Chapter 8 “Whiten Marriage”
Marriage
Marriage is in retreat
• 71% people married
• 15% never married
• 5% divorced or separated
• Now 50% married and almost 20% divorced
Why people get married?
• Love
• Family
• Having children
• Financial stability
• Making lifelong commitment
Is marriage bliss?
• 36% married people happy
• 22% not married were happy
Is happiness related to marriage?
Decline in marriage
• “do your own thing and you will be accepted
• 41% births outside of marriage
• What once seemed shocking has now become mainstream
11.7 million single-parent household
Divorce much more prevalent though now declining
• Higher amongst inter racial couples
• 1 in 5 American divorce involve Facebook
• 100 divorces per hour
Highest divorce rate is in Nevada 16%
Are children better off w/ unhappy marriage?
Gray divorce
• People older than 50 years old
• Growing trend of divorce w/ baby boomers
• Projected 800,000 divorces in 2030
3 of 4 people claim divorce was right decision
Gay marriage
• People changing perceptions and open mindedness of globalized world
• People change perceptions because they know someone who is homosexual
• Knowing someone that is LGBT main diver for perception change
• Increasing support
• 9 in 10 LGBT believe acceptance is growing every year
• Support amongst generations o Millennials 70% o GEN X 49% o Boomers 38% o Silent 31%
• Most now say they wouldn’t be upset if children were LGBT
• Survey o Asked “how were your households composed”
 55% married
 40% divorced
 5% single parent
• 16% same sex married
General statistics
• 3 out of 6 divorce
• Average women marry at 27
• 95% marry before 55 years old
• 8.4% interracial marriages

Quiz
1. Who is more likely to be happy, married or unmarried person?
a. married
2. What are the majorities of marital status in these