“Examine the reasons for changes in the patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years.” Essay

The patterns of pairing, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 old age has varied quite signifi flush toilettly. In 1972, the highest ever effect of corresponds (480,000) since the Second human being War got married. Now, obviously there is a reason for this.According to the bunk for National Statistics (ONS), this was due to the baby boom generation of the 1950s make conjugal unionable age and these state choosing to marry at a younger age comp argond with previous generations.However, after this period, the number of conglutinations in England and Wales because went into decline. some recently, marriages reached an all- cartridge holder low in 2005 when only 244,710 couples got married. Some heap would adduce that it reached so low because people argon rejecting marriage and atomic number 18 no longer bothered about it. But in fact, statistics reveal that numerous people are actually custodying marriage. It is said that near people testament marry at some p oint in their livelys, but people are deciding to marry later in life, most believably after a period of cohabitation.A reason for this is probably because couples wishing to Test the water before they make any commitments. Evidence to concord the marrying later in life view is that the average age for first-time bridge over in 2003 was 29 years and for all grooms 31 years, compared with 22 for women and 24 for men in 1971. In mappingicular women may want to delay marriage so they can advance their career prospects. As hygienic as a decline in the total number of marriages, there is also a decline in marriage rates (the number of people marrying per 1000 of the population aged 16 and over). In 1994, the marriage rate was 11.4 but this had declined to 10.3 by 2004.The male rate declined from 36.3 in 1994 to 27.8 in 2004 whilst the female rate declined from 30.6 to 24.6. Once again, even though there is a decline, British Social Attitude Surveys indicate that most people, whe ther single, divorced or cohabitating, still see marriage as a desirable life-goal, and accordingly will most likely will get married at some point in the future, particularly if they are having children, because they gestate that this is surmount d wholeness in the context of marriage.Another change in the patterns of marriage is that two fifths of all marriages are remarriages, in which one or both teammates have been divorced. These people are obviously committed to the institution of marriage despite their previous negative experience of it. The reason for this tr can could maybe because their first marriages were empty-shell marriages.This is where there is no love or intimacy betwixt them, but the marriage persists for the sake of the children until they are old enough. They then office have wanted to start a new life, including a re-marriage. contempt the decrease in the overall number of people marrying, married couples are still the main theatrical role of partners hip for men and women in the UK. In 2005, seven in ten families were headed by a married couple.In terms of Divorce the legal ending of a marriage, this has increased rapidly since 1969 due to a turn of legislation that granted divorce on the basis of irretrievable breakdown the Divorce Reform Act of 1969. In addition, since 1984, couples have been able to petition for divorce after the first anniversary of their marriage.This law made the Divorce rate shoot high because it broadly made it easier and cheaper to end marriages. In addition, people were final examly able to lawfully to end all connections, as previously when divorce was either also expensive or difficult to obtain, separation was very common, which was when a couple decided to live away from each other.To go into more power point of the trend of increased divorces, in 1993, the number of divorces peaked at 180,000. By 2000, this figure had fallen to 154,000, although the years 2001 2004 have seen a gradual m ounting to 167,100. There are now nearly half as more divorces as marriages and, if present trends continue, about 40% of current marriages will end in divorce.An acceptable reason for this increasing trend of divorce is that it is no longer associated with stigma and shame. Britains culture is based upon Christian religion, and Christians believe that marriage is for life (till death do us part). However, over years, changes in attitudes and secularisation have emerged, and the view that divorce can lead to greater happiness for the individual is more acceptable.A trio reason which could explain the increasing divorce rates is down to women lacking to improve educational and career opportunities. In 1870, the Education Act passed by Gladstones government meant that every child between the ages of quintette and fifteen had the opportunity for elementary education.Not only did this produce a large literate generation of people, but it also improved the girls indication and writi ng ability, which previously was much lower than boys. Now, women have their own abiding careers with a good wage, and thus do not have to be unhappily married because they are financially dependent on their husband. Feminists railway line that womens expectations of marriage have radically changed, compared with previous generations. In the 1990s, most divorce petitions were baffle forward by women.This may support Thornes and Collards (1979) view that women expect far more from marriage than men and, in particular, that they value friendship and emotional gratification more than then do. If husbands go wrong to love up to these expectations, women may feel the need to look elsewhere. This would also support the fact that, on average, the number of divorce proceedings started by women is about 70%. Finally, functionalist sociologists argue that high divorce rates are evidence that marriage is increasingly valued and that people are demanding high standards from their partners. They believe that couples are no longer prepared to put up with unhappy, empty-shell marriages, as people want emotional and sexual compatibility and equality, as hygienic as companionship. It is said that some are even willing to go through a number of partners to achieve these goals, and if they marry every time they meet a new partner, then obviously they are expiry to contribute a lot more to the rising divorce rates.The final area of the diverse family is cohabitation. The basic trend of cohabitation is that it is on the increase and has been for the delay decade. The proportion of non-married people cohabiting has risen sharply in the last 20 years from 11% of men and 13% of women in 1986 to 24% and 25% respectively. In 2007, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested that cohabiting couples are the fastest growing family shell in the UK. In fact, about 2.2 million families are cohabiting couples with or without children.This family type has grown by 65% since 199 7, and really, the numbers are likely to be higher than this because the ONS information did not include same-sex couples living together. In addition, the ONS data suggested that a third of teenagers in 2007 were destined to cohabit rather than marry, compared with one in ten of their grandparents. As we gathered that the general trend is on the increase, its good to know the reasons why.One of the first reasons, which I mentioned before on, is that people like to cohabit to test the water. During this period, they will assess whether they (the couple) are compatible with each other and whether they will be able to live with each other before making any sort of commitments. aft(prenominal) all, cohabitation on average lasts for 5 years, which then 60% of cohabitees will then marry.Another reason for the said trend is that there are a significant number of people who live together whilst waiting for a divorce. For example, in 2005, 23% of cohabiting men were separated from a perv ious partner whilst 36% were divorced. So although a person may be married, they may have separated and moved into another house to live with a person they have met. They will then be counted as a cohabitee. A third reason for the increased rate of cohabitation could be because people are put off the cost of marriage.According to Wedding calculate UK, the average cost of a traditional wedding in the UK is around 11,000. In addition to the price, some people are also put off because of the religious ceremony of marriage. This is because overtime we have become a more secular society. Both of these factors to some people will pause them from marrying, because in their eyes they see it as long as they are with each other in a happy and loving relationship, they beginnert need a ring or a piece of paper with their names on it.