2025 Year-End Insights: 4 Trends on Today’s Family

From shifting marriage patterns to rising mental health concerns, 2025 offered a revealing look at the shifting realities of marriage, parenting, relationships and family well-being. Together, these findings paint a more complete picture of how Americans are engaging in family life

Here are four family trends we researched in 2025.

1. Marriage Is Changing, But Commitment Still Matters

Barna’s marriage and divorce trends analysis revealed a landscape in transition. While fewer adults are choosing marriage today, the institution still holds deep significance.

• Just under half of  U.S. adults today are married (46%), compared to two-thirds in 1950.
• Pastors far surpass the national average: 91 percent are currently married, and 97 percent have been married at some point.
• In total, nearly one in five U.S. adults (18%) says they’ve experienced divorce.

Pastors are just as likely to have been divorced (18%), yet are much more likely to remarry—73 percent of divorced pastors remarry, compared to just 55 percent of all U.S. adults. Only 4 percent of pastors are currently divorced.

Younger adults continue to delay marriage or favor long-term partnerships without formal vows. Yet across demographic groups, married adults consistently report stronger relational satisfaction and emotional stability than their single peers. And while plenty of couples are navigating pressure points—from finances to communication—most say they still view marriage as a lifelong commitment worth preserving.

For ministry leaders, marriage foundations and support remain essential discipleship needs, especially among young adults discerning long-term relationships.

2. Families Are Feeling the Strain—and Many Aren’t Sure Their Church Sees Them

In our study, The State of Today’s Family, church leaders overwhelmingly reported that family life within their congregations has become more complex—not less. The “nuclear family” is no longer the dominant household type for Americans. Singles, blended families, single-parent households, multigenerational homes and nontraditional structures make up a significant share of church bodies.

Yet churchgoers are split on whether their pastor understands these realities. Fifty percent of Christians or churchgoers tell Barna, yes, “Our pastor is understanding of the experiences of blended families and nontraditional family structures.” But the other half says this is not the case (27%) or that they are not sure (23%). 

This divide may stem from the fact that pastors themselves largely represent traditional family structures: 91 percent are married, and 90 percent have children. These experiences provide natural strengths for discipling spouses and parents—but they can unintentionally create a ministry ecosystem geared primarily toward nuclear households.

Service schedules, group structures, messaging and budgeting priorities often reflect that default. The challenge for churches in 2026 will be balancing strong marriage and parenting ministries with an equally clear and compassionate path for individuals and families who don’t fit the traditional mold.

3. Parents Are Deeply Concerned About Their Teens’ Mental Health

One of the most resonant stories of the year came from our study on parenting and teen mental health. The research confirmed what many parents already sense: today’s young people are carrying heavy emotional burdens.

Parents ranked anxiety, depression and loneliness among their top concerns for their teens. Many feel unsure of how to help—and are especially uncertain about when to step in with professional support.

But the study also highlighted a hopeful reality: a warm, steady parent-child relationship is one of the strongest buffers against mental health struggles.

Parents who regularly…

• Check in emotionally
• Create space for meaningful conversations
• Set healthy boundaries
• Model coping skills and faith practices

… are more likely to see their teens thrive.

Churches can play a pivotal role here too, helping parents build resilience skills, fostering intergenerational relationships and normalizing mental health conversations within faith communities.

4. Pastors Who Are Parents Carry Hidden Pressures

This fall, Barna released new research on the parenting pressures pastors feel, and the findings were striking. Pastors who are raising children often experience the same challenges as other parents—but intensified by the visibility and expectations of their role.

Many pastor-parents reported feeling:

• Worried about their kids growing up under a microscope
• Guilty about time spent away from family due to ministry demands
• Unsure how much of their children’s struggles to share with the congregation
• Concerned about burnout—for themselves and their families

Despite these realities, pastor-parents often hesitate to seek help, feeling they must model strength or resolve challenges privately. This research underscores a critical need: churches must care not only for the pastor but also for the pastor’s family, ensuring leaders have the relational, emotional, and structural support necessary for long-term well-being.

A Final Word of Encouragement

2025 reminded us that family life is both deeply human and deeply hopeful. The trends we observed represent the real stories of the people in the pews—their commitments, their challenges, their exhaustion and their longing for connection.

As we look to a new year, the data points to an encouraging opportunity: the Church can be a stabilizing and relationally rich home for families of every shape and season. Through marriage support, parenting guidance, mental health literacy and attentive pastoral care, leaders can walk with families as they navigate their most personal joys and struggles.