Unfocused families

Changing attitudes about children could have major economic consequences | Timothy Lamer

Sometimes the most important economic stories do not make it into the business sections of major newspapers.

A late June report from the Pew Research Center was one such story. Pew found that only 41 percent of Americans now view having children as "very important" to a successful marriage, down from 65 percent in 1990.

Faithfulness, at 93 percent, topped the list of key marriage ingredients, followed by happy sexual relationships at 70 percent. But even sharing household chores (at 62 percent) and earning an "adequate" income (at 53 percent) beat out having children. Out of nine options given, having children came in eighth. Only the importance of spouses agreeing on politics drew less support.