In the article "Where is Mr. or Mrs. Right? Matrimony Suffers Slump, Report Shows" on MSNBC.com, it is clear that marriage in the United States is taking a dive. In 1960, 72 percent of the population 18 and over were married, today it has dropped 21 percent to 51 percent of the population being married. The reasons to this are quite clear: a rise in variety of households and an economic decline. Today, it is becoming increasingly popular to have a family outside of the nuclear values. Marriage no longer holds the stigma it once did, especially with the rise of women in the workforce. People are accepting of single parenting or do not feel rushed t0 get married. LGBTQ couples still cannot marry in most states, yet account for a large percentage of couples. In addition, couples tend to get married when they are financially stable, and with the economy the way it is now, few can afford the wedding they always imagined and therefore, put it off for better times. People have different priorities now, why would one spend $5,000 towards their wedding when their car desperately needs to be fixed and the bills are behind.
"Strong marriages and strong families flourish in a healthy economic and community context. Those contexts have weakened particularly in working class and poor communities in the last 30-40 years," Wilcox said. "People are less likely to be engaged in stable fulltime work, their church community, the Jaycees." With the rise in the working and lower class, people are more stressed than ever and therefore, do not want to start a family in the tough times since they know it will add more stress to the family. The last thing a couple wants to worry about is whether they will be able to put a meal on the table for their children. If the economy was not as bad as it is, the most of our worries would be that we may have forgotten to iron our children's clothes. What a nice life that would be.
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