Marital Statistics and Family Restoration

A recent article on family culture at the holidays noted that marriage is nearly obsolete for a majority of couples. This fact is interesting, and a bit scary.

"A study by the Pew Research Center, in association with Time magazine, highlights rapidly changing notions of the American family. And the Census Bureau, too, is planning to incorporate broader definitions of family when measuring poverty, a shift caused partly by recent jumps in unmarried couples living together. About 29 percent of children under 18 now live with a parent or parents who are unwed or no longer married, a fivefold increase from 1960, according to the Pew report [] released Thursday [November 25, 2010]. Broken down further, about 15 percent have parents who are divorced or separated and 14 percent who were never married. Within those two groups, a sizable chunk — 6 percent — have parents who are live-in couples who opted to raise kids together without getting married.

Indeed, about 39 percent of Americans said marriage was becoming obsolete, even in the face of California's Proposition 8 litigation, and two new challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, as noted in another article at http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories10/november/1119103.htm . That sentiment of heterosexual couples away from marriage follows U.S. census data released in September that showed marriages hit an all-time low of 52 percent for adults 18 and over. In 1978, just 28 percent believed marriage was becoming obsolete. [Yet,] when asked what constitutes a family, the vast majority of Americans agree that a married couple, with or without children, fits that description."

Read the entire piece at: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/study_4_in_10_say_marriage_is.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter.

When a society believes that marriage is important, but is unwilling to commit to it, that example creates a culture of irresponsibility, and naturally breakdown follows. Family restoration begins with marital restoration. Professor Kohm has written extensively on this problem, particularly as it relates to the culture of soul-mate satisfaction, and the sabotage young couples place on their future marriages by cohabiting prior to making the marital commitment. See her article....