Sue Shellenbarger had a great article in the Wall Street Journal last week about the changing demographics of and attitudes about marriage:
Remember the movie "Love Story" and its star-crossed student lovers? Such torrid campus romances may be becoming a thing of the past. College life has become so competitive, and students so focused on careers, that many aren't looking for spouses anymore.
Replacing college as the top marital hunting ground is the office. Only 14% of people who are married or in a relationship say they met their partners in school or college, says a 2006 Harris Interactive study of 2,985 adults; 18% met at work. That's a reversal from 15 years ago, when 23% of married couples reported meeting in school or college and only 15% cited work, according to a 1992 study of 3,432 adults by the University of Chicago.
Shellenbarger points to a number of factors behind this shift, including that young people are increasingly delaying marriage in general, but focuses mainly on the effects of the pressure to obtain a graduate degree or otherwise climb the corporate latter quickly:
Also at work is "credential inflation" -- an increase in the qualifications required for many skilled jobs, says Janet Lever, a sociology professor at California State University, Los Angeles. Many young adults want the flexibility to relocate freely and immerse themselves in new work and educational opportunities before making room for marriage and family. As a result, students favor "light relationships that aren't going to compromise where they go to grad school or which job they take," she says.
Cody Cheetham, 22, a Purdue senior, is looking for a marketing job after she graduates in May and plans on getting an MBA. "A lot of us don't even know where we're going to be living six months after we graduate," she says. "We don't want to bring another person into the chaos of our lives."
That last point often goes unnoticed, but I think Shellenbarger is right on. It meshes nicely with the student interviews from Unhooked. The sad truth is that many young men and women view a committed relationship as a distraction to their academic and professional goals.
More here.
3 Comments
Jessica | February 4, 2008, 10:12pm | #
This issue hits very close to home, as I just got engaged and will be graduating next May. Since it seems as though every profession wants me to have a graduate degree, I must compromise with my fiance about location, etc. while he too will be looking for work. Most of my peers take the easier single route, and even my family sees my committed relationship as a hinderance to my career. When did work so fully eclipse family?
Hannah | February 7, 2008, 3:39pm | #
The hookup campus culture is antithetical to dating-toward-marriage. Marxist and Gender Revisionist faculty & administrators eagerly foster the hookup culture and the anti-marriage ethos.
How absurd to see you blame late marriage on rigorous academic standards and "competition." Where can one find these? On which undergraduate campus in 2008?
Earnest students must scour the faculty to find professors interested in traditional standards and un-politicized curricula. It is easier than ever for students to earn high grades while learning nothing, and easier than ever to win "academic" awards for volunteer work in non-academic settings.
LP | February 10, 2008, 10:58am | #
Oh my gosh! They found something else to do other than look for spouses at college! SCANDALOUS! Give me a break. I'm actually glad that people go to college to learn things instead of going for the sole purpose of finding a husband/wife. Not to say it doesn't happen still, but it seems to me that people are saying "Wow, family/children aren't everything". And that can actually be a good thing.
In a crappy economy like ours, you're pretty much worth nothing (unless you go into manufacturing, union jobs, etc) unless you have at least a bachelor's degree. Now more companies are looking for master's degrees and experience when looking at applications/resumes. Who the heck cares if there's no time for spouse-hunting? If anything, it's almost impossible for two spouses not to have jobs in today's economy.
So while you're pursuing a degree, why not have some no-strings-attached relationships along with traveling/living/working in a foreign country? If you really know yourself and you want to do it, you can handle it and whatever consequences that may arise. Nothing is better than putting yourself outside your comfort zone. Plus, you don't have to have the whole guy/chick to drag along with you wherever you go. You can experience true freedom.