Parents in these families are either partnered mothers or partnered fathers . Some differences occur in definitions over time and across surveys. Major departures from the above definitions are noted in the text. Of these children, around one in five was aged four years or under. This pattern appears to have become more firmly established.
Few data are available on the transition of people into one-parent families.
However, factors other than widowhood and divorce from registered marriages are becoming more significant. These factors include the separation of couples in de facto relationships. In contrast, there were large increases in the number of lone parents who were never married. These lone parents were more likely to be parents who were previously in de facto relationships than single parents who had never lived with the other parent of the child. Between 1982 and 1992 the number of de facto couples with dependent children rose from 60,900 to 123,100.