The first few sentences of Carol Morello’s recent Washington Post article explain a significant trend:
Americans may be postponing marriage, and fewer are wedding at all. But what about the people who do get married? They’re staying together longer than they have in years.
Three in four couples who married after 1990 celebrated a 10-year anniversary, according to census statistics reported Wednesday. That was a rise of three percentage points compared with couples who married in the early 1980s, when the nation’s divorce rate was at its highest.
So What?
The shift toward longer-lasting marriages is attributed primarily to education. Morello cites research by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, which indicates that “people without a college degree are three times as likely to divorce in the first 10 years as those with a college degree.”
- Are you surprised to learn that education plays such a significant role in the likelihood a marriage will be long-lasting? Why or why not?
- What kind of premarital counseling/preparation does your parish provide for those who are seeking to be married?
- What kind of marriage enrichment activities does your parish offer those who are already married?