Unlike in days past, people are choosing to get married at a decreased rate. Not only is it acceptable to live together or have children together before getting married, but it is also acceptable to get a divorce without going to all lengths to save the union. Reading the statistics that have been compiled regarding the changes in American views on marriage can be truly mind-boggling.
The number of women who were married between the years 1970 and 1996 fell sharply. According to statistics, 7.7% of women were unmarried in 1970. A few decades later in 1996, this percentage had fallen to 5.0%. Currently the marriage rate for all American adults stands at 7.1 per 1000 people which is substantially lower. Nowadays, the divorce rate is also increased and is currently at approximately 3.5. According to these statistics, over half of all marriages end in divorce.
People are also starting to cohabitate much more often. Back in 1960, approximately 440,000 unmarried couples live together. By 1998, that figure had risen to 4.2 million couples. Undoubtedly the significance of this figure can be linked with the fact that the ages of first time marriages have risen to 25 for women and to 27 for men. People usually got married much younger in the past since it allowed them to enjoy the benefits of a permanent relationship. Now couples are preferring to prove their compatibility by just living together before making any real commitment. Only 6% of women get married by the age of 18 nowadays, and that figure sits at just 2% for men.
Over the course of the last 50 years or so, the number of children who were born to parents who weren’t married has skyrocketed. Approximately 1.3 million children are being born to unwed women nowadays, but that certainly wasn’t the case in the past when it was shameful to be pregnant and not married. In fact, many celebrities are choosing to openly flaunt having children with current paramours rather than husbands or wives.
If you have been divorced before and get married again, then you will have an increased likelihood of getting divorced again. That’s because of the extra stress that can be involved. Whenever people are getting married for the first time, they typically don’t have a lot of excess baggage from prior relationships. There are plenty of possible sources of stress in second marriages such as large debts, stepchildren, an ex-spouses.
Kristie Brown writes on a variety of topics from health to technology. Check out her websites on Stop My Divorce