Which trend best describes the growth of nonfamily households in recent decades?

• A. A steady increase in nonfamily households and a decline in married-couple households.
• B. A decline in nonfamily households.
• C. No change in household composition.
• D. A preference for extended family households.

Answer: (A)

The trend being tested is how nonfamily households have grown relative to traditional family households over time. Nonfamily households include people living alone or with non-relatives, such as roommates or cohabiting partners who aren’t married. In recent decades, data show a steady increase in these kinds of arrangements, while married-couple households have declined as a share of all households. This shift reflects factors like people marrying later, more divorces, people choosing to live alone, and economic or lifestyle reasons that favor nonfamily living situations.

The other options don’t fit because they either state the opposite (a decline in nonfamily households), claim no change, or describe a pattern—extended-family households—that isn’t the same as nonfamily households.