Posted by: euser
January 03, 2011
Topic: Marriage and Divorce

On November 30, 2010, I posted a blog entry titled "Is marriage becoming obsolete?" The entry contained the link to a CNN.com article by Stephanie Coontz. The article highlighted that a TIME/Pew research poll released earlier in November indicated that 40 percent of Americans believe that marriage is becoming obsolete, up from 28 percent in 1978. The article discussed the reasons why marriage is becoming less of the core of family life.

In December, The Courier Journal took a look at this issue in an article titled "Reports find marriage in decline among some Americans" by Peter Smith. The full text of this article may be read at

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010312100059

Smith's article cites the TIME/Pew research poll, as well as another report called "When Marriage Disappears: The Retreat from Marriage in Middle America." This report showed that stable marriages are down, and the ranks of children raised by single parents are up among middle-class and moderately educated Americans. The report goes so far as to say that in Middle America, marriage is in trouble. The report refines "Middle America" as people who lack college degrees.

The report says that research indicates that higher-income and better educated people are more likely to marry, stay married, and be happy in their marriages, possibly in part because these people are more likely to be part of churches and other social networks that reinforce marriage. The link between marriage and education has become more clear over time. In 2008 the marriage rate between college graduates was 64 percent, high school graduates 48 percent; in 1960, the marriage rate between college graduates was 76 percent, high school graduates 72 percent.

According to "When Marriage Disappears," marriage "is in danger of becoming a luxury good attainable only to those with the material and cultural means to grab hold of it." This report found that there is a higher tolerance for and prevalence of sex outside of marriage among people without a college degree. Teens of college graduates are less likely to become unwed parents.

The report posits that Middle America is in trouble because these Americans are under enormous financial stress now that there are much fewer well-paying manufacturing jobs in the information economy. Further, these people are more isolated because at lower levels of the education scale, people are less likely to be involved in civic groups, and with fewer friends, these Americans are more likely to be alone when times get tough.

Regardless of the explanation, the growing divorce trend in our society is clear. Louis and I see divorces between all kinds of people, ranging from highly educated to minimally educated, and from a broad range of socioeconomic strata. In some of these marriages, one spouse has more education or earning capacity than the other. Yet in other marriages, the spouses have similar educational backgrounds and work history. What we've learned from this is that statistics and reports can't predict what a particular relationship will be like for the people in it, or why one or both spouses want to end a marriage. Louis and I have also learned that by looking at each divorce as a unique situation, we provide our clients with specialized legal services tailored towards their desired outcome. Every divorce isn't the same to us. When we set up an initial consultation with a new client, we aren't just going through the motions. Instead, Louis and I want to hear about our clients' backgrounds, and how they arrived at the momentous decision to seek divorce.

If you're at that turning point, please fill out the form on our website or click "Contact Us" above. We devote all our time to family law cases, and we effectively manage the quantity of cases we accept so that we can give your case the attention it deserves. -Stacy Anne Hoehle

Is Marriage in Trouble for Middle America?

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