The USA Today says that Millennials are more cautious about getting married and starting families than previous generations.
According to the USA Today, “The average age of first marriage is now almost 26 for women and 28 for men. And a growing percentage of Americans aren’t marrying at all: Provisional federal statistics released Tuesday report 7.1 marriages per 1,000 people in 2008, down from 10 per 1,000 in 1986.”
But caution doesn’t mean that Millennials don’t want to start families. In fact, two of my favorite Millennials are starting families as we speak.
The first is my brother.
(That’s him in the picture above. That’s Maya, his fiancé, next to him. I’ve always wanted a sister, and I’m pretty much obsessed with her being mine.)
The second is Morgan.
(That’s her with baby Shilah, the most beautiful baby I have ever seen, and to be honest the first baby I’ve ever liked.)
And even though Millennials may be cautious about starting a family, they are still confident that they can make it work.
In fact, 82 percent of Millennials think they will be married for life, which is you look at today’s divorce rate is clearly idealistic. But Millennials always have been idealistic, and for Millennials caution in starting a family does not equal disinterest. Millennials definitely want to start families, just on their own time.
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Mazel Tov to Michael & Maya; they are a BEAUTIFUL couple and to baby Shilah as well.
Congrats to Michael and Maya! Congrats to Jon and Morgan!
I’m Gen X and I think I will be married for life. Which is funny, because I am a married to an also Gen X-er so we are both pretty cynical. But we still think it will work out.
Actually the study I posted was from a survey of 18-30 year olds, so you and Ryan still fit in there!
Cusp babies.
I think that just goes to show you, no matter how crazy the world gets and how much it changes, humans, no matter what age, always want to be loved and to love.
Totally agree. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
At Albing International Marketing (AIM), we are just about to publish a groundbreaking study about Millennials and their homes for the home furnishings industry. In our research, we found that among Early Millennials (age 20-29) only 8% “never plan to have children” and only 11% “don’t really care if (they) ever have children.” Eighty-two percent either have children now or plan to have them in the next ten years. Despite having better educations and higher levels of sophistication than preceding generations, Millennials maintain strong traditional values when it comes to home and family.
For more information, see http://www.albing.com/blog.php.