Americans Less Likely to Wed, or Be Blissful if They Do, Study Says

Americans are less likely to marry than ever before, a new study finds, and fewer people who do marry report being “very happy” in their marriages.

By one measure--the annual number of marriages to women over the age of 15--the nation’s marriage rate has dropped by 43% in the last four decades, leaving it at its lowest point ever, according to the study released Thursday by Rutgers University’s National Marriage Project.

The study’s authors note, however, that a large portion of that decline is caused simply by women marrying later in life, not by an overall decline in the number of people ever marrying. The percentage of Americans who are married has also declined but by a smaller amount: In 1960, just under 70% of Americans older than 15 were married; by 1998 the number had dropped to 58%.

To a large extent, the decline in marriages has been offset by a rise in the number of people living together while unmarried, the report notes, saying that “cohabitation is emerging as a significant experience for young adults.”

The report’s authors argue that American society is being weakened by a decline in the “fundamental social institution” of marriage. On the other hand, they note, although surveys show fewer people claiming that their marriages are “very happy,” a good marriage remains a major aspiration for a large majority of Americans.

Moreover, the divorce rate, after many years of increasing, has declined in the last few years, as has the rate of out-of-wedlock births.