Current Events > Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

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https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/2018/09/25/millennials-are-causing-the-u-s-divorce-rate-to-plummet#gs.1w8qxvc

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 marriage rate has also fallen over the last several decades. But Cohen calculates the divorce rate as a ratio of divorces to the total number of married women. So, the divorce rates decline isnt a reflection of a decline in marriages. Rather, its evidence that marriages today have a greater chance of lasting than marriages did ten years ago.

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.

Why don't Boomers respect the sanctity of marriage?
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millennials are ruining divorce
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I love articles that make us better than the crazy Boomers.
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also way less millenials even get married
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Tappor posted...

millennials are ruining divorce

Lawyers hate them!
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solosnake posted...

also way less millenials even get married

Which seems to be working out for when they do decide to get married.
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Darmik posted...

Rather, its evidence that marriages today have a greater chance of lasting than marriages did ten years ago.

I'm very interested in this, can they give a specific reason why this is the case? I can't see much reason for this.
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Prestoff posted...

Darmik posted...

Rather, its evidence that marriages today have a greater chance of lasting than marriages did ten years ago.

I'm very interested in this, can they give a specific reason why this is the case? I can't see much reason for this.

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.

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Tappor posted...

millennials are ruining divorce

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Getting married when you're near to or in your 30s probably works out better than marrying your high school sweetheart or the girl from the farm down the road at 18 just accounting for maturity alone.
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Okay, sounds about right. Rich people are financially stable to sustain a marriage and people are more picky about who they get married to which results in better relationships. This is actually pretty interesting, I'll try to read the actual article this time.
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God damn millennials killing everything
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I just wish they'd stop killing standup comedy.

At this rate, you better be satisfied with facebook jokes and God damn Jeff Dunham.

Millennials are KILLING the divorce industry
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It's also the diamond industry. What impact on the world will there be when the general public doesn't care about diamonds so they start being used in science and complex drills?

Yeah, but what's the longest amount of time a millenial could have been married by now? 15 years? I say give it time.