Examine the Reasons for Changes in the Patterns of Marriage, Cohabitation and Divorce.
“Examine the reasons for changes in the patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years.”
The patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years has varied considerably. In 1972, over 480,000 couples got married subsequently making this the highest amount of marriages within a year ever since the Second World War. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this was down to the baby boom generation of the 1950’s reaching the age of marriage.
However, after this period, the number of marriages in England went into decline. Recently, marriages reached an all-time low in 2005 when only 244,701 couples got married. Less than half of what it was in 1972. Some people accuse society of rejecting marriage and are no longer bothered about it but, statistics prove otherwise. These statistics reveal that people are, in fact, delaying marriage. It is said that people most people will marry later in life, most likely after a period of cohabitation. Reasons for this may be that couples are being wary before making any serious commitments. Proof that supports the “marrying later in life” idea is that the average age of a bride in 2003 was 29 and all grooms 31 years old compared with 22 for women and 24 for men in 1971. Specifically, women may want to delay marriage for reasons such as advancing in their career prospects.
Not only is there a drop in the total number of marriages but also a decline in marriage rates (the number of people marrying per 1000 of the population aged 16 and over). Marriage rates are at their lowest since the 1920’s and further plummeting. In 1994, the marriage rate was 11.4 but this had declined to 10.3 by 2004. The male rate declined from 36.3 in 1994 to 27.8 in 2004 whilst the female rate declined from 30.6 to 24.6. Once more, surveys emphasis that most people, whether single, divorced or cohabitating still see marriage as a desirable life-goal and therefore will get married eventually especially if
The patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years has varied considerably. In 1972, over 480,000 couples got married subsequently making this the highest amount of marriages within a year ever since the Second World War. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this was down to the baby boom generation of the 1950’s reaching the age of marriage.
However, after this period, the number of marriages in England went into decline. Recently, marriages reached an all-time low in 2005 when only 244,701 couples got married. Less than half of what it was in 1972. Some people accuse society of rejecting marriage and are no longer bothered about it but, statistics prove otherwise. These statistics reveal that people are, in fact, delaying marriage. It is said that people most people will marry later in life, most likely after a period of cohabitation. Reasons for this may be that couples are being wary before making any serious commitments. Proof that supports the “marrying later in life” idea is that the average age of a bride in 2003 was 29 and all grooms 31 years old compared with 22 for women and 24 for men in 1971. Specifically, women may want to delay marriage for reasons such as advancing in their career prospects.
Not only is there a drop in the total number of marriages but also a decline in marriage rates (the number of people marrying per 1000 of the population aged 16 and over). Marriage rates are at their lowest since the 1920’s and further plummeting. In 1994, the marriage rate was 11.4 but this had declined to 10.3 by 2004. The male rate declined from 36.3 in 1994 to 27.8 in 2004 whilst the female rate declined from 30.6 to 24.6. Once more, surveys emphasis that most people, whether single, divorced or cohabitating still see marriage as a desirable life-goal and therefore will get married eventually especially if