By Melanie Linn Gutowski

"Are you going to start a family soon?"

It's a familiar question to many PANKs (Professional Aunt, No Kids), particularly married ones. What it belies is the traditional attitude that a "family" consists of a mother, father and children.

But that attitude is changing, according to a study released by the Pew Research Center last week.

In "The Decline of Marriage and Rise of New Families," study authors found that nearly nine in ten Americans, approximately 88 percent, said they consider a childless married couple to fit their definition of a family.

The presence of children in a household was not a significant indicator of a person's satisfaction with family life. Married adults both with and without children reported around the same level of satisfaction with how their lives had turned out.

The study also found that childless participants, married or unmarried, were about equally likely to say they want to have kids someday (58 and 63 percent, respectively).

Though acceptance of alternative life choices is on the rise - 55 percent of Americans are unfazed by the increase - the study did find that nearly 30 percent of Americans say the rising trend toward childlessness is bad for society.

The study authors also cited a previous study that found that Americans have been less willing to criticize those who are childless during the past decade than they had been in the late 80s. When asked to agree or disagree with the statement, "people who have never had children lead empty lives," 39 percent disagreed in 1988, while in 2002, 59 percent disagreed.

Melanie Linn Gutowski, Savvy Auntie's Associate Editor, is a proud Godmother and ABC.

Published: November 24, 2010