Author: Robby Berman / Source: Big Think
- High levels of Millennial student loan debt is slowing down marriage.
- Half of millennials are still single at 34, while nearly 70% of boomers were married by their mid-30s.
- New report explains the connection between debt and marriage.
National student debt in the U.
S. currently stands at a stunning $1.4 trillion, with half of all first-time, full-time students owing money. Only the country’s homeowners have a greater amount of debt. Entering the job market burdened by the continual drain on income of paying off a student loan affects salary considerations and ultimately lowers the quality of life for those in debt. It also, according to a just-published report, looks to be affecting the age at which people, especially millennials, feel their lives have finally stabilized enough to get married. And there’s an interesting upside to marrying later: The divorce rate is dropping.The new study
‘The Changing Nature of the Association Between Student Loan Debt and Marital Behavior in Young Adulthood‘, published in Journal of Family and Economic Issues, compares statistics relating to two populations, gathered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY). The two cohorts are:
- NLSY79 surveyed people who were born from 1957 to 1965, and who were first interviewed in 1979.
- NLS97 surveyed people born between 1980 to 1984 and first interviewed in 1997.
Fenaba Addo of the University of Wisconsin Madison led the study and analyzed the NLSY data of boomers and millennials, who were demographically similar except for their ages.
Say “I do,” or “don’t”
Our attitudes about marriage and its purpose are no doubt one part of the reason. For the NLSY79 group, getting married was simply the next relationship step after meeting and falling in love. Marriage for millennials is more of a maybe-yes/maybe-no decision, a reflection of each partner’s current goals and position in life. As sociologist Philip Cohen says, “Marriage is more and more an achievement of status, rather than something that people do…
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