Parents who have unmarried children were considered more likely to divorce than those who have children after marriage. However, a new study breaks this statement.
In the past few years, family structure and social taboos have changed. Researchers say that unmarried couples who have children are no longer more likely to divorce than those who have children after marriage.
Nowadays, the social pressure of getting married is less than before. Couples may manage their relationships or consider getting married, but they won't be so anxious anymore.
The data for this study comes from couples who had children between 1985 and 1995 (the early group) and those who had children between 1997 and 2010 (the late group), who are also part of the National Survey on Family Growth organized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers say that in the early group, 17% of couples had children before marriage. 21% got married within one year, and 59% got married within five years. In the late stage group, 35% of couples have children without getting married, which is twice as high as in the early stage group. And 15% get married within one year, 48% get married within five years.
They found that the divorce demography of children born before marriage was higher in the early group. The divorce demography of having children before marriage is 60% higher than that of having children after marriage.
Surprisingly, the impact of having children before marriage disappeared in the late stage group, even though researchers excluded factors such as race, education level, and whether they had been living with their parents until the age of 18, which were related to marital behavior and divorce risk.
Parents who only cohabit without marriage are more likely to separate than married parents. 30% of them separated within five years, twice the number of people who got married at the same time.
Everyone will wonder why the divorce demography has declined in families with children before marriage. The researchers have the following conjectures.
The increasing stability comes with the reduction of social pressure on marriage and the blurring of boundaries between marital life and cohabitation.
In addition, people often have high standards for their marriage partner and may delay marriage until some prerequisites are in place, including economic stability, decent work, and housing.
Even if they already have children together, "some couples wait until everything is in place before getting married," Musick said. In fact, they have already considered themselves married, but they will not truly get married until they believe they have met these high standards