Couples are waiting longer to tie the knot
“First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.” So the old playground rhyme goes.
These days, however, many couples are taking a long time getting from step 1 to step 2. They're waiting until they're in their 30s or 40s to wed, with or without kids, after five, six, seven, eight or more years being in a relationship and living together.
The trend of long cohabitation before marriage in the United States is becoming part of the norm, according to family expert Arielle Kuperberg, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Kuperberg found that from 2009 to 2013, 17.6 percent of women polled by the National Survey of Family Growth had lived with their partner for more than five years before tying the knot; 5.4 percent had cohabited more than eight years; and almost 3 percent more than 10 years. Just 20 years earlier, from 1989 to 1993, an NSFG survey found that those numbers were 7.8 percent that had lived together for five years before marrying their partner; 1.9 percent more than eight years; and 0.7 percent more than 10 years.
“Is it culture or cost of living that keeps people from getting married?” mused Kuperberg. “Cohabitation is much more socially acceptable now. We also find that financial instability makes people put off marriage. Part of maturity is emotional maturity, but also financial maturity.”