Current Events > This time Millennials are running marriage.

(+) Yeah! (+)

By staying married.

https://www.bloombergquint.com/pursuits/2018/09/25/millennials-are-causing-the-u-s-divorce-rate-to-plummet

Americans under the age of 45 have found a novel way to rebel against their elders: Theyre staying married.

New data show younger couples are approaching relationships very differently from baby boomers, who married young, divorced, remarried and so on. Generation X and especially millennials are being pickier about who they marry, tying the knot at older ages when education, careers and finances are on track. The result is a U.S. divorce rate that dropped 18 percent from 2008 to 2016, according to an analysis by University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen.

Demographers already knew the divorce rate was falling, even if the average American didnt. Their question, however, was why? And what do current trends mean for the marital prospects of todays newlyweds?

One theory is that divorce rates are falling largely because of other demographic changesespecially an aging population. Older people are less likely to get divorced, so maybe mellowing boomers were enough to explain the trend. Cohens analysis of U.S. Census Bureau survey data, however, suggests something more fundamental is at work. Even when he controls for factors such as age, the divorce rate over the same period still dropped 8 percent.

The change among young people is particularly striking, Susan Brown, a sociology professor at Bowling Green State University, said of Cohens results. The characteristics of young married couples today signal a sustained decline [in divorce rates] in the coming years.

Young people get the credit for fewer divorces because boomers have continued to divorce at unusually high rates, all the way into their 60s and 70s. From 1990 to 2015, according to Bowling Greens National Center for Family and Marriage Research, the divorce rate doubled for people aged 55 to 64, and even tripled for Americans 65 and older. Cohens results suggest this trend, called grey divorce, may have leveled out in the past decade, but boomers are still divorcing at much higher rates than previous generations did at similar ages.

Todays young couples dont seem to be following the same path.

One of the reasons for the decline is that the married population is getting older and more highly educated, Cohen said. Fewer people are getting married, and those who do are the sort of people who are least likely to get divorced, he said. Marriage is more and more an achievement of status, rather than something that people do regardless of how theyre doing.

Many poorer and less educated Americans are opting not to get married at all. Theyre living together, and often raising kids together, but deciding not to tie the knot. And studies have shown these cohabiting relationships are less stable than they used to be.

Fewer divorces, therefore, arent only bad news for matrimonial lawyers but a sign of Americas widening chasm of inequality. Marriage is becoming a more durable, but far more exclusive, institution.

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fenderbender321 posted...

running

Oh well. My phone must have auto corrected to running.
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Amazing how much more healthy relationships are when you . . .
Have fucked before marriage and avoid any wonky surprises.
Don't rush into it at 18.
Didn't shotgun into it because of a kid.
Can talk about things and have mutual respect.
And can marry the person you love; whether it's interracial or same sex.
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isnt it also that fewer people are getting married, so the ones that actually do get married are more likely to stay together because it's something they truly want?
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green butter posted...

isnt it also that fewer people are getting married, so the ones that actually do get married are more likely to stay together because it's something they truly want?

Yes.
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Applebees, Divorce lawyers, K Mart...is there anything these heathens won't ruin!?
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Divorce lawyers sweating
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green butter posted...

isnt it also that fewer people are getting married, so the ones that actually do get married are more likely to stay together because it's something they truly want?

I think the article says that, yes.
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But arent marriages declining overall? More Millenials stay married probably because theyre picky about marrying to begin with.
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Anarchy_Juiblex posted...

Amazing how much more healthy relationships are when you . . .
Have fucked before marriage and avoid any wonky surprises.
Don't rush into it at 18.
Didn't shotgun into it because of a kid.
Can talk about things and have mutual respect.
And can marry the person you love; whether it's interracial or same sex.

This feels like it's an attempt to have a gotcha moment on how other generations have gone about relationships that have turned into marriage. But none of this nonsense is mutually exclusive to any one generation. Not not true of another.
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I thought gay people ruined marriage?
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thanosibe posted...

Anarchy_Juiblex posted...

Amazing how much more healthy relationships are when you . . .
Have fucked before marriage and avoid any wonky surprises.
Don't rush into it at 18.
Didn't shotgun into it because of a kid.
Can talk about things and have mutual respect.
And can marry the person you love; whether it's interracial or same sex.

This feels like it's an attempt to have a gotcha moment on how other generations have gone about relationships that have turned into marriage. But none of this nonsense is mutually exclusive to any one generation. Not not true of another.

The main thing i see is that onky financially stable couples are marrying
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Can't afford a divorce.
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Darkman124 posted...

The main thing i see is that onky financially stable couples are marrying

Yeah, the point being made is that Millennials aren't getting married until their 20s-30s (or even later) and then only if they think they can handle it

Poor couples still live together and have kids.

Also, weddings are fucking expensive. That's one very good reason to opt out. Especially in today's economy.
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Not to mention that for the longest time it was considered highly taboo for couples to live together and not get married.

These days, not so much
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Darkman124 posted...

thanosibe posted...

Anarchy_Juiblex posted...

Amazing how much more healthy relationships are when you . . .
Have fucked before marriage and avoid any wonky surprises.
Don't rush into it at 18.
Didn't shotgun into it because of a kid.
Can talk about things and have mutual respect.
And can marry the person you love; whether it's interracial or same sex.

This feels like it's an attempt to have a gotcha moment on how other generations have gone about relationships that have turned into marriage. But none of this nonsense is mutually exclusive to any one generation. Not not true of another.

The main thing i see is that onky financially stable couples are marrying

"Onky". Well I learned something new today. :-)

But that's still not a new thing. Marriages have been going on in the western world that are not necessarily financially stable for many generations. I know my parents struggled. I never went without but I didn't have everything I wanted. I think the financial part of marriage is rarely given much thought not matter what generation, when the emotional part is at a head of it.

HylianFox posted...

Darkman124 posted...

The main thing i see is that onky financially stable couples are marrying

Yeah, the point being made is that Millennials aren't getting married until their 20s-30s (or even later) and then only if they think they can handle it

Poor couples still live together and have kids.

Also, weddings are fucking expensive. That's one very good reason to opt out. Especially in today's economy.

I'm 41, so I guess depending on what source you check I may or may not be a millenial, but I married at 23 years old. We also, at the time, went before a judge to get married. We plan on doing a ceremony at our 25 year mark, when the kids are most likely out of the house and we can justify spending money on it.

The only thing I really see different in new generations than mine, is that most young people just aren't interested in marriage itself. But they still may be seeking on monogamous relationships. And that's great. It's not my business whether two people get married or live together.
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Man, people need to get over themselves with this millennial blaming target they've put on their back. This article has no accusatory tone whatsoever, but people are still more than eager to rush in here acting like the world is insulting millennials once again.

Nobody actually gives a shit if millennials don't go to Applebee's, or other old people shit. Articles only post that shit for clicks, and I'd be willing to bet the majority of said clicks come from self-induced raging millennials themselves.
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Baby boomers set the standard of being married like ten times each. Thats not appealing. They are also famous for being poor at communicating.
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Godnorgosh posted...

Drpooplol posted...

Articles only post that s*** for clicks, and I'd be willing to bet the majority of said clicks come from self-induced raging millennials themselves.

Congratulations, you've found yet another way to blame millennials

Pls don't Kafka trap me
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thanosibe posted...

Anarchy_Juiblex posted...

Amazing how much more healthy relationships are when you . . .
Have fucked before marriage and avoid any wonky surprises.
Don't rush into it at 18.
Didn't shotgun into it because of a kid.
Can talk about things and have mutual respect.
And can marry the person you love; whether it's interracial or same sex.

This feels like it's an attempt to have a gotcha moment on how other generations have gone about relationships that have turned into marriage. But none of this nonsense is mutually exclusive to any one generation. Not not true of another.

It is because generations. One thing people always get confused however is that it doesn't necessarily mean it is about the people, but a culmination of everything else like culture, environment, economy, technology, expectations, socio climate, etc. Also note the article also talks about both Gen X and Millenials playing a role in the lower divorce rates, with divorce being higher for Baby Boomers and it makes sense why. Back then, for the baby boomers, it was a standard and obligation to settle down to for a family and get married as soon as possible (not to mention starting a family was much easier because of the economic situation, hell you could raise a family and buy a nice house with minimum wage back then). Also with the puritan view they had on marriage in general (until death do us part), even if they were unhappy about their marriage, getting a divorce would be the last thing that's on their mind. Most of baby boomers now are getting divorced at the ages 50-65 because now they know they're not obligated to stick to their marriage because too many of them got married too fast to know if the relationship would work.

Of course this is all about generality, not every baby boomer fits in the situation I'm talking above but it does explain why they had a higher divorce rate compared to other generations, because at times it's not even their own fault. Generations mostly have to do with being born in a certain time frame, if most of us were born in a different generations you can expect our behavior to fit more with that certain generations. It doesn't necessarily mean one generation is better than the other.
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Good, now angry CE users can stop saying "51% of people get divorced! Marriage is a scam! I'm high-IQ for not getting married." So glad I'm getting married to my 18 year old girl.
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