Millennials divorce less than baby boomers

Divorce rates had increased since the mid-19th century, partly because of what Cherlin described as "a gradual growth in the sense that it was acceptable to end a marriage if you were unhappy". 1980.

Cherlin says that in the late 1970s, when he received his Ph.D., researchers were expecting the divorce rate to continue to rise. But this is not the case, and what is behind this unforeseen development is the decline of marriage – and the corresponding increase in cohabitation – among less educated Americans. As the sociologist Victor Chen writes L & # 39; Atlantic Last year, a few decades ago, people without a university degree were much more likely to be married before the age of 30 than those with a university degree. Now, Chen notes, "just over half of women in their early forties with a high school diploma or less are married, compared to three-quarters of women with a bachelor's degree."

Chen relates this trend to the decline in high-paying jobs for people without a university degree, which he says complicates the creation of more stable relationships. Indeed, Cohen writes in his article that marriage is "an increasingly central component of the structure of social inequality." The current state is both a reflection of the opportunities offered by a university degree and a strength their earnings themselves widen the economic gap.

Thus, looking at married couples alone does not capture the true nature of current US partnerships. "If you had to include cohabitation relationships [in addition to marriages], the break-up rates for young adults probably did not drop, "says Cherlin. In other words: Yes, divorce rates are down. But this reflects more about who gets married than the stability of a given American couple.