by Chris Palmer
A recent survey has indicated that marriage rates are at an all time low. In the 1960’s the median age for marriage was around 20 but now, the median age has risen to 26 for women and 29 for men. Rising divorce rates have contributed to the statistics as well as economic concerns. What is most troubling though is that the survey reflects a sense of apathy towards marriage in general as evidenced by this quote: “A Pew survey last year determined that more than four in 10 Americans younger than 30 consider marriage passe. ”They see it as an obselete social environment,” said D’Vera Cohn, a Pew researcher who co-wrote the analysis.” Unfortunately, out-of-wedlock births have not followed the same path.
A study from the United Stated Department of Health and Human Resources shows that non-marital births are at greater risk of low birth weight, preterm birth and infant mortality than children born to married women. The study also shows that children born to single mothers have more limited social and economic resources than those born to marriage. Yet the 2007 data used in the study shows that 4 in 10 children were born out of wedlock, reflecting a 5% increase in unmarried birth since 2006, a 21% increase since 2002 and an 80% increase since 1980.
When you look at the declining marriage statistics, the changing view of marriage by young Americans and skyrocketing out-of-wedlock births, you begin to see a grim portrait of America’s future. It appears that Americans have slowly moved toward a more narcissistic existence, one in which self-satisfaction comes first and commitment to family comes second. Why else would the statistics show declining marriage rates yet rising birth rates among unmarried people? One only has to hang around your local family court to see the problems that result from out-of-wedlock births. Court are jammed with single mothers begging for financial assistance from absent fathers while vehemently opposing the father’s efforts to have a relationship with his child. If this trend continues, marriage will soon be a minority as will children born to marriage. One has to wonder what the long term effects of this trend will have on the country if it continues since the trend sheds light on a much larger issue not addressed by the statistics – the decline of traditional views of morality.