Social Trends

America’s Biggest Issues: Marriage

SOCIAL TRENDS RELATED TO MARRIAGE

  1. Increasing acceptance of cohabitation and sex outside of marriage
  2. Increasing acceptance of sexually open relationships
  3. Increasing acceptance of consensual non-monogamy
  4. Increasing % of couples cohabiting
  5. Increasing % of children born to unmarried parents
  6. Increasing % of children living in fatherless homes

INCREASING ACCEPTANCE OF COHABITATION AND SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE

IFS reported:

[T]e NCHS study… found increasing support for cohabitation, which is not a huge surprise since over half of men and women report having cohabited at some point. Specifically, the NSFG data reveal a decrease in the percentage of men and women who agree that, “A young couple should not live together unless they are married.” The percentage of women who agreed with this statement dropped from 34.7 percent in 2002 to 28.0 percent in 2011–2013. Among men, it dropped from 32.0 percent to 24.8 percent in the same timeframe. 

https://ifstudies.org/blog/acceptance-of-divorce-falling-tolerance-of-cohabitation-rising

INCREASING ACCEPTANCE OF SEXUALLY OPEN RELATIONSHIPS

Nichole Fairbrother said:

Open relationships are those in which individuals agree to participate in sexual and/or emotional and romantic interactions with more than one partner. Accurate estimates of the prevalence of open relationships, based on representative, unbiased samples, are few, and there are none from outside of the United States. We present findings from a nationally representative sample of 2,003 Canadian adults, administered in 2017 via an online questionnaire. Overall, 2.4% of all participants, and 4.0% of those currently in a relationship, reported currently being in an open relationship. One-fifth of participants reported prior engagement in an open relationship, and 12% reported open as their ideal relationship type

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224499.2019.1580667?journalCode=hjsr20

INCREASING ACCEPTANCE OF CONSENSUAL NON-MONOGAMY

IFS reports:

As the results illustrate, more recent generations are more open to CNM relationships. When comparing Baby Boomers to Millennials, Boomers are 22 percentage points more likely to agree that committed couples should be monogamous (85% vs 63%). Older generations are much less likely to have ever been in a CNM relationship (5-10%) or to have even considered an open relationship. 

https://ifstudies.org/blog/national-survey-reveals-generational-differences-in-consensual-nonmonogamy-

INCREASING % OF COUPLES COHABITING

The US Census Bureau reported:

For some young adults, living together has become a more common option than marriage, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today.

The annual America’s Families and Living Arrangements tables package shows that the proportion of young adults who live with an unmarried partner continues to rise.

Among those ages 18-24, cohabitation is now more prevalent than living with a spouse: 9 percent live with an unmarried partner in 2018, compared to 7 percent who live with a spouse.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/11/cohabitaiton-is-up-marriage-is-down-for-young-adults.html#:~:text=Among%20those%20ages%2018%2D24,12%20percent%2010%20years%20ago.

INCREASING % OF CHILDREN BORN TO UNMARRIED PARENTS

Fox News reports:

Forty percent of US babies are being born to unmarried parents, a trend that has risen steadily over the past five decades, according to a new UN report. In 1970, only about 10 percent of births were outside marriage, according to the report, by the UN Population Fund. France has the largest percentage of out-of-wedlock births in the European Union, with 60 percent of babies being born outside marriage.

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/more-babies-are-being-born-to-unmarried-parents-in-us-than-ever 

INCREASING % OF CHILDREN LIVING IN FATHERLESS HOMES

Washington Times reports:

In every state, the portion of families where children have two parents, rather than one, has dropped significantly over the past decade. Even as the country added 160,000 families with children, the number of two-parent households decreased by 1.2 million. Fifteen million U.S. children, or 1 in 3, live without a father, and nearly 5 million live without a mother. In 1960, just 11 percent of American children lived in homes without fathers. 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/25/fathers-disappear-from-households-across-america/

From David Blankenhorn:

For the first time in American history, a majority of adults now live outside of marriage—as single parents, as partners in a cohabitating relationship, or as singles. And a generation ago, an American child could reasonably expect to grow up with his or her father. Today, an American child can reasonably expect not to. Fatherlessness is now approaching a rough parity with fatherhood as a defining feature of American childhood.

Blankenhorn, D. Fatherless America, Basic Books. (1995)

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