The holidays are always times for Americans to come together with their families,

and in iconic scenes, one pictures a dining table with three generations,

grandparents, parents, and children, together with siblings, and the extended family they bring with them, parents and children, together with siblings and the extended family they bring

with them, cousins and aunts and uncles. But family formation has been growing less common in

America over time, and at some point in the last decade, the number of American adults

aged 18 to 55, who are married with children, and the number of American adults aged 18 to 55 who are married with children,

and the number of American adults who are single and childless converged.

Since 2010, the percentage of American adults who are married with children

has continued to diminish, and the percentage of the single and childless, known as

kinless, has grown. In 2023, demographers estimate that compared to only 32% of adults who are

married with children, America now has a higher percentage, 38% who are kinless. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host,

Jonathan Silver. This finding has vast social consequences for the country and its society. But I want to

highlight that it has consequences even for those Americans who are married and who do have children. It has consequences

for religious and conservative families who not only have the 2.1 children that each family

must produce for the population to remain constant, but even and especially for those families

who have considerably more than 2.1 children.

Think of how the shared assumptions, convictions,

orientation toward tax policy and real estate and government service,

cultural attitudes,

think of how all these things will drift farther and farther apart

for large families and kinless Americans.

To help think about these consequences and also help explain how we got here, my guest

...