Family (PATTERNS)
Why increased divorce rates
- legal changes (easier, equal, wider grounds)
- less stigma
- secularisation (decline in religion)
- higher, unrealistic expectations of marriage (social media and movies)
- womans financial independence
How many marriages end in divorce
40%
Why declined marriage rates
- changing attitudes
- alternatives to marriage (cohabitation)
- womans economic independence
- impact of feminism (marriage patriarchal)
- rising divorce rates
More trends within marriage trends
- serial monogamy (one to another)
- later marriages
- fewer church weddings (secularisation)
Partnerships
- more people living together without marriage (secularisation, stigma, cost)
- increase in same sex (secularisation and stigma)
- more living alone (life expectancy and stigma)
Childbearing
- children born outside of marriage
- women having children later
- radical feminists unhappy with women still being main caregivers