Why Aren't Young Couples Marrying?

By Anna Dorminey, Staff

Physorg recently reported on an article by Cornell University professor Sharon Sassler and Cornell doctoral student Dela Kusi-Appouh entitled “The Specter of Divorce: Views from Working and Middle-Class Cohabitors.”

Physorg reported that over two thirds of cohabiting couples surveyed “admitted to concerns about dealing with the social, legal, emotional and economic consequences of a possible divorce.” Middle-class respondents were generally more hopeful about marriage than lower-class respondents and considered cohabitation a logical step before marrying. Working-class cohabiting couples were particularly likely to think of legal marriage as “just a piece of paper” and were disproportionately likely to confess “fears about being stuck in marriage with no way out” once they had come to rely on the income generated by their partner [emphasis added].

Physorg reported that “[t]he authors hope that their findings could help premarital counselors to better tailor their lessons to assuage widespread fears of divorce.” To read the full Physorg article, click here.

Why is Marriage in Decline?

By Anna Dorminey, Staff

Suzanne Venker, author of “The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know—and Men Can't Say,” posted a response to the Pew Research Center's report on marriage. She writes that marriage is in decline due to a lack of modeling on the part of the parents of today’s 20- and 30-somethings, and asserts that “[f]or starters, parents have to stop getting divorced for less than dire reasons.”

She also writes that women have been deceived by the feminist movement. “Feminists assured women their efforts would result in more satisfying marriages, but that has not happened. Rather, women’s search for faux equality has damaged marriage considerably (some might say irrevocably, but I’m an optimist) by eradicating the complementary nature of marriage — in which men and women work together, as equals, toward the same goal but with an appreciation for the unique qualities each gender brings to the table.”

To read Ms. Venker's full response, click here.

American Population Growing at Slowest Rate Since before the Baby Boom

By Anna Dorminey, Staff

Reuters reports:

The population of the United States is growing at its slowest rate in more than 70 years, the U.S. Census Bureau said on Wednesday.The country’s population increased by an estimated 2.8 million to 311.6 million from April 1, 2010, to July 1, 2011. The growth rate of 0.92 percent was the lowest since the mid-1940s. “The nation's overall growth rate is now at its lowest point since before the Baby Boom,” Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said in a statement. Texas gained more people than any other state in the 15-month period, at 529,000, followed by California at 438,000, Florida at 256,000, Georgia at 128,000, and North Carolina at 121,000, according to the latest Census estimates. These five states accounted for more than half of the total U.S. population growth, the bureau said.

To read the full report, click here. Also, be sure to read the MARRI report “Decline of Economic Growth: Human Capital and Population Change” for more on the implications of the decline in population growth and human capital generation.

The Benefits of Religious Worship: Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

By Anna Dorminey, Staff

From the latest MARRI publication, “The Benefits of Religious Attendance: Positive Outcomes Associated with Weekly Worship”:

U.S. federal surveys repeatedly show the benefits of weekly religious worship of God (one of the five main institutions or tasks of society). Worship’s rewards flow over to all the other major institutions of the nation: to the family, to education, to the marketplace and income, and to government...Furthermore, the more frequently people worship, the more they profit. If the social sciences say anything clearly about God, it is that the more people take heed of Him, the more He takes care of them.

The publication contains data on all sorts of social and personal outcomes, such as educational attainment, family strength, sexual chastity, and more. Across all categories, it is clear that weekly worship contributes to the strongest outcomes.

This publication is comprised of graphics that originally appeared in the MARRI Mapping America series, which are derived from data from the largest national and federal surveys on family issues, such as the General Social Survey, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the National Survey of Children’s Health, and the National Survey of Family Growth.

We hope that the findings shown here encourage our readers, in this holiday season, to worship weekly and to reap the advantages that consistent religious practice offers to families, individuals, their communities, and the nation.

Pew Report Shows Percent of Married Americans is at a Record Low

By Anna Dorminey, Staff

The Pew Research Center reports:

Barely half of all adults in the United States—a record low—are currently married, and the median age at first marriage has never been higher for brides (26.5 years) and grooms (28.7), according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data...In 1960, 72% of all adults ages 18 and older were married; today just 51% are. If current trends continue, the share of adults who are currently married will drop to below half within a few years.

The full report states that approximately 44% of 18- to 29-year-olds agree that marriage is “becoming obsolete,” compared to 41% of 30- to 49-year-olds, 34% of 50- to 64-year-olds, and 32% of those 65 and older. Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to believe that marriage was becoming obsolete than whites, and those without a college degree (some college: 41%, high school or less: 45%) were far more likely to agree that marriage was becoming obsolete than Americans with a college degree (27%).

However, the report also states that “attitudes toward the institution of marriage do not always match personal wishes about getting married. Asked whether they want to get married, 47% of unmarried adults who agree that marriage is becoming obsolete say that they would like to wed.”

In its reporting on this Pew publication, the Washington Post included an interactive map showing the family structure and population density of the United States by county and state. The map showed that 44% of residents in the District of Columbia live alone, 14.1% are married with no children, 10.6% are single parents, and a mere 7.9% are married with children.

For more on marriage trends and on the economic and social need to preserve marriage, see the Pew Research Center’s series The Decline of Marriage and MARRI Original Research papers “Decline of Economic Growth: Human Capital & Population Change,” “Our Fiscal Crisis: We Cannot Tax, Spend and Borrow Enough to Substitute for Marriage” and “Marriage, Contraception & The Future of Western Peoples.”

Why Religion Matters: A Holiday Reminder

By Anna Dorminey, Staff

Religion is one of society's five major institutions. Many will visit their house of worship for the first time in a while this time of year, with Christmas and Hanukkah just around the corner. However, it is important to remember that consistent worship—ideally, on a weekly basis—is accompanied by a whole host of benefits for individuals and for society.

For more, read Pat Fagan's “Why Religion Matters” and “Why Religion Matters Even More.”

More God, Less Crime

By Anna Dorminey, Staff

Family Research Council recently hosted criminologist Byron Johnson, the author of More God, Less Crime, to discuss his research on religion’s effects on criminal behavior. In his presentation, he told the audience that “as religiosity goes up, the tendency to commit crime or delinquent acts goes down.” (To watch Johnson's presentation, click here.)

According to Johnson’s website, “Religion can be a powerful antidote to crime. The book describes how faith communities, congregations, and faith-based organizations are essential in forming partnerships necessary to provide the human and spiritual capital to effectively address crime, offender rehabilitation, and the substantial aftercare problems facing former prisoners.” His research agrees with our own: our Mapping America publications show that those who worship weekly are less likely to steal, to shoplift repeatedly, or to fight, and those who worship monthly or more are less likely to be picked up or charged by police.

To learn more about Byron Johnson's book More God, Less Crime, visit his website: http://moregodlesscrime.com.

Marriage, Contraception, and Where the West is Headed

By Anna Dorminey, Staff

New MARRI Original Research is out! “Marriage, Contraception & The Future of Western Peoples” shows that the peoples of the West are depleting because of their adoption of extra-marital sexual norms and simultaneous rejection of fertility. The generations to come will decrease exponentially as a direct effect of declining trends in fertility and declining desires and expectations to have children, both in the generation currently having children, and in future generations. This trend is of one cloth with the West’s shift in economic orientation from family enterprise to individualist labor activity, and its simultaneous movement from religious to secular social values. Remediation lies in re-adopting stable marriage as a societal norm and in rejecting the non-sustainable model of society, which discards religion, traditional sexual norms, and lifelong commitment, and replacing it with a less secular, more traditional, family-oriented life.