Americans under the age of 45 have found a novel way to rebel against their elders: They’re staying married.

New data show younger couples are approaching relationships very differently from baby boomers, who married young, divorced, remarried and so on. Generation X and especially millennials are being pickier about who they marry, tying the knot at older ages when education, careers and finances are on track. The result is a U.S. divorce rate that dropped 18 percent from 2008 to 2016, according to an analysis by University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen.

Demographers already knew the divorce rate was falling, even if the average American didn’t. Their question, however, was why? And what do current trends mean for the marital prospects of today’s newlyweds?

One theory is that divorce rates are falling largely because of other demographic changes—especially an aging population. Older people are less likely to get divorced, so maybe mellowing boomers were enough to explain the trend. Cohen’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau survey data, however, suggests something more fundamental is at work. Even when he controls for factors such as age, the divorce rate over the same period still dropped 8 percent.

The marriage rate has also fallen over the last several decades. But Cohen calculates the divorce rate as a ratio of divorces to the total number of married women. So, the divorce rate’s decline isn’t a reflection of a decline in marriages. Rather, it’s evidence that marriages today have a greater chance of lasting than marriages did ten years ago.

“The change among young people is particularly striking,” Susan Brown, a sociology professor at Bowling Green State University, said of Cohen’s results. “The characteristics of young married couples today signal a sustained decline [in divorce rates] in the coming years.”

Young people get the credit for fewer divorces because boomers have continued to divorce at unusually high rates, all the way into their 60s and 70s. From 1990 to 2015, according to Bowling Green’s National Center for Family and Marriage Research, the divorce rate doubled for people aged 55 to 64, and even tripled for Americans 65 and older. Cohen’s results suggest this trend, called “grey divorce,” may have leveled out in the past decade, but boomers are still divorcing at much higher rates than previous generations did at similar ages.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-25/millennials-are-causing-the-u-s-divorce-rate-to-plummet?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&cmpid=socialflow-facebook-business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=business

Yeaaaaahhhhh no.

That isn't the case for anyone I know. They seem to divorce in 5 years or less, most seem like 2 years.

As a millennial, everyone in my age group who HAS gotten married, is still married.

From what I see, my generation is getting married less often, but staying married when they do. YMMV

Article from 9/2018. Must have took the OP a long time to search for positive millennial news...

less crotch fruit, no 'need' to get married.

4 years for me. Things seem to be going alright but you never know. Most of the other people I know my age are either in a long term live in relationship with no marriage in sight or single, I only know a few others that are married and fewer that have already had a divorce

Hey Smarty Pants out there! You cannot be DIVORCED if you were NEVER MARRIED to begin with and those weenies do not commit so this is obviously #FAKENEWS. Hahahaha.

Seems like the wreckage that is divorce court and mixed families is really a great thing to avoid.

It's not that.  There is no housing inflation.  Forty years ago a couple would buy a house for 70k, and in 15 years it would be worth 150k or 200k.  The little lady goes to a lawyer and he asks her how she is going to pay for the divorce?  He has his paralegal go to Zillow and find out the appraisal.  He asks her what the balance is on the mortgage.  Bingo.  Out go the papers.  The lawyer knows the house will be sold in the divorce, and he (and his opponent) will be paid out of the proceeds. Their fees, up to the amount of equity, are guaranteed.  No dunning letters, no threats to the client to pay, etc.  Just bide your time, and it all gets paid.

Now, people are under water, or have very little equity.  The same little lady goes to the lawyer, he finds the couple has no or negative equity, and he says you gonna have to post a 10k retainer.  She goes home and figures the old man ain't so bad after all.

What percentage are getting married, though? If you don't get married or are married for less years (getting married older) there's going to be less divorce.

We can prevent divorces if we outlaw marriages.

Cheaper to keep her

So much for all that free love...fucking hippies.

Lets all play which poster is a boomer!



Probably just a mixture of less people getting married with a hearty helping of "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" syndrome.

Those that get married for the right reasons stay married.

What this doesn't tell us is the current millenial marriage rate. I would almost be willing to bet we arent getting married as much.

I think its more about people getting married later.  When the boomers were getting married, they didnt know their partners were fuck-ups.  Marrying older does have some benefits, most people have either grown up or revealed their inner asshole ways.

Having kids at 35-45 is a drawback.

Haha, yeah right.

Same with us. Seems correct. Mellinials and Gen Z and sonewhat Gen X (especially the tail enders) are not miserable fucks like a lot of the Boomers so they are able to get along better and stay married. Seems pretty obvious to me just from what you observe here as a microcasm.

If they're not having at least 3 children, it doesn't matter.

Do you have anything more substantial to support your argument?

No marriage. No divorce. Simple.

Are you saying millennials don't get married? lol

More women work now so they have less incentive to divorce after 20 years, when they would get lifetime alimony if they hadn't been working.  To see if this is the case we need to wait another 20 years to see what the millennial divorce rate really is.

This is fucking stupid. The divorce rate is down because the marriage rate is down.....  People aren't getting suckered into getting married for a piece of paper. The gay marriage thing brought about civil union.

You dont read good do you?

Just because the article says it. Doesn't make it true hot rod.

So you are going to be blessing us with some research or links you have?  Or just old man yelling at a cloud shit like usual?

This

Just curious, what age were they when they married?

Gee, a generation of kids from broken homes are more selective of who they marry. Who wouldn've guessed?

Marriage rates have been dropping for years so of course divorce rates have dropped.

I was unrelated third party witness to this happening with two different couples - once right after the recession and once in 2015. I was blown away by the behavior change in the wives (the initiators in both cases) after they found out there was a cost associated with divorce and not a benefit. Both couples are still together and seem in it for the long haul now.

I can buy this...Grass isn't always greener.

With that sad, the majority of the boomers I am good friends with, all regret getting divorced and felt it was a stupid decision they could have made it through.

Once again boomers showing their ignorance.



Divorce rate is calculated based upon percentage of married couples not the population as a whole, your argument is invalid.

From the article...

Its incredible how many people didn't read the article, or couldn't comprehend it.  Not sure why its so hard to believe that people are being more selective about who they marry now.

Its bad enough that I legitimately can't tell if this post is sarcastic or not.  Well done.

Do boomers not understand rates?

I'm a Gen X'er. I didn't marry until 35. I'm now 41 w/ 3 kids.

Most selfish generation ever, my Dad is on his 4th marriage, he's 74 so I think this one might be his last but who knows with him.

10 years together.  5 years married.  Wife was 18 and I was 22 when we started dating.

Um...

If you only compare divorces to the amount of marriages you have a ratio that isn't directly effected by the marriage rate...

For example, 5 out of 100 marriages end in divorce (made up numbers) so that is a 5% divorce rate. The marriage rate only matters if you compare divorces to the population regardless of marital status. The only way marriage rate can have an indirect effect is if the people who were more likely to divorce avoid marriage instead, which you can't really measure.

I can confirm this

Of all my friends I only know two couples that divorced

Boomers would be of their 3rdmarriage by now

Statistically, women file for divorce when the economy is growing. They do this because their husband's assets are large (more equity, large 401k balance).

Men tend to file for divorce when the economy is down. It limits their losses.

Agreed. I can only think of a couple people out of my group of friends and acquaintances that have divorced.

Strauss and Howe predicted this in the early 1990s.

*cheaper to rent and not own