A Portrait Of The New American Family

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept 15, 2001 by Jimmy Guterman, John Fetto

But magazines have already begun adapting to change. Time Inc.'s Parenting, for example, has introduced columns and departments dedicated to multiple births, single parenting and work and family. And, editor in chief Janet Chan adds, "The visuals reflect the changing demographic landscape, [and] the photos reflect that families aren't just mothers, fathers and two kids, white, blond hair and living in Connecticut." Gruner Jahr USA Publishing's Child--recently reconceived as a more upscale lifestyle magazine--has significantly boosted its coverage of the father's role in the whole parenting enterprise, incorporating them as part of the stories and art.

But publishers will have to adjust even more as the American definition of" family" undergoes a profound change. The Census states that there are more than 600,000 gay and lesbian families. (The Human Rights Campaign estimates that this is undercounted by 62 percent.) Gay couples, on average, have more assets than married heterosexuals.

And couples who are "child-free by choice" are on the rise. The percent of voluntarily childless couples has grown from 2.4 percent in 1982, and 4.3 percent in 1990, to 6.6 percent in 1995. The money these couples are saving on diapers and toys is being spent on everything else. Childless couples spend more per person on almost every consumer category than their married-with-children counterparts. They have more discretionary income than households with children, according to an exclusive analysis by American Demographics and Third Wave Research.

When it comes to entertainment and restaurants, higher spending by childless couples is particularly notable--60 percent and 101 percent higher, respectively, than in families with kids. They're better educated, too, as data from the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics show: 30 percent of childless couples had both spouses graduating from college, compared with 17 percent of those with kids. Although there is little difference in income (55 percent of childless couples have income over $50,000 versus 50 percent of couples with kids), child-less families don't have to deal with child-related expenses. They have more money to spend on-magazines, perhaps?

AMERICANS ARE BECOMING LESS WHITE

Just as boomers are too diverse to be targeted as one huge homogeneous demographic, the growing number of Hispanics in America, 61 percent of them born in this country, present opportunities and challenges for publishers. "Hispanic" is an extremely diverse term, encompassing communities associated with many different countries with differing interests. Even their relative ages differ significantly. For example, the median age of Mexican-Americans is 24, while that of Cuban-Americans is 41.

Despite the country's profound move toward greater diversity, whites remain the largest racial group. Nearly 211 million people, or 75 percent of the total population, reported themselves as White Only to the Census. And whites remain the majority race in every state except Hawaii.