believe that marriage and family are at the center of everyone's lives, but sociological research shows that this is not the case. Describe some of the trends that make family less important in the day-to-day life of the average American.

First, people are staying single longer and even campaigning against the discrimination they feel is affecting singles. Second, cohabitation is increasing as fewer people get married and those who marry do so later. Third, "the family" increasingly refers to single parents, who of necessity spend less time with children and more time at work. A counterexample to this set of developments is the increasing reliance of many people in their twenties on their parents for financial and other kinds of support.