A new study shows that the percent of American adults that are married is at an all-time low

For Discussion: Is A Happy Marriage A Thing Of The Past??? New Study Shows American Matrimony Is At An All-Time Low!

- By Bossip Staff
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“I Do” or “Hell naw!!”???

A new report shows that the share of American adults who are married dropped to a record low in 2009-2010 — to just a smidgen over half of population 18 and older. And the age at which Americans first tie the knot has never been higher, according to analysis of U.S. Census data by Pew Research Center published Wednesday.

It’s no secret that the “market share” of marriage has been in decline for decades — from 72 percent in 1960 to 51 percent today, a trend that has been accompanied by a rising tolerance for single parents, cohabitation without marriage and other alternatives. At the current pace, the share of U.S. adults who are married will dip to less than half within a few years, the Pew study says.

“There’s been a retreat from marriage going on for awhile now,” says Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. “The economic fallout from the Great Recession has made the retreat from marriage accelerate. That’s just because even today, Americans see marriage at least in part as an economic undertaking. So particularly when partners, especially men, don’t have decent stable work they are more likely to postpone or forego marriage.”

More dramatic news from the report was a 5 percent decrease in the number of new marriages between 2009 and 2010, an unusually sharp one-year drop that “may or may not be related to the sour economy,” according to the Pew study.

Over the long haul, the marriage rate for the 18-29 age group has fallen from 59 percent in 1960 to 20 percent today. Divorce rates soared in the 1960s and ’70s, becoming a major factor in the growing contingent of singles in the United States but then leveled off in the last two decades.

Wilcox goes on to explain what may be the cause of not only divorce, but trepidation to get married at all…

“Strong marriages and strong families flourish in a healthy economic and community context. Those contexts have weakened particularly in working class and poor communities in the last 30-40 years,” Wilcox said. “People are less likely to be engaged in stable fulltime work, their church community, the Jaycees.”

Do you have any plans to jump the broom anytime soon?? Would you ever get divorced once you have made a commitment in front of God and your family???

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Flip the page to see some of the matrimony that many celebrities enjoyed prior to getting divorced…

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