Study Finds Women Slower to Wed and Divorce Easing

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Nearly half of all women between the ages of 25 and 29 have never been married, up from about a quarter of that age group in 1986, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Census Bureau.

The report, which highlighted shifting patterns of marriage and divorce since the 1940s, was based on decades of census data and a survey of about 55,000 adults in 2009.

Among the changes found in the research is the rising median age of first marriages, which in 1950 was 23 for men and 20 for women. In 2009, it was 28 for men and 26 for women.

Divorce rates have leveled off after reaching a high around 1980, the report said. In 2009, about 35 percent of women 40 to 49 had divorced, down from 40 percent in 1996.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/us/19marriage.html

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And pro-patriarchy heads explode...

[pnwmom]

1. Divorce rates have leveled off? Sounds like they've dropped, and significantly. n/t

[Egnever]

2. it seems to sugest women were getting married too early

and that was the cause of a lot of divorces.

[Maine-ah]

3. there seemed to be an increase in age for both men and women.

perhaps both were marrying too young.

[Egnever]

5. I happen to think under 30 is too young for men or women

But then I didnt get married till 33.

Still married too 12 years later with no ending in site...unless she dumps me :P

[boppers]

14. I figure 26 is the minimum age.

Until then, people are still growing into their bodies and brains, and don't have enough experience on how to keep and maintain a long-term relationship (an experience that generally requires a few failures on the way, but sadly, marriage was the first big failure for many).

[Auntie Bush]

4. Also men were getting married too early.

I can't even imagine a man of 23 raising a family now days.

[Egnever]

6. Agreed

[LetTimmySmoke]

7. So basically the proportion of succesful marriages hasn't changed.

But a portion of unsuccessful marriages have been averted through people delaying marriage.

[unc70]

8. If you don't get married, you probably won't get divorced either

The Census document, linked from the NYT, is one of the least coherent discussion of data that I have seen in a long time. (And I see a lot of this type thing.)

[happyslug]

9. So how much different then we were in 1900?

The US Census Bureau has been taking surveys on the age of first marriage since the 1890s. From 1890 till about 1965 (The data points are 1960 and 1970, the low point is somewhere between those two dates, I am guessing 1965), the age men and women married DROPPED. From 1970 onward the age of first marriage INCREASED, Men catching up to the numbers of 1900 sometime after 1980, women catching up to the numbers of 1890 sometime in the early 1990s. Both have increased since those dates.

The best explanation for the drop and then increase in age of first marriage is education, as more and more people finished High School, they started to meet members of the opposite sex in High School, and marry right after high school (By 1960 the average marriage age was almost 17 for women, 18 for men). This replaced the earlier practice of meeting people of the opposite sex at church, and then only when both sexes were looking for mates (i.e. early 20s).

While men started to go to Collage in Large Numbers after WWII, women did not start to go to Collage till the 1960s. At that point Collage became the place to meet someone of the opposite sex, and thus after 1970 people tended to wait till after Collage to get married. Given many men and women had gone into the Military first to help pay for Collage you were looking at the mid 20s for first marriages by the 1980s.

Since the 1980s, you have seen a growing number of couple living together NOT married, thus increasing the average age of First Marriages even more (most couples decide to marry, after their decide to have children and buy a home, something couples do NOT do together till BOTH Husband and Wife have safe secure jobs).

Please note, people living together is also NOT new, it was common in the mid 1800s. About that time period Church Records in Germany and France shows up to 1/3 of all children were born out of wedlock (In both countries, birth records were kept by the Established Church, generally the Catholic Church, even for non members of that Church). It is only with a raise in income after the recession of the early 1890s that you start to see increase number of marriages, mostly to protect the rights of wives when their husbands had a much better paying job then she did.

Just some background on marriage over the last 150 years.

[Alcibiades]

10. Good summary

Though it's College, not Collage. I do thing it's interesting to note that middle class families are starting later, which could be in part due to the economic pressures folks face nowadays.

They also fail to note the changes in life expectancy. The life expectancy for a 25 year old nowadays is something like 82. Makes more sense to delay family formation than when life expectancy was 50.

[Xipe Totec]

11. I agree

Though it's think, not thing.

:evilgrin:

[Alcibiades]

16. I have a speach impediment

That only bothers me when I type.

[Hardrada]

12. The world wars caused a lot of early marriage.

The soldiers marrying before they were shipped off. Happened to folks I know.

[Egnever]

13. Interesting stuff

Thanks!

[defendandprotect]

15. Re divorce -- don't think people can afford to divorce any longer --

[laundry_queen]

19. I think that is a bigger factor

than people are willing to admit. I'm in the middle of getting a divorce and it's crazy expensive. My ex is paying for some of it (he left me, I was a stay at home mom, etc) and we're already in the thousands - and we agree on all the property/children things! It's a real hardship even though he has a good job! I can see some people just living in limbo until they can afford to legally split.

[rainbow4321]

17. One criteria my 20 yr old has for a boyfriend is

that he NOT have any thoughts of marriage or kids any time soon. She has seen alot of her early 20-something yr old friends getting married, having kids, and then having rocky starts. Plus she went through the divorce between me and my ex during her younger years.
She is having very little patience with guys her age: get a job, lose a job, the guy asking for money IF they even go out, apathy about jobs/schooling.
So she has started seeing a guy who is several years older than her. I have no issues with that, I've told her as long as he treats her right and she is happier than what she has been in the past few years. Though I did suggest/request that she not turn her sight on anyone over 30 at this point. Pretty sure she was OK with me adding that last part..she said it took some getting used to the current age difference but she is very happy right now.

[Vidar]

18. Good, and I suspect the same is true of men.