Impact Marilyn Manson, a self-proclaimed advo-
cate for individuality and self-expression, became
the symbol for all that is wrong with American cul-
ture during the mid- to late 1990’s, especially be-
cause of the band’s seeming promotion of violence,
drug abuse, and generally antisocial, anti-Christian
behavior.
Further Reading
Brackett, Nathan, and Christian Hoard, eds.The New
Rolling Stone Album Guide. 4th ed. New York: Si-
mon & Schuster, 2004.
Manson, Marilyn, and Neil Strauss.The Long Hard
Road out of Hell. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.
John P. Cr yderman
See also Alternative rock; Censorship; Columbine
massacre; Drug use; Love, Courtney; Music; Nine
Inch Nails; Religion and spirituality in the United
States; School violence; Wal-Mart.
Marriage and divorce
Definition Social institution under which two
people become legally united and the legal
dissolution thereof
Complex historical and social trends created significant
cultural changes since the 1960’s, establishing diverse fam-
ily and household compositions and unique challenges for
marriage in the 1990’s.
Until the 1960’s, the divorce and remarriage rates in
the United States changed jointly. As one increased
or decreased, so did the other. However, beginning
in the 1960’s, marriage, divorce, and remarriage pat-
terns changed dramatically. First marriage rates be-
gan to fall, and divorce rates rose. The remarriage
rate initially increased in response to the rising di-
vorce rate but ultimately declined. The divorce rate
remained relatively unchanged at high levels during
the 1970’s and 1980’s—dropping slightly at the end
of the second decade. First marriage rates and re-
marriage rates continued to decrease through the
1970’s and 1980’s. In the 1990’s, demographic indi-
cators pertaining to marriage and divorce stabilized
as compared to the previous two decades. Marriage
and remarriage rates continued a long-term de-
cline, but more gradually, and divorce rates dropped
slightly.
From 1990 to 2000, crude marriage rates (num-
ber of marriages per year per 1,000 population) de-
clined from 9.8 to 8.5. This modest decline could
suggest that individuals are simply marrying at later
ages than in earlier decades or choosing an alterna-
tive such as single parenting or cohabitation over
marriage. The low marriage rate during the mid-
1990’s was similar to rates experienced during the
Great Depression.
Age at marriage increased throughout the 1990’s.
In 1980, the median age of marriage was 24.7 for
men and 22.0 for women. By 1990, men married at a
median age of 26.1 and women at 23.9. By 2000, the
median age had risen to 26.7 for men and 25.1 for
women. Women often postponed marriage because
of economic and opportunity costs of early marriage
and child rearing, while men delayed marriage be-
cause of a more restricted pool of women to marry.
The crude divorce rate (number of divorces per
year per 1,000 population) peaked in the United
States at 5.3 in 1970 and 1983. Liberalizing divorce
laws and lessening social stigma associated with di-
vorce contributed to high rates of divorce. Addi-
tionally, as women’s economic opportunities im-
proved, divorce also increased because women
could be financially independent.
In 1990, the divorce rate stood at 4.7 and dropped
to 4.0 by 2000, still at one of the highest levels in the
industrialized world. Fewer marriages, resulting in
less opportunity for divorce, and older average age
at marriage contributed to the slight decline of the
divorce rate.
Lower marriage rates and increased childbearing
out of wedlock resulted in a decline in the growth of
family households (families maintained by married
couples or a man or woman living with other rela-
tives—children may or may not be present). Be-
tween 1980 and 1990, household growth rate slowed
from 1.7 million per year to 1.3 million per year and
dropped even further to 1.1 million in the 1990’s.
Postponement of marriage and lower remarriage
rates after divorce coupled with changing social
norms led to a larger percentage of births to unmar-
ried woman in the 1990’s than ever before reported.
Women spent less time in marriages, and thus the
opportunity for nonmarital childbearing increased.Social Issues While divorce, marriage, and remar-
riage trends are important indicators of marriage
and family change, throughout the 1990’s the emer-The Nineties in America Marriage and divorce 553