Children's living arrangements have become more diverse over the past few decades because of the rapid changes in family behaviors, including an increase in the proportion of children living in a grandparent-headed household.
A new report from the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling
Green State University, titled Grandchildren Living
in a Grandparent-Headed Household, tracks trends in the
proportion of children living in a grandparent-headed household between 1940
and 2015.
After a period of early stability, the proportion declined from 5.8 percent to
3.2 percent between 1950 and 1970. Since then, the percentage of children
living in a grandparent's household has more doubled from 3 percent to 8
percent. In 2015, nearly one in twelve children lived with a grandparent. The
graph below shows the percentage of minor children living in a grandparent's
household since 1940.
