Divorce Rates Take a Dive While Marriage Rates Ramp Up – One Reason for the Recent Decline in Divorces in the U.S. Explained
New data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics is shedding light on recent marriage and divorce trends in the United States. The data might surprise you. According to CNN Health, reporting on the newly released statistics, the number of marriages taking place in the United States just years after the COVID-19 pandemic has begun to rise again after declining during the 2020 lockdown period. Indeed, the new data shows that in the year 2020, the marriage rate was down to 5.1 marriages per 1,000 people per year, a significant decline from the average over the past two decades of 7 to 8 marriages per 1,000 people per year. However, in 2022, marriages began to climb again and the marriage rate leveled out at 6.2 marriages per 1,000 people that year. Accordingly, and interestingly, divorce rates, per the new data, are also down. In 2022, the divorce rate was 2.4 divorces per 1,000 per year. However, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the divorce rate was nearly double that number at 4 divorces per 1,000 people per year. In sum, while divorces in the United States are on the decline, marriages are on the rise.
How We Pick Our Partners and Spouses may be Part of the Marriage Longevity Secret
One of the reasons that marriages may be on the rise and divorces petering out in the United States may have to do with how Americans select their partners and significant others. CNN contributor and licensed marriage and family therapist Ian Kerner noted of the new data, “In my practice over the last decade, I’ve noticed a gradual shift from the ‘romantic marriage’ to the ‘companionate marriage’, meaning that people are increasingly choosing spouses at the outset who are more like best friends than passion-partners.” This pattern, according to Kerner, may not lead to the strongest physical chemistry or attraction between partners and spouses, but may lead to long-term success in the marriage and stability in the relationship. Monica O’Neal, a psychologist from Boston commented on this concept of commitment in a marriage, stating “At its bare minimum, the concept of commitment implies the experience of being bonded with another. At its very best, it means being bonded with someone who is a consistent safe and secure home base that will be there for you in the face of any adversities.”
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Source:
cnn.com/2024/03/17/health/marriage-divorce-rates-wellness/index.html
