2 ms·
Young people get pretty bombarded by divorce horror stories - especially from pop culture. Most divorces don't go to a court and a large number are resolved en
by munk-a 5y ago
Young people get pretty bombarded by divorce horror stories - especially from pop culture. Most divorces don't go to a court and a large number are resolved entirely internally and only seek professional help for the finalization of the agreement... but there are the attention grabbing headlines of someone being left with only the shirt on his back (and like 20 mil in options) on the far side of a really bad divorce.
I also think that culture does play a fair role. I was initially hesitant to marry (as a millennial) because a lot of my friends were being denied the ability to marry who they chose, so I wanted to stand with them and reject the institution. That, thankfully, has been resolved - but I can totally understand people who have mixed feelings on marriage.
- pm90 5y agoThere have always been divorce horror stories. The systemic reasons for declining marriage rates are mostly financial. The American middle class has seen declining incomes for the past generation or so, with rising student loan payments, unaffordable housing, expensive childcare etc. You have to be making a lot of income to seriously consider having children.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoWhether it is mostly financial is still being debated. Even Norway (which has orders of magnitudes more in savings per capita) has low marriage rates. Abstractly, marriage was a giant public act of consent due to the consequences of sex. Now, sex is decoupled from marriage, so the institution isn’t needed in secular culture.