Marriage and the Times by Steve Watters on 10/16/2006 at 4:30 PM

Yesterday, the New York Times ran the story on marriage that I mentioned in an earlier blog. (The version here requires registration, but you can read a reprint here). So far, it's been picked up by at least 8 other papers and so it's reaching a few people. Here's the portion they ended up using from me:

Steve Watters, director of young adults for Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group, said that the trend of fewer married couples was more a reflection of delaying marriage than rejection of it.

"It does show that a lot of people are experimenting with alternatives before they get there," Watters said. "The biggest concern is that those who still aspire to marriage are going to find fewer models. They're also finding they've gotten so good at being single it's hard to be at one with another person."

While I wish the writer had worded my last line as "hard to be one" instead of "at one," I thought he did a good job of capturing my comments and providing additional context on the issue.

Here's the primary thrust of the article:

Married couples, whose numbers have been declining for decades as a proportion of U.S. households, have slipped into a minority, according to an analysis of new census figures.

The American Community Survey, released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau, indicated that 49.7 percent, or 55.2 million, of the nation's 111.1 million households last year were made up of married couples, just shy of a majority and down from more than 52 percent five years earlier.

The numbers by no means suggest marriage is dead or that a tipping point has been reached. The total number of married couples is higher than ever, and most Americans eventually marry.

But marriage has been facing more competition. Increasing numbers of adults are spending more of their lives single or living unmarried with partners, and the potential social and economic implications are profound.

Marriage and the Times by Steve Watters on 10/16/2006 at 4:30 PM

Yesterday, the New York Times ran the story on marriage that I mentioned in an earlier blog. (The version here requires registration, but you can read a reprint here). So far, it's been picked up by at least 8 other papers and so it's reaching a few people. Here's the portion they ended up using from me:

Steve Watters, director of young adults for Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group, said that the trend of fewer married couples was more a reflection of delaying marriage than rejection of it.

"It does show that a lot of people are experimenting with alternatives before they get there," Watters said. "The biggest concern is that those who still aspire to marriage are going to find fewer models. They're also finding they've gotten so good at being single it's hard to be at one with another person."

While I wish the writer had worded my last line as "hard to be one" instead of "at one," I thought he did a good job of capturing my comments and providing additional context on the issue.

Here's the primary thrust of the article:

Married couples, whose numbers have been declining for decades as a proportion of U.S. households, have slipped into a minority, according to an analysis of new census figures.

The American Community Survey, released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau, indicated that 49.7 percent, or 55.2 million, of the nation's 111.1 million households last year were made up of married couples, just shy of a majority and down from more than 52 percent five years earlier.

The numbers by no means suggest marriage is dead or that a tipping point has been reached. The total number of married couples is higher than ever, and most Americans eventually marry.

But marriage has been facing more competition. Increasing numbers of adults are spending more of their lives single or living unmarried with partners, and the potential social and economic implications are profound.