I know that this is not new news, but it is stunning to me nonetheless. The headline today read, "U.S. Marriage rate hits new low, may continue to decline."
Lois M. Collins wrote:
A Pew Research Center report recently said that one-fourth of millennials are likely to eschew marriage entirely.
The report shows a marriage rate of 6.74 per 1,000 people this year, with the number expected to fall slightly lower over each of the next two years. In 2008, the marriage rate in America was 7.09. (The 2015 S. S. Wedding Forecast from Demographic Intelligence)
Marriage is pretty consistent in showing that children raised with two parents who are married to each other fare better across multiple measures. The United States has been experiencing a cultural retreat from marriage. (quoting Sam Sturgeon, Demographic Intelligence president)
I would say that for children, marriage provides a unique level of emotional security and stability. That means they're more likely to flourish. That fewer children will be reared in the context of stable married life is cause for concern. (quoting W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia)
Young or less-educated women are holding out for economic improvements or better marriage-partner prospects. They have not necessarily been putting off having babies, though.
Some of the reasons that were listed for the decline in marriage include:
The economy has provided less-than-stellar job prospects for those who are not well-educated and so unskilled men have not been seen as good marriage material,
Men and women are putting off marriage because they don't think it's likely to last,
The growing number of men and women who are living together instead of marrying,
And the fact that fewer people are affiliated with religious institutions than in the past.
(From an article in the Deseret News, May 2015)
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