Study Says Fear of Not Marrying on Upswing

Fear of never marrying is mounting among older women who are learning the longer they wait for Prince Charming the slimmer the chances he may appear, Newsweek has reported.

A study--done by Yale sociologists Neil Bennett and Patricia Craig and Harvard economist David Bloom--”set off a profound crisis of confidence among America’s growing ranks of single women,” the magazine reported.

The study, called “Marriage Patterns in the United States,” found that white, college-educated women born in the mid-1950s who are single by 30 have only a 20% chance of marrying. The odds drop to 5% by age 35, the study said.

Forty-year-olds are more likely to be killed by a terrorist, the magazine said. They have a minuscule 2.6% chance of tying the knot.

New York therapist Bonnie Maslin said national coverage of the study set off a social and psychological panic.

“Everybody was talking about it and everybody was hysterical,” Maslin told the magazine. “Those who weren’t sad got mad.”

The magazine quoted several young women who felt pressured to marry because of the study, which was made public in February. It said the problem is made even tougher because the women affected by the study are part of the baby boom generation that has a severe shortage of available single men.

The comments were part of a magazine cover story called “Too Late for Prince Charming?”