The importance of marriage has gradually changed over the past few decades. To some people, it is surprising how many people still get married in the decade. With the divorce rates today, it is risky to consider marrying when it is hard to know if it will last. Some may even say that life is better now without marriage. Why get married if you can live life to the fullest with cohabitation? It is normal to live with your partner and have kids outside of marriage. This is because the view on marriage has drastically changed. It is just less importance to some people now days. Many choose to live a life without the title of husband and wife. This is because today there is a need to keep life private from others. Marriage is the exact opposite of private, it is a union between two people. In this union, there is a need for absolute respect and commitment. There is no longer a need for marriage. It has now become a social status symbol. It shows how successful one is doing in their personal life. This does not make marriage less important, it just makes it important for other reasons. The importance of marriage can be shown by the affect it has on one’s health, wealth, and ability to raise children successfully. Marriage and health go hand in hand even more than the saying of “happy wife, happy life” (Jeff Allen). It shows that someone’s spouse can positively and negatively affect one’s physical and mental health. LIFE CHANCES are based on one’s right to preserve their health. It shows that they can achieve this with a healthy marriage. “Studies show that wives are 30 percent more likely to rate their health excellent or good than single women of the same age” (heritage.org). Women are also less likely to suffer from a chronic illness when married. Mortality rates are even less among married women. Same as women, “mortality rates are two-thirds as high among married men as among single men” (heritage.org). Suicide is also less likely to happen between married men and women. Men receive the most physical health benefits from marriage. They also unfortunately suffer the most from negative health issue in a result to divorce. With the emotional support from one’s husband, women have lower rates of depression than
God created marriage as a union between man and woman. A woman, while still having a mind of her own and control over her own life, is under the authority of her husband. This frightens some women, who fear oppression at the hands of their husbands. While it is true that some men abuse the system that God set up for man and woman, not all men act as such. The Bible states monogamy is what God laid down as a foundational law of marriage,
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.
In “For better, for worse: Marriage means something different now,” Stephanie Coontz reveals the worldwide changes in people’s attitudes and behaviors towards marriage. According to Coontz, education and the social norms are the reasons why marriage has become nonessential. Being single and going through a divorce are more acceptable now. The motivations of marriage have turned from economic dependence into personal willingness. In fact, Coontz’s words make me wonder the true meaning of marriage. Even though the meaning has changed over times, I believed that I still hope to get married.
In over half a century, marriage has transformed from being a social requirement to simply being an option in today’s society. What has caused this change? Many institutions in our society have changed drastically along with marriage. Although these institutions have not caused marriage to be optional, they do strongly correlate with the decreased value. The economy, education, religion, and government have all altered since the 1950s. When any institution encounters a change, all other institutions are affected. Family is a major institution in society, and I believe that marriage is an important aspect of this institution. Cohabitation, religion, women in the work world and divorce have all effected the way marriage is viewed today.
Our society is based on different institutions. These institutions were implemented to set rules for members of the society to be able to live together. Marriage is one of these institutions. People get engaged with one another to build a life together, but they rarely ask themselves an important question: What are the concrete impact of Quebec's rules and regulations associated with marriage on the couples that decide to get married? Why do so many people choose to be in a common-law relationship instead? This paper will explain why marriage, as a social institution, should be reformed because of the poor adequacy between the needs of today's families and the rules in place in term of commitment,
They say, “...married people have better health than those who are not married”(Essig and Owens 236). However they lack the facts to back up their statements. They use divorce as an example as to why marriage can cause health issues. The authors state, “...married and never married Americans are similar; it’s the divorced who seem to suffer”(Essig and Owens 236). The issue is that they write as if all marriages will end in divorce.
People today think that the primary purpose of marriage is to fulfill emotional needs. In the past, people married for practical reasons such as companionship or financial security. Today, Americans are likely to end a marriage when emotional needs are not being met. As an institution marriage has lost much of its legal, religious, and social meaning. (“rutgers.edu”) So how this breakdown of the American family influences individuals is a question of much concern.
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.
Marriage is a sacred union between two people who share love. For a long time, there has been a misconception about everything surrounding it. Whether it is the divorce rate, or the average happiness of married couples, many believe only the negative. Researchers often look only for the downside and forget to emphasize all the benefits marriage brings. In her book, The Good News About Marriage, Feldhanh discusses all of this and more in depth to bring to light the truth about marriage. Love is great and sharing a life with someone is something so special; therefore, it shouldn’t be looked down on based on misconceptions.
“Americans do not seem to be interested in a reality check on the topics of love and marriage. After all, it seems to be more fun to believe in fairy tales” (Hornblow). There is a large number of Americans who would get married at least once in their lives, without thinking of the importance of a marriage and the possibilities that could happen based on quick decisions. The true meaning to what marriage is, issues involving marriage, which causes the divorce rate to rise in the United States, and the importance of marriage, to what is being done to increase the chance of a happy long-lasting marriage. Marriages in the United States can be seen by the explanation of the effects of not being able to tackle problems, or being able to learn how to work through complex issues of everyday life as a married couple.
In the Charleston Heart Study (CHS), researchers attempted to discover the effect of one’s marital status, particularly divorced or separated, on his/her lifespan. To study this relationship, a cohort study consisting of 1,376 adults was conducted in a 41-year period from 1960 through 2000. Multiple factors were taken into consideration in this study such as each participants’ age, race, gender, marital status, BMI, blood pressure, and health to calculate his/her mortality rate, and information was updated frequently to ensure the accuracy of the study. By 2000, 74% of the participants had died with separated and divorced men displaying higher morbidity and mortality rates than separated and divorced women. People who remain divorced instead
Marriage in today’s society does not hold as much importance to people as it did in previous decades. From recent studies it has shown that the marriage rate has dropped from 90.2 percent in the 1950s to 31.1 percent in the present. As the marriage rate decreases and as time progresses, the less normal marriage is perceived to people and its traditions.
Marriage matters. If marriage did not matter, would it even be considered when growing up? The common child at some point thinks about getting married and having children. Our society has gone through monumental shifts throughout its history. A theme that has not changed however, marriage, has survived through it all due to its importance. Our children and our health are two of the most important aspects of life. Marriage will help in both of those categories. Children have better relationships with their parents because of marriage. Watching their parents, they grow up having better relationships themselves. Increased success in school has been noted. Families are more financially stable,
Today, the idea of marriage conjures images of bashful brides beautifully draped in all white, of grandiose flower arrangements climbing towards the ceiling, of romance personified. As an institution in this modern world, marriage represents the apex of romantic love, with an entire industry of magazines, movies, and television shows devoted to perpetuating marriage as an idealized symbol of the ultimate love between two people. Contrarily, as a sociological institution, marriage comes from much more clinical and impersonal origins, contrasting with the passion surrounding modern understandings of the institution. Notably, french anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss theorizes that the institution of marriage emerged from a need to form alliances between groups, with women functioning as the property exchanged so that such alliances could be solidified (Levi-Strauss).