Marriage on the decline in Middle America

SALT LAKE CITY — Whoever said, "All you need is love," must have forgotten to mention money, religion, age and an education when it comes to marriage.

Two recent studies have found a decline in marriage among "Middle Americans," who are defined as the 58 percent of adults who graduated high school with possibly some secondary education, but without a four-year college degree.

Over the last two months, researchers from the Pew Research Center and The National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia noted that historically Americans who were highly educated were less likely to marry or be religious, while those less educated favored the two practices. As times have changed, the attitudes towards marriage and religion have reversed.

In a Pew study conducted last month called The Decline of Marriage and Rise of New Families, researchers found that in 2008 there was a 16 percentage point gap in marriage rates between college graduates, 64 percent of whom were married, and those with a high school diploma or less (48 percent). A subsequent study that came out earlier this month from The National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia found that adherence to a "marriage mindset," religious attendance and faith in marriage as a way of life are stronger now among the highly educated.

"The retreat from marriage in Middle America means that all too many Americans will not be able to realize the American Dream," W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, told the Deseret News. "Adults and children fortunate enough to live in an intact, married family are much more likely to succeed in school and the workplace, to acquire a home of their own and to experience an upward of mobility."

Wilcox found that in the last 30 years, children born outside of marriage grew from 13 percent to 44 percent among "Middle Americans." The percentage of stable marriages also dropped significantly, from 73 percent to 45 percent during that time period. In contrast, Americans with a college degree fared better, with the percentage of children born outside of marriage climbing from two percent to six percent. Divorce rates dropped from 15 percent to 11 percent and stable marriage fell from 73 percent to 56 percent among that group.

"The problem is that a 'marriage mind set' hasn't caught up with Middle Americans, not to mention less advantaged Americans, " Wilcox said. "We are seeing that divorce is up and there is more cohabiting."