Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet
New data show younger couples are approaching relationships very differently from baby boomers, who married young, divorced, remarried and so on, according to a
new studyfrom University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen. “One of the reasons for the decline is that the married population is getting older and more highly educated,”
Cohen told Bloomberg. 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 they’re doing.” According to the article many poorer and less educated Americans are opting not to get married at all and instead live together and often raising kids together. In a
2015 PRRI survey, despite the fact that millennials are marrying, on average, much later than previous generations, they generally view the institution in a positive light. Only one-quarter (25 percent) of millennials agree that marriage has become old-fashioned and out of date, while about seven in ten (71 percent) disagree.