Census: Marriage rate at 93-year low, even including same-sex couples

[rangerrebew]

Census: Marriage rate at 93-year low, even including same-sex couples



 By Paul Bedard  | September 18, 2014 | 10:12 am
 
 

The Census Bureau reported Thursday that the nation’s marriage rate is the lowest since 1920, and the first-time inclusion of same sex married couples did little to reverse the decline.

According to Pew Research Center analysis, the marriage rate of Americans 18 and older hit a bottom of 50.3 percent in 2013, down from 50.5 percent in 2012. In 1920, the first year mentioned, 65 percent were married, and the marriage rate hit a high of 72.2 percent in 1960.

The new data did not put a number on the homes hosting same-sex married couples, though the Census last year estimated there were 182,000 households headed by gay couples.

While a big number, Pew noted that it compares with 56 million “headed by opposite-sex married couples,” and that such a small percentage won’t have a big impact on the overall marriage rate.

 Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/census-marriage-rate-at-93-year-low-even-including-same-sex-couples/article/2553600

[DCPatriot]

Why expose yourself to the court system...in this 'throw-away' American culture these days? 

IMO, this is also a by-product of the prevalence of internet porn readily available to anybody of any age.

[Dexter]

Why expose yourself to the court system...in this 'throw-away' American culture these days? 

IMO, this is also a by-product of the prevalence of internet porn readily available to anybody of any age.

I personally think it has a lot to do with the ease of travel and communication these days. A couple hundred years ago your only options within 100 square miles of your farm might have been Sue, Sally and Jane. You're a lot more likely to stay faithful to and in love with Sue when you don't even have a means of communicating with anybody outside of your vicinity. These days you might meet 20 or 30 attractive single women just during your day at work. You've got the internet, text messaging, and going half way around the world to meet somebody is actually feasible.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Why expose yourself to the court system...in this 'throw-away' American culture these days? 

IMO, this is also a by-product of the prevalence of internet porn readily available to anybody of any age.

Marriage and the family have been changing for quite some time. Certainly long before Gore invented the Internet.

[Dexter]

Marriage and the family have been changing for quite some time. Certainly long before Gore invented the Internet.

Yes, but Gore didn't increase population density and ease of travel. Another thing that has changed a lot since the 1930s is the belief that women are just as intelligent as men and can be strong and independent if they choose to. Women growing up today don't feel like it is their duty to find a man to take care of them and bear his children. There is nothing wrong with that role, but women today understand that they have more options than that. This social freedom has also caused them to initiate more of those divorces and escape marriages that have gone sour.

[Lando Lincoln]

Marriage rates in the inner city has dropped off the table in recent decades.  The so-called "nuclear family" is a rarity there.  Interesting that the decline coincided with the War on Poverty.

[musiclady]

We can thank the leftist sexual "revolution" for most of the problems we have now.

"Free" love has been anything but free.

In fact, it has enslaved those who follow it, and destroyed the fabric of this nation.

Thanks to leftists, we have no core, no family, no moral center, nothing on which to base a decent society.

[musiclady]

I personally think it has a lot to do with the ease of travel and communication these days. A couple hundred years ago your only options within 100 square miles of your farm might have been Sue, Sally and Jane. You're a lot more likely to stay faithful to and in love with Sue when you don't even have a means of communicating with anybody outside of your vicinity. These days you might meet 20 or 30 attractive single women just during your day at work. You've got the internet, text messaging, and going half way around the world to meet somebody is actually feasible.

That's an excuse, not a reason.

The destruction of America's moral center is what's caused it.

Everything else is peripheral.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Marriage rates in the inner city has dropped off the table in recent decades.  The so-called "nuclear family" is a rarity there.  Interesting that the decline coincided with the War on Poverty.

"The black family survived centuries of slavery and generations of Jim Crow, but it has disintegrated in the wake of the liberals’ expansion of the welfare state. Most black children grew up in homes with two parents during all that time, but most grow up with only one parent today." - Thomas Sowell

[Lando Lincoln]

We can thank the leftist sexual "revolution" for most of the problems we have now.

"Free" love has been anything but free.

In fact, it has enslaved those who follow it, and destroyed the fabric of this nation.

Thanks to leftists, we have no core, no family, no moral center, nothing on which to base a decent society.

Yes.  I am reminded of the annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the m-i-l's home each year.  She has the tradition of asking everyone to say what they are grateful for - a nice tradition.  Anyway, it is inevitable that one of my wife's nieces will be grateful for something like "Hope and Change" or "gay marriage".  I bristle and will always express my gratitude for traditional values, for the fruits of those things that served us so well for so long.

[Lando Lincoln]

"The black family survived centuries of slavery and generations of Jim Crow, but it has disintegrated in the wake of the liberals’ expansion of the welfare state. Most black children grew up in homes with two parents during all that time, but most grow up with only one parent today." - Thomas Sowell

 

[massadvj]

Why expose yourself to the court system...in this 'throw-away' American culture these days? 

IMO, this is also a by-product of the prevalence of internet porn readily available to anybody of any age.

There is some evidence in the social science literature that this may be the case, particularly among Millennials.  The Internet is the medium of choice, and in surveys Millennials indicate that they value and place equal importance to relationships they have with people online versus those they know in real life.  If it is true that Millennials regard reality and virtiual reality as equally satisfying, how long will it be before the technology gets so immersive that most people prefer virtual reality to reality?

How good will Internet porn be with the new Oculus Rift? 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/watch-dad-freaks-rides-virtual-rollercoaster-article-1.1944104

The bigger problem is not that people are rejecting marriage, but that they are not having children.

[musiclady]

Yes.  I am reminded of the annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the m-i-l's home each year.  She has the tradition of asking everyone to say what they are grateful for - a nice tradition.  Anyway, it is inevitable that one of my wife's nieces will be grateful for something like "Hope and Change" or "gay marriage".  I bristle and will always express my gratitude for traditional values, for the fruits of those things that served us so well for so long.

If only the millennials  would begin to understand that those "things that served us so well for so long" are critical to their futures.

Unfortunately, they have been brainwashed to believe that everything that came before them in America was bad, and that things only improved when the left grabbed control and started their swath of destruction, so they support "hope and change" as a good thing, even though it has furthered our demise as a nation.

Frankly, I don't know how we fix this.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Millennials indicate that they value and place equal importance to relationships they have with people online versus those they know in real life. 

The argument can easily be made that drawing a distinction between "online" and "real life" and attributing those differences to Millenials is not accurate. More prevalent yes, but not exclusive.

"Virtual" relationships have existed for a long time. Pen pals would have people who may have never known one another develop strong, life-long relationships, and old relationships have been maintained via the telephone since its invention.

The Internet just made the process easier.

Many (if not most) of us here in this site are not Millenials, but the relationships we have with one another can become very real.

My best friend is an ex-Freeper. We've been friends for a long time. He lives in another State and we've only "seen" each other about half a dozen times, yet there is no denying that our friendship is very real

[Lando Lincoln]

If only the millennials  would begin to understand that those "things that served us so well for so long" are critical to their futures.

Unfortunately, they have been brainwashed to believe that everything that came before them in America was bad, and that things only improved when the left grabbed control and started their swath of destruction, so they support "hope and change" as a good thing, even though it has furthered our demise as a nation.

Frankly, I don't know how we fix this.

We are indeed on a slippery slope.

9/11 forced us to gut check ourselves.  It was short-lived and, as traumatic as it was, not intense enough or long enough.  I know that is a hard thing to wrap our thoughts around.  I think only an existential threat that is felt in our collective being will halt the slide.  I pray we can survive.  As Ronald Reagan said, we are only a generation away from extinction.  That generation may have beating hearts.

[massadvj]

The argument can easily be made that drawing a distinction between "online" and "real life" and attributing those differences to Millenials is not accurate. More prevalent yes, but not exclusive.

"Virtual" relationships have existed for a long time. Pen pals would have people who may have never known one another develop strong, life-long relationships, and old relationships have been maintained via the telephone since its invention.

The Internet just made the process easier.

Many (if not most) of us here in this site are not Millenials, but the relationships we have with one another can become very real.

My best friend is an ex-Freeper. We've been friends for a long time. He lives in another State and we've only "seen" each other about half a dozen times, yet there is no denying that our friendship is very real

Very true.  Of course, statistics being what they are, these are generalizations.  Among Boomers, there is a greater tendency to distinguish between one's online life and one's real life, but there are no doubt many Boomers who are as immersed or more immersed in the technology as the most engaged Millennials.  And, yes, there have always been avenues for fantasy, but what I find interesting is the degree to which technology drives the phenomenon to become pervasive and all-encompassing, to the point that people significantly suspend their real lives in favor of their virtual lives.

This is not as big a societal problem if people who are post-menopausal do it, for obvious reasons.

We have already arrived at a point in the free world in which our only hope for population sustainability rests with immigration.  I don't consider that a bad thing, but immigration does carry a lot of short-term negative economic and cultural upheaval problems of the kind we are witnessing today.  Without immigration the median age of the USA (36.8 years and increasing) would be well past 40 years of age.

[Dexter]

I would argue that online friendships can be just as and even sometimes more sincere and meaningful than real life ones. I believe that because in real life people are very fake. Somebody might talk to you just because they think they have something to gain. Maybe they want to take advantage of you in some way. Maybe they're only friends with you because you have money or wield power/influence. These things can happen online, but I feel the degree to which they happen is greatly diminished. If you and I are good friends online it is because we click on a purely intellectual level. There is no ulterior motive other than the fact that I really enjoy talking to you. It doesn't matter what we look like, what we smell like or where we were born. We are friends because my brain likes your brain, and vise versa.

[massadvj]

I would argue that online friendships can be just as and even sometimes more sincere and meaningful than real life ones. I believe that because in real life people are very fake. Somebody might talk to you just because they think they have something to gain. Maybe they want to take advantage of you in some way. Maybe they're only friends with you because you have money or wield power/influence. These things can happen online, but I feel the degree to which they happen is greatly diminished. If you and I are good friends online it is because we click on a purely intellectual level. There is no ulterior motive other than the fact that I really enjoy talking to you.

I don't entirely disagree with this, although in my own observation of Millennials (which is substantial being a college professor) I think they can be overly trusting of online relationships.  Assuming you are right, it only serves to illustrate why Millennials are not having babies, opting instead to have safe Skype sex with no strings attached.

It is true that navigating real life is a lot more difficult and confusing.  I don't really blame Millennials for not wanting to do it.  I guess what I lament is the fact that we have made it so easy for them to escape.

[Dexter]

I don't entirely disagree with this, although in my own observation of Millennials (which is substantial being a college professor) I think they can be overly trusting of online relationships.  Assuming you are right, it only serves to illustrate why Millennials are not having babies, opting instead to have safe Skype sex with no strings attached.

It is true that navigating real life is a lot more difficult and confusing.  I don't really blame Millennials for not wanting to do it.  I guess what I lament is the fact that we have made it so easy for them to escape.

It's the way of the future. For better or for worse people are becoming and will continue to become more immersed in technology. Technology addiction is a real thing, and I think it will become a very real problem in years to come. Imagine how bad it will be when virtual reality really comes to fruition. Why would anybody ever want to be in the real world when they can escape to their virtual paradise?

[massadvj]

It's the way of the future. For better or for worse people are becoming and will continue to become more immersed in technology. Technology addiction is a real thing, and I think it will become a very real problem in years to come. Imagine how bad it will be when virtual reality really comes to fruition. Why would anybody ever want to be in the real world when they can escape to their virtual paradise?

the trend is undoubtedly irreversible and irrepressible in my opinion as well.

[musiclady]

We are indeed on a slippery slope.

9/11 forced us to gut check ourselves.  It was short-lived and, as traumatic as it was, not intense enough or long enough.  I know that is a hard thing to wrap our thoughts around.  I think only an existential threat that is felt in our collective being will halt the slide.  I pray we can survive.  As Ronald Reagan said, we are only a generation away from extinction.  That generation may have beating hearts.

I'm afraid you may be right.

The Millennial generation has been so brainwashed that they are basically ineducable.

[Fishrrman]

Title:
[[ Census: Marriage rate at 93-year low... ]]

Should this not be expected?

There's been a war on traditional marriage going on since the 1960's.

"Women's lib" had a lot to do with it...

[Fishrrman]

Lando wrote above:
[[ Marriage rates in the inner city has dropped off the table in recent decades.  The so-called "nuclear family" is a rarity there.  Interesting that the decline coincided with the War on Poverty. ]]

Daniel P. Moynihan was right.

Prediction:
Marriage and the "traditional family" are all-but dead in the inner cities, certainly dead amongst blacks. They won't be coming back.

Black illegitimacy rates approach 90% or more in the cities. After several generations of welfare mothers, the notion of a traditional family is essentially forgotten -- words with no meaning. The married black couple is now the rare exception.

Illegitimacy is now "the rule", the standard, and "the norm" for these folks.

The ONLY way this could ever change would be to suspend ALL welfare benefits to illegitimate mothers AND their children. Nothing at all. That's the only way such dysfunctional behavior could be burnt out of them -- through great pain and suffering.

Yes, I know.
Ain't gonna happen.

Credo:
"Reality is what it is. It is not what we believe it to be."

[Fishrrman]

mass wrote above (with insight):
[[ The bigger problem is not that people are rejecting marriage, but that they are not having children...]]

Yet, if I were to say that birth control should be banned for Euro-American women, you would reply that such a thought is misogynist, anti-freedom, unconstitutional, etc.

But that's the only way the birth rates of Euros will ever rise naturally again.

Instead, I expect to see white birth rates continue to decline, as whites literally begin to "lose faith" in their futures and themselves in the onslaught of everything that is "anti-white" in our culture.

Just sayin'...

[Fishrrman]

musiclady wrote above:
[[ If only the millennials  would begin to understand that those "things that served us so well for so long" are critical to their futures.
Unfortunately, they have been brainwashed to believe that everything that came before them in America was bad, and that things only improved when the left grabbed control and started their swath of destruction, so they support "hope and change" as a good thing, even though it has furthered our demise as a nation. ]]

Are you familiar with the name, "Antonio Gramsci"?
If not, you should read up on him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Gramsci

musiclady continued:
[[ Frankly, I don't know how we fix this. ]]

We can't.
At least not without some kind of "cultural revolution" on the conservative side of things.
I don't foresee that happening.
Do you?