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Why Are There So Many Single Americans?
New York Times ^ | 21 January 2007 | Kate Zernike

Posted on 01/23/2007 7:11:06 AM PST by shrinkermd

THE news that 51 percent of all women live without a spouse might be enough to make you invest in cat futures.

But consider, too, the flip side: about half of all men find themselves in the same situation. As the number of people marrying has dropped off in the last 45 years, the marriage rate has declined equally for men and for women.

The stereotype has been cemented in the popular culture: the hard-charging career girl who gets her comeuppance, either violently or dying a slow death by late-night memo and Chinese takeout...

But when it comes to marriage, the two Americas aren’t divided by gender. And it’s not the career girls on the losing end. It’s their less educated manicurists or housekeepers, women who might arguably be less able to live on their own.

The emerging gulf is instead one of class — what demographers, sociologists and those who study the often depressing statistics about the wedded state call a “marriage gap” between the well-off and the less so.

Statistics show that college educated women are more likely to marry than non-college educated women — although they marry, on average, two years later.

Women with more education also are becoming less likely to divorce, or inclined to divorce, than those with less education. They are even less likely to be widowed all in all, less likely to end up alone.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: changes; married; single
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To: cpprfld
Why bother with getting married. As the old saying goes, why would a guy what to buy the cow when he can get the milk for free.

My mistake what=want.

81 posted on 01/23/2007 7:46:45 AM PST by cpprfld (Who said accountants are boring?)
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To: Lazamataz
LOL! You know Laz, for a minute I thought love had turned into a nice teddy bear, but that post proves all it did was round the edges off. Which is good!
82 posted on 01/23/2007 7:47:30 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: shrinkermd

Notice how a lie is treated as the truth, because it was in the NYT! The times played with the numbers to get them to come out so that they could say that MOST women are unmarried.
The figures included 15 year olds and of course widows!


83 posted on 01/23/2007 7:48:49 AM PST by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (the left is loony)
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To: Emmett McCarthy
Another brilliant achievement for Feminism in this country.
84 posted on 01/23/2007 7:49:30 AM PST by SMARTY ("Stay together, pay the soldiers and forget everything else." Lucius Septimus Severus)
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To: UpAllNight
Still bitter over your team not making the superbowl?

The Titans? All in all a pretty good year after a lousy start. Vince Young rocks!

85 posted on 01/23/2007 7:49:34 AM PST by zarf
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To: bondjamesbond

Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free?


You have a better idea of what nasties might be in the milk.


86 posted on 01/23/2007 7:49:39 AM PST by freedomfiter2 ("if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great"; de Tocqueville)
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To: Perdogg
Because of the increase of the relative mobility of american families which in turn, leads to social isolation, which in turns leads to single-hood.

I agree. Humans haven't changed, technology, systems, and environments have changed. Just two generations ago people grew up in one town, got a job, married, and died in that town. They had a network of extended family and life-long friends. Now, the extended family is near non-existent for most people. Friends are those you've made in the last 4-5 years, and chances are they'll all move away. Not to mention the alienation and anti-social structure of suburbia.

87 posted on 01/23/2007 7:50:18 AM PST by Swordfished
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To: shrinkermd
THE news that 51 percent of all women live without a spouse might be enough to make you invest in cat futures. But consider, too, the flip side: about half of all men find themselves in the same situation.

Not necessarily, a very large number of those men are simply dead.


88 posted on 01/23/2007 7:50:28 AM PST by Polybius
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To: Paco

To 34...powdered milk comes to mind..


89 posted on 01/23/2007 7:51:06 AM PST by rusureitflies? (OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD! There, I said it. Prove me wrong.)
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To: shrinkermd

There's a direct correlation between the drop in the marriage rate and the advent of sports bars and big screen TVs.


90 posted on 01/23/2007 7:52:44 AM PST by Hatteras
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To: Mr. K

well, I hear there is a whole lot of unattached wimmin out there


91 posted on 01/23/2007 7:53:04 AM PST by going hot (Happiness is a momma deuce)
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To: RexBeach
No fault-divorce

You've got to love the term "no fault divorce". It's deceptive left wing legal mumbo-jumbo for "it's always the man's fault".

92 posted on 01/23/2007 7:53:55 AM PST by jpl
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To: mware
This story was debunked by Micahel Medved over the weekend.

They used girls 15-19 in their statistics as unmarried.

How far back are they looking for comparison? Not long ago in our nation's history, 15-19 year olds were the prime demographic to be married. If we're looking at 51% of women as being an unmarried anomaly, then is that taking that historical fact into account?

In other words, if you're going to compare long term trends, you need to keep a stable set of factors to compare it to.

93 posted on 01/23/2007 7:55:01 AM PST by Steel Wolf (As Ibn Warraq said, "There are moderate Muslims but there is no moderate Islam.")
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To: Fawn
Some people aren't able to have kids. Hate them too?

"Society is better off if people marry and have kids."

How on earth do you figure from that statement that I hate people who can't have kids?! Can you at least show me that the statement is false?

Lighten up, Francis.

94 posted on 01/23/2007 7:56:37 AM PST by GOP_Party_Animal
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To: calex59

This reminds me of a similar study done about 20 years ago that was actually debunked on Designing Women. I recall that it claimed that women over a certain age were more likely to be killed by a terrorist than marry. It was total bunk, too.


95 posted on 01/23/2007 7:56:46 AM PST by sportutegrl (This thread is useless without pix.)
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To: litehaus

"Playing House" is the preferred state today. If we can't commit to a spouse, how in the world are we supposed to commit to a war for our country?


96 posted on 01/23/2007 7:57:53 AM PST by Pure Country
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To: jpl

I remember when it passed in MA. I was on Senate staff at the time, and it made no sense to me. How can there be no fault in a divorce? I recall that the NOW lobbyist was real excited about it. Yup. She was an odd looking person.


97 posted on 01/23/2007 7:58:24 AM PST by RexBeach
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To: BlazingArizona

Actually, it's more that while women pay an emotional price for a marriage gone wrong, for men it's a financial meltdown.


What's the going rate on the remarriage market for men who have been wrecked financially? I hear a lot of bitter men here on freerepublic and I can understand why.


98 posted on 01/23/2007 7:58:44 AM PST by freedomfiter2 ("if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great"; de Tocqueville)
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To: Polybius

Glad you brought that up. I know many women near my mother over the age of 80 that are widowed. Plus several women younger that husband died early. Wonder what percentage of widows make up their numbers?


99 posted on 01/23/2007 7:59:16 AM PST by KYGrandma (Kentucky girl who wants to go home)
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To: GeorgefromGeorgia
more women have hostile opinions of men in general. Just watch OPRAH.

Hey, lots of men don't speak too highly of women either, just watch Free Republic. :~\

Most folk, though, are just doing the best they can in this life, it ain't always Leave it to Beaver, and it ain't really Desperate Housewives either.

100 posted on 01/23/2007 8:00:35 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
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