Some Basic Background 15
true that folks who are currently married report slightly higher
levels of happiness than do single people.
Being married vs. staying single. A recurring theme throughout
this book is that marriage-wise, the times they truly are “a chang-
ing.” In the 1950s, married couples made up 80 percent of the
country’s households. Today they account for just over 50 percent
and, according to the Census Bureau, singles are poised to take
the lead soon. So what gives? Divorce, which is how about half
of all marriages end, unquestionably plays a big part. And people
are marrying later—or just not marrying at all. Nearly a quarter
of the population older than 35 is divorced or has never married.
That’s an increase of 16 percent in just the past decade.
Marriage still has plenty of plusses. Medical studies have con-
sistently shown that married people live longer than singles and
are generally healthier throughout those extra years. Married folks
also have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, cancer, stress,
respiratory disease, and mental illness. Married couples also stash
more cash. Surveys indicate that only 27 percent of single folks feel
financially secure. Married folks, on the other hand, have been
shown to accumulate fully 93 percent more money and assets over
a fifteen-year period than either single or divorced people.
One basic bottom line bonus of marriage is that it almost
always results in a healthier overall lifestyle both financially and
physically. Married folks are less likely to smoke or drink heavily
and have lower rates of all types of mental illness, suicide, and
depression. Simply put, having a spouse who scolds you about
smoking or is around to monitor your mood swings is a definite
help when it comes to preventing cancer and depression. And
needless to say, if you aren’t regularly diving back into the dating
pool, you decidedly lessen your likelihood of contracting sexually
transmitted diseases.
What about divorce rates? Statistically speaking, about one-half of
all marriages in the United States now end in divorce. As indicated
earlier, America’s divorce rate really went wild in the seventies and
eighties. Since 1970 the divorce rate has doubled, and now more
than 1.2 million couples break up each year. Various estimates indi-
cate that between fifty million and one hundred million people
have now passed through the divorce process in America.