The End of Marriage in America?

[Liberal_in_LA]

Posted November 19, 2010 The End of Marriage in America?
By Seth Fiegerman
America is getting cold feet.

Four in 10 Americans now believe that marriage is obsolete, compared to just 28% who felt that way back in 1978, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Group in conjunction with Time magazine.

The survey, which is based on interviews with 2,691 people, found that the majority of Americans now accept the idea of unmarried couples living together and raising children.

To a certain degree, this new norm may have been accelerated by the recession, which, according to previous studies, has forced more unmarried couples to move in together because it’s more cost-efficient.

However, the Pew study also highlights recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau that show the more long-term decline of marriage nationwide. In 2008, more than half of all American adults (52%) were married. By comparison, nearly three quarters of all adults (72%) were married back in 1960.

But perhaps the most striking shift is among younger Americans. In 1960, 68% of people in their 20s were married but in 2008, that number had dropped drastically to just 26%.

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/family/marriage/divorce/end-marriage-america?cm_ven=msnetzero

[no_hypocrisy]

1. That should reduce the rate of divorce . . . .

[ShadowLiberal]

2. Of course marriage is lower among the youth, peopel wait longer to get married today

I may be only 25, but even I know from my parents saying it tons of times that young people are getting married a lot later today then people used to.

My mother was still going to nursing school to become a nurse when she married my dad (my dad had graduated college already and was working by then). I can only think of one person (who I barely knew) when I went to college who got started college after high school and got married before graduating. Marriages after college however I know of a couple however.

[Saokymo]

3. Changing -- Not Obsolete

I'd say it's not so much that traditional marriage is becoming obsolete as our cultural attitudes are changing. If two people want to get married, that's fine, but they don't have to if they don't want to.

I personally would rather have a civil union than a marriage. There's a bit less stigma attached to the term and it seems that it could be somewhat easier to get out of should we ever grow apart (though that could be hopeless naivete on my end).