Advantages And Disadvantages Of Singlehood

People believe that marriage is easy and is the key to love and happiness, but in reality marriage is harder than it looks. Everyone marries for different reasons, for good or for bad. People today don’t understand the meaning of marriage; it is more than just money and appearance. Seeing today’s world of marriage is being influenced by media shows like Jerry Springer, Judge Judy, and Murray makes you realize how society today identifies marriage different. Couples who live unmarried will be happier and have more choices than those that are married in agreement with Catherine Newman’s essay called I Do. Not.: Why I Won’t Marry in the book “Acting Out Culture: Reading and Writing “, by: James S. Miller. Catherine Newman is a writer and an author

Singlehood can be a life structure of the twenties, too. The daughter of an ego-boosting father, taught to try anything she wished so long as she didn't bail out before reaching the top, decided to become a traveling publicist. That meant being free to move from city to city as better jobs opened up. The structure that best served her purpose was to remain unattached. She shared apartments and lived in women's hotels, having a wonderful time, until at 27 she landed the executive job of her dreams.

There comes a point in everyone’s life that this question or subject is brought up - “Are you dating anyone?” “When are you guys getting married?” When these questions are asked from family and friends, it pressures people into finding that special one. Even though, people do experience those desires and questions for themselves; does it make it right to feel that need? What is marriage? Is marriage a contract or love? What if marriage is not what people perceive it to be? What if marriage is not the happily ever after often seen in the movies? Laurie Essig and Lynn Owens are two scholars that wrote a piece entitled, What If Marriage Is Bad for Us? that contended the institution purpose of marriage is obsolete and in reality bad for society, and how marriage can lead to changed, unhealthy, and distressed.

This chapter focuses on the aspects of singlehood and the “benefits” of it as well as the downs. The Primary advantages of singlehood are the freedom that is possessed and the control over their own life. Some of the social movements which promoted singlehood are:

Why do people hold so many stereotypical beliefs towards singles? The main reason seems to be an overemphasis on marriage. The majority of people assume that married people were happier, less lonely, and more mature (Morris, DePaulo, Hertel, & Ritter, 2004). Western society maintains the ideology that marriage is the most important social relationship (Day, Kay, Holmes, & Napier, 2011). In U.S., at least 90 percent of adults have been married at some point in their life (Connidis, 2001). Thus people who

As stated in our text, various factors can bind married couples together, such as economic interdependencies, legal, social and moral constraints, relationship, and amongst other things. In the recent years some of these factors have diminished their strengths. The modern generation sees marriage in a different perspective altogether. Individuals today feel they are stable independently, they do not need to rely on their spouse for emotional or financial support. Many are career driven and soar to conquer their dreams over settling down with a family. Such untraditional views have increased divorce rates.

Is there a reason traditional families have lasted for thousands of years? In the argumentative essay “In Defense of Single Of Motherhood” by Katie Roiphe, the author is arguing that a single mother is a significant way to raise children. Roiphe also includes how being a traditional mother and father family is unsuccessful and frustrating. Although being a single mother may work for her, countless numbers of single mothers struggle in many different ways. These struggles affect the mother and the children as well. Being a single mother is harmful for a family because a child needs a father figure, it is too much stress on one person, and it is financially difficult to raise a family on one income.

Over the past decades, how Americans perceive the marital relationship greatly reformed, illuminating society’s values. In the past, marriage use to represent a legal contract to bear children and acquire finances, but today, “In all too many communities in the US, especially poor and minority ones, marriage is a retreat” (Wilcox et al., 2005, p. 5). Rather than observing marriage as an obligation, Americans now perceive a marriage to entail intimate commitments between affectionate partners. America transformed its values from the society and family to the individual level. Of the major values changes, which occurred over the past decades, this article exemplifies an increase in single-parent homes, cohabiting, and divorce. Due to America’s expansion of individualism and materialism, individuals no longer perceive their marriage as life long commitments. This transformation occurred because of a shift in societal values; society no longer places stigma on divorce and single parents, which aided in the increasing numbers of marital shifts. In fact, Americans tend to enter marriages with unrealistic expectations, expecting their partner to fulfill all of their needs without conflict. It stands as our unrealistic expectations and perceptions that caused a shift in marriages.

Families who have dealt with being a single parent typically see themselves being judged by other parents. For example, Jamie Rush a teen mom said "If he acts up, or if he falls over and bumps his head, I always think people are looking at me as if to say "It's because you're a teenager." (Rush 3). This shows that teen moms are trying their best and love their kids too. Schools are helping teenage single parents. Take the case of Jamie, after she gave birth to her son, she went to an alternative school with a built in daycare (Rush 1). This tells you that there is help for teens out there, but it's not always available to everyone. Socially speaking, one of the primary causes of single parents is because of one of the parent's death. Through research, we have found that the primary cause of single-parent households was because of parental death (Chamie 1). This proves that not all single-parent homes is because of teen pregnancies. As a result, there are many single parents struggling with being judged, or because of significant other's death. But there are schools, helping

A survey of 14000 adults states in ‘A Guide to Family Issues: The Marriage Advantage’ that marriage was a pertinent factor contributing to happiness and satisfaction with forty percent of the married individuals being happy as opposed to 25 percent of either single or cohabiting individuals. The same study shows that ninety eight percent of never married respondents wished to marry and out of those 88% believed that it should be a lifelong commitment. Even though, divorce rates are rising numerous researches show that young people aspire to have a lasting marriage.

Today, the major landmark for the United States population for the first time since the government started keeping these stats in 1976, single Americans now make up over half of the adult American population. According to the data used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly job-market report, the single population aged 16 or older are close to 125 million and has since been trending upward. Although there are a lot of divorces and some who are having families without getting married, this is the most clear trend that many people choose to stay single.

In the article, “It’s Better To Be Raised by a Single Mom”, author Pamela Gwyn Kripke states that, “Kids of unmarried parents, according to all of those studies (of rich moms and poor, educated moms and not-so), are supposed to be failures.” If you really take a look at the situation of single parenting, it should be seen that it is not primarily who or how many people are raising the child, but rather how the child is being raised or brought up. If you really think about it, children with two parents in their household can take on the same emotional, social, and behavioral skills just as kids with one parent. Many say that for a child to be fully developed socially and emotionally, that they must be raised by two parents rather than one. In the article, “5 Things To Know About Kids Who Grew Up With Single Parents”, author Bob Alaburda states, “Growing up with loving parents can fill you with positive examples of how to handle relationships when you're older. Even having two parents who hate each others' guts can demonstrate what NOT to do. Either way, it's a learning experience. But children of a single parent are left to gain that experience on their

I beleive that there is a small stigma surrounding people who choose to remain single by older generations like generation X and baby boomers. Like the book says, in their daygetting married was the norm being single was considered deviant. Not that these generations think that singles are lonely or desperate, but they expect them to "grow up" and "settle down" becsaue they most likely did the same at a much earlier age. I fee there's more of an acceptance withing the millenial generation. Indepence is (for lack of a better word) almost trendy. My generation glmaorizes the single life. Independence can be viewd as adventurous and fun with nothing to tie one down. One can travel, focus on their education or career and only be concerned with

There are different reasons a person would have to be a single-parent. The four basic categories are divorced, absent spouse, never married, and widowed. The highest percent of single-parent families form of divorce more than any other reason (Presence of Parents). Just like anything else, there are positives and negatives to being a single-parent. Unfortunately as far as statistics, there are far more negatives than positives in single-parenting. The average percentage of children that grow up without a mother between the years 2000 and 2014 in all races is 4.8 percent. The average percentage of children that grow up

When the going gets tough, the tough get divorced. Consequently, many of American relationships are doing just that at alarming rates. The impact of deteriorating relationships is not only felt on an emotional level but on a financial level as well. Families and employers suffer from the emotional distraction and lost work hours. America has been wounded with the decline in a strong family value system not being instilled in today’s youth as it has been by previous generations. Therefore, not being fully committed to a relationship, mature enough to be open and honest, or determined to make sound decisions will increase the probability of a failed relationship.