Millennials have often been blamed by the generations after them for everything from behavior in the workplace to what they like to eat, but there’s one thing they can’t be blamed for. And that’s divorce.
So says a new study done by a sociologist at the University of Maryland.
It found a significant and steady drop in the nation’s divorce rate with the divorce rate among younger married couples dropping by close to 20 percent from 2008 to 2016.
And the research shows that while millennials are divorcing less, the Baby Boom generation is divorcing more with the divorce rate doubling for people aged 55 to 64 and tripling for those 65 and older.
A professor at Bowling Green University says the change among the younger generations is pretty compelling, suggesting,” The characteristics of young married couples today signal a sustained decline
The evidence shows that marriages among the younger generation have a greater chance of succeeding then they did just ten years ago.
The study found that because millennials tend to be more highly educated and tend to be older when they get married.
But it also shows evidence of a greater commitment to marriage with the study’s author saying the drop in the divorce rate is comes at a time when Americans have become more accepting of getting divorced and living together before marriage.
So one conclusion is that the trends show progress toward a culture where marriage may be rarer but more stable. And it looks like we can thank millennials for that.
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