Bella M. DePaulo
Santa Barbara, California
Visiting Professor
Department of Psychology
University of California
We all know that AMarried with Children@ is a TV show. The
stories are fictional. With the release of
the latest Census data, we now have more evidence for a lesser known fiction, which is
that people who are married with children deserve, by their numbers, to be the centerpiece
of American households. In fact, there are
more households consisting of one person living alone.
The citizens
of this nation are not as eager as they once were to sign up for The Married Couples Club
in their early adulthood years. The rush to
the altar has slowed. The 20 year old bride with her 23 year old groom is a page out of
the 1950's. Today, men and women who marry at such a young age are four or five years out
of step with their peers.
The
one-person household and the single adult are now economic realities, but they have yet to
be fully recognized as such by corporate America. Businesses and marketers have papered
our nation with 2-for-the-price-of-1 coupons and similar spousal subsidies for dinners,
stays at resorts, memberships in health clubs, and premiums for health insurance. When married people pay less than full price for a
commodity, they are probably being subsidized by the single adults who are paying full
fare. Businesses that continue to cater
almost exclusively to married couples have lost sight of the changing demographics of this
country, and they may get lost in the dust of the companies who do recognize the face of
the future.
As the number
of one-person households and of Americans who are single continues to rise, as as tis
strength in numbers is underscored by the newly released Census Bureau statistics and
other important data, people who are single are likely to become an increasingly important
political force. In a Presidential debate in the year 2000, a 34-year old single
woman asked candidates what their proposals would do for her. In the year 2004, she
will receive a more compelling answer than she did then.
Bella M. DePaulo is a social psychologist
with a B.A. from Vassar College and a PhD from Harvard University. She has authored more
than 100 professional publications. In the past several years, she has been studying the
place in science, society, and social life of people who are single. She is the
President-Elect of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and the recipient of
numerous professional honors and awards. She is currently a Visiting Professor at the
University of California at Santa Barbara.
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