1/3 REBUILDING SOCIAL CAPITAL
Social capital, the rich network of relationships that exist in child development and among adults, is fraying in the United States as more Americans live alone, delay or forgo marriage and childbearing, stop going to church, and volunteer less.
These trends are especially evident among low-income and working-class communities.
32% of American adults have only two or fewer close friends
Nearly 40% of prime-age working adults are unpartnered, neither married nor cohabitating
More than a quarter of U.S. children live in single-parent homes
About half of parenting-age adults wish they had more children than they do
Around 35% of lower, working, and middle-class parents point to not being able to afford more kids as a reason why they don’t have more
31 states have experienced marked decreases in volunteering since 2004
The result is a deterioration of trust in each other, and in our institutions:
Social surveys show 15 to 25 point drops in interpersonal trust among Americans since the 1970s
2 in 3 millennials report not feeling like they belong in their community
Only 19%of Americans trust the government to do the right thing “always” or “most of time”
66% of Americans have “not very much” or “none at all” trust in mass media
Only 29% of Americans think science and experts will act in the public’s best interest
