• “THE MARRYING KIND:” WHICH MEN MARRY AND WHY
  • Challenging the popular stereotype of the marriagephobic male, findings from a new national survey of young heterosexual men, ages 25-34, indicate that while men are delaying marriage until older ages, most men are “the marrying kind.”
  • Among all men surveyed, those from traditional, religiously observant family backgrounds are more likely to be married, to seek marriage and to have positive views of marriage, women, and children than young males from nontraditional and nonreligiously observant family backgrounds.
  • Among the unmarried men surveyed, however, there is a small but significant subset of men who are personally averse to marriage.
  • Slightly more than two out of ten expressed strongly negative views about their own personal desire to marry as well as more negative attitudes toward marriage, women, and children. Compared to other unmarried men in the survey sample, they are significantly more likely to come from nontraditional and nonreligiously observant families. 
    • Timing of Marriage:  A large majority (81%) of married men agree with the statement that "you decided to marry because it was the right time in your life to settle down."
• SOCIAL INDICATORS OF MARITAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING
  • Our social indicators are based on decadal measures which are more reliable than year-by-year changes.
  • Overall, these decadal trends continue to reflect declines in marital health and wellbeing.
  • The most noteworthy changes this year are the continuing decline of the marriage rate accompanied by an increase in the number of cohabiting couples; a small increase in the percentage of children living in fragile families and born out of wedlock; and a sharp increase among teenage boys in their acceptance of unwed childbearing and a slight decrease in agreement among teenagers, especially girls, that “living together before getting married is a good idea.”
    

Download full report,  "The State of our Unions: The Social Health of Marriage in America." The National Marriage Project, Rutgers University, 2004