Why Are Fewer Americans Getting Married?

"In 1976, 73 percent of male high school seniors and 84 percent of females told researchers they expected to get married. In 2023, the percentage of females had plummeted to 64 percent. The expectations of males had decreased as well, but by a smaller margin. Another study found that between 1970 and 2021, the percentage of women aged 40 to 44 who were married slipped from 82 percent to 62 percent."

"Coontz sets this trend in the context of economic opportunities, laws, government policies, and assumptions about romance, gender, and sex in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. She provides an analysis of "the gradual erosion, and in many cases, outright collapse" of factors that pushed people into marriage, determined the role each partner should play, stigmatized divorce, and penalized individuals who remained single."

"Designed to protect delicate women, the patriarchal doctrine of separate spheres, Coontz acknowledges, enhanced the lives of wives whose husbands put it into practice. But, of course, it exacted costs: exclusion from political and economic rights and opportunities."

"In the 20 th century, Coontz reminds us, despite growing confidence in the intellectuality and practicality of women, men remained far more likely to be viewed as decisive, competitive, and aggressive, and women as expressing emotion and caring. To the chagrin of Victorian moralists, heterosexual desire "became something you boasted about if you were a man and sought to inspire if you were a woma"

Marriage expectations and marriage rates have declined since the 1970s, with fewer people anticipating marriage and fewer women aged 40 to 44 being married. Economic and social changes have reduced the forces that once pushed people into marriage, including laws, government policies, and assumptions about romance, gender, and sex. Cohabitation has risen as couples prioritize love over financial security in marriage. Historical marriage patterns were shaped by policies and beliefs that assigned roles to partners and stigmatized divorce and remaining single. Patriarchal “separate spheres” protected some wives’ lives while restricting political and economic rights. Relationship satisfaction can improve under stress through benevolent attribution.

Read at Psychology Today