THE NATIONAL MARRIAGE PROJECT AND THE STATE OF MARRIAGE IN AMERICA

Young heterosexual men, ages 25-34, indicate that while men are delaying marriage until older ages, most men are "the marrying kind." Slightly more than two out of ten expressed strongly negative views about their own personal desire to marry, as well as more negative attitudes toward marriage, women, and children. In 2002, there were 9.5 million married men between the ages of 25 and 34. And contrary to the popular stereotype, the typical thirty-something guy is a married guy. Not every young male who is actively seeking a partner is searching for a wife. Some are just looking for a sex partner. Marriage trends show a decline of more than 40 percent, from 1970 to 2002, in the annual number of marriages per 1000 unmarried adult women.  The median age at first marriage went from 20 for females and 23 for males in 1960 to about 25 and 27, respectively

Since 1960, the decline of those married among all persons age 15 and older has been twelve percentage points—and over 23 points among black females. Since 1960, there has been a drop of almost 19 percentage points for married men and over 16 points for married women. Most people now live together before they marry for the first time. And a growing number of persons, both young and old, are living together with no plans for eventual marriage. Since 1973, the General Social Survey periodically has asked representative samples of married Americans to rate their marriages as either "very happy," "pretty happy," or "not too happy.” indicates, the percentage of both men and women saying "very happy" has declined moderately over the past 25 years.

Yet the economic benefits of marriage are substantial. A 1992 study of retirement data concluded that, "individuals who are not continuously married have significantly lower wealth than those who remain married throughout their lives." Compared to those continuously married, those who never married have a reduction in wealth of 75% and those who divorced and didn’t remarry have a reduction of 73%. Marital social norms that encourage healthy, productive behavior, men tend to become more economically productive after marriage; they earn between 10 and 40 percent more than do single men with similar education and job histories.

The trends appear today to be slightly positive. We should all be happy for that.