America’s rash retreat from marriage
The latest data show that unwed adults now almost outnumber those who are wed. Within a few years, the majority of adults over 18 will be single.
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That would be a historic first, which is all the more startling because of what French writer Alexis de Tocqueville observed in the 19th century: “There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated.”
Many Americans today are in fast retreat from matrimony - and the cause is not divorce, which has leveled off in recent decades. Rather, recent census data analyzed by the Pew Research Center reveal these dramatic trends:
The median age for marriage is now at its highest level as more young people put off tying the knot or cohabitate instead. And last year, only 9 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds were married, a big drop from 45 percent a half century ago.
The falloff for that age group has been swift. The number who had recently married slumped by 13 percent in just one year, from 2009 to 2010.
Surprisingly, the research doesn’t show that the Great Recession is the cause. Rather, a values revolution is driving many people away from making that special self-sacrifice to a spouse and from cherishing marriage as a social good with economic security that can leave behind a better generation.
The revolution is reflected in these stats: About 4 of 10 people under 30 now consider marriage to be passé or obsolete. And as a result, the share of adults who married over the past decade fell from 57 percent to a threshold-breaking 51 percent.