Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends,americast.usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Fri, Sep 25 1992 Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 04:37:05 EDT Message-ID: 09-25 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update Sept. 25-27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network BLACKS LESS LIKELY TO MARRY: Marriage is a minority lifestyle among black Americans. Only 44% of black adults were married in 1991, compared with 64% in 1970, according to a new Census Bureau report. Black Americans are much less likely to be married than whites (64%) or Hispanics (61%). And the 20-percentage decline among blacks is double the 10-point decline experienced by the population as a whole. (For more, see special Blacks package below.) CRAFT MALLS EMERGING: Today's back-to-basics attitude has been a boon to latter-day crafters. Craft fairs are found everywhere, from mall courtyards to church parking lots. And now, there are entire craft malls springing up throughout the land. Bill and Dorene Seeger of Riverside, Calif. opened Crafters Mall in Riverside. "They are all over back there in the South and Midwest," says Bill Seeger. KIDS GETTING FATTER: Kids today are chunkier than they were seven years ago. Boys are more likely to be overweight than girls; and older kids are chubbier than younger ones. These are among findings of a national survey of 401 parents with kids, ages 3 through 17, conducted by Louis Harris for Prevention magazine. The magazine commissioned a similar survey in 1984. BOYS MORE LIKELY TO BE FAT: Findings show: 34% of kids were overweight in 1991, compared with 24% in 1984; 39% of boys are overweight today; 30% of girls; 28% of white kids are overweight; 56% of Hispanic kids; 41% of African-American children; 22% of kids 12 years and younger are overweight; 57% of those age 13 to 17. `DESIGNER' EGGS COMING OUT: In what its maker touts as "egg-citing" news for people with cholesterol problems, Eggland's Best this week is introducing in Iowa supermarkets hens' eggs it says can be eaten regularly without increasing serum cholesterol. The secret to the eggs, say the developers, is the hens' diet, which includes no animal fat or animal byproducts. SEQUELS ON THE HORIZON: More sequels are on the way. Touchstone Pictures is developing a sequel for the 1987 action comedy "Stakeout." It will reunite director John Badham and original stars Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez. The studio is also trying to follow up it's "Sister Act." Whoopi Goldberg is set to re-don her habit. MANY FALLING BEHIND IN POVERTY: Black families overall are no closer to closing the earnings gap with white families than they were nearly three decades ago, says a new Census Bureau report. Howard University political scientist Ron Walters, "Married-couple black families are looking more like white families, and single (parent) families are growing in number and falling further behind in poverty." BRITISH AIRWAYS SEES FUTURE: Fewer - but bigger - airlines will dominate the skies by the end of the century, British Airways predicts. "We see a trend toward gobalization (to) maybe nine major players, and we want to be one of them," Sandy Gardiner, a senior vice-president at BA told the American Society of Travel Agents' annual meeting in Cairo. BA has made a bid to buy 44% of USAir to create the first global airline. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON BLACKS: MARRIAGE RATES AFFECT SPENDING: A decline in marriage rates can affect businesses in many ways. It can hold down consumer spending, because married couples have higher incomes than other types of households. It can also increase employee turnover, because married workers are less likely to switch jobs. MANY PUTTING OFF MARRIAGE: Americans are moving away from marriage for two reasons: Divorce and delay. The share of adults who are divorced rose from 3% to 9% between 1970 and 1991, while the share who have never been married rose from 16% to 23%. For blacks, the share who are divorced increased from 4% to 11%. But the share of never-married blacks increased from 21% to 37%. RATES RACIALLY DIVIDED: The racial gap in marriage rates in widest among baby boomers, according to the Census Bureau. Among 30-to-34-year-olds, for example, 43% of black women and 44% of black men are never-married, compared with 15% of white women and 25% of white men. Among Hispanics in their early 30s, the rates are 19% for women and 27% for men. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM