One of the biggest societal changes in the United States over the last fifty years is the simple fact that a growing share of Americans just don’t get married. It’s something that Derek Thompson wrote about in The Atlantic in February (America’s ‘Marriage Material’ Shortage
Does the survey data change if the inquiry is whether the individual is living with another individual in a stable relationship rather than marriage? Put another way, are we as a culture still forming permanent long standing relationships, but choosing not to get married for some reason?
I came to the comments to make a point about there being a third option to single and married - long term co-habitation. However, I looked up the numbers and, to my surprise, such couples only make up about 6% of American adults. I live in the UK where that number is nearly 4 times that and steadily increasing.
In the US there are important benefits tied to marriage so cohabitation tends to be a step on the path to marriage, not a permanent life choice for most people.
There are numerous studies that show obesity/excessive body fat cause declining marriage rates. Physical attraction has a lot to do with people finding an acceptable martial partner for life. It appears a shortage of desirable "fit" mates and romance has more to do with declining marriage rates than religion or politics. The marriage decline could reverse itself if the current emphasis on diet and excercise take hold, and people change their bad habits to a more healthy life style.
Excellent article on the issue of "physical appeal, maturity and stable job/income) in an issue in NYT....wish I could cite it, but I can't: I was surprised at the fact that for men all the cited above issues mattered more for a man's chances of getting married than for a women.
The difference on wanting the same belief is a tremendous surprise. In earlier generations, Catholics were required to marry other Catholics. Before the marriage could be consummated, a non-Catholic partner had to become a Catholic, and the kids were required to be raised as Catholics.. I don't know if this was official doctrine, but it was certainly standard practice.
If you go back a very long ways (like, the Reformation period) that's likely true. But in later times it was not the case. A Catholic could marry a non-Catholic if the non-Catholic promised to bring up the children as Catholics. Such was the case with my own parents - my mother was Catholic, my father not (in the late 1950s), and in my extended family even earlier than that.
I specifically remember the "unequally yoked" theology being applied to non-christians as well as Christian sects too far outside of our White Evanglical bubble.
I can hardly wait to see what the 18-50 people look like in 20 years. My guess, given what's going on today (less dating, fewer marriages, etc) is that the graphs for them will look similar (or even starker) than those for the people now 60+.
Did you ask about cohabitation....I ask cuz there is a growing number of people who just live together.....granted second marriages, mostly, but they choose not to get married (mostly, I think, because of the what will the kids think issue.
Does considering the Mode or Median of this data make much of a difference to these stats? I know you aren't going to get a huge age range on younger respondents but I wonder how much the very early or very late marriage outliers might be influencing this data.
Does the survey data change if the inquiry is whether the individual is living with another individual in a stable relationship rather than marriage? Put another way, are we as a culture still forming permanent long standing relationships, but choosing not to get married for some reason?
I came to the comments to make a point about there being a third option to single and married - long term co-habitation. However, I looked up the numbers and, to my surprise, such couples only make up about 6% of American adults. I live in the UK where that number is nearly 4 times that and steadily increasing.
In the US there are important benefits tied to marriage so cohabitation tends to be a step on the path to marriage, not a permanent life choice for most people.
There are numerous studies that show obesity/excessive body fat cause declining marriage rates. Physical attraction has a lot to do with people finding an acceptable martial partner for life. It appears a shortage of desirable "fit" mates and romance has more to do with declining marriage rates than religion or politics. The marriage decline could reverse itself if the current emphasis on diet and excercise take hold, and people change their bad habits to a more healthy life style.
Excellent article on the issue of "physical appeal, maturity and stable job/income) in an issue in NYT....wish I could cite it, but I can't: I was surprised at the fact that for men all the cited above issues mattered more for a man's chances of getting married than for a women.
The difference on wanting the same belief is a tremendous surprise. In earlier generations, Catholics were required to marry other Catholics. Before the marriage could be consummated, a non-Catholic partner had to become a Catholic, and the kids were required to be raised as Catholics.. I don't know if this was official doctrine, but it was certainly standard practice.
If you go back a very long ways (like, the Reformation period) that's likely true. But in later times it was not the case. A Catholic could marry a non-Catholic if the non-Catholic promised to bring up the children as Catholics. Such was the case with my own parents - my mother was Catholic, my father not (in the late 1950s), and in my extended family even earlier than that.
I specifically remember the "unequally yoked" theology being applied to non-christians as well as Christian sects too far outside of our White Evanglical bubble.
I can hardly wait to see what the 18-50 people look like in 20 years. My guess, given what's going on today (less dating, fewer marriages, etc) is that the graphs for them will look similar (or even starker) than those for the people now 60+.
Did you ask about cohabitation....I ask cuz there is a growing number of people who just live together.....granted second marriages, mostly, but they choose not to get married (mostly, I think, because of the what will the kids think issue.
Does considering the Mode or Median of this data make much of a difference to these stats? I know you aren't going to get a huge age range on younger respondents but I wonder how much the very early or very late marriage outliers might be influencing this data.