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Study: Middle Class Is Saying “No” To Marriage

Is the middle class saying no to marriage because of the fear of an expensive or complicated divorce? According to a new study conducted by the National Marriage Project, that could be the case. While divorce rates are holding steady for those in the middle class, new numbers show that many are choosing to live together and have children without legally tying the knot.

In the 1970s, 13 percent of women who held a high school degree (but not a college degree) had children outside of marriage. Today, 44 percent of those women are starting families. In many cases, the father is present, and in half of the cases, the family lives together but simply doesn’t say, “I do.”

What is the reason for this turn away from marriage in the middle class? Researches say that many of the couples surveyed didn’t see a reason to marry, especially after seeing the painful and expensive divorces of the parents or other family members. Others say that, despite the greater cost of having a child, they don’t have the money to get married in the way that they had envisioned it. Experts also say that since wages are now lower, couples are waiting for a better financial situation generally before they take their marriage vows – and that in some cases an unemployed spouse can seem like poor marriage material in the long run.

While some say that fewer marriages in the middle class don’t have a larger affect on the state of families, others point out that couples who do not marry before having children are twice as likely to separate before their child is five years old.

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