Fewer Americans married with children.

The latest Census Bureau figures indicate that baby boomers finally are settling down after two decades of social revolution that saw American families undergo dramatic changes. The number of married couples with children is continuing to drop, but the decline has slowed since 1990. "It seems that things have plateaued," notes Census statistician Ken Bryson.

The 1970s marked the biggest change in families and households, a time when the first of the post-World War II baby boomers were reaching adulthood. "That decade was much more likely than now to be a decade of substantial tumult of various kinds," Bryson suggests. The change continued into the 1980s, but has lessened since 1990.

Married couples with children now make up just over 25% of all households, about the same share as single people living alone. Married couples' share of households dropped from 40.3% in 1970 to 26.3% in 1990 and was 25.5% in 195, a change attributed to the increasing number of divorces and single-parent households.

Over all, families made up 70% of America's 98,900,000 households in 1995, the Census report found. While that's down from 81.2% in 1970, most of the change occurred in the first 20 years. The figure was 70.8% in 1990.

"I wouldn't expect tremendous change until another 10 years from now when baby boom children will be mostly off to college and the oldest [boomers]...