Once this basic conception of marriage as an adult affair took hold, other cultural changes soon followed. As marriage ceases to be viewed as vital to children, single motherhood is elevated in status, no longer a family tragedy but just another personal option in a freedom-loving world. If a woman can t find Prince Charming and wants a baby and is ready, society should not dictate what is acceptable, one pastor told the Los Angeles Times. A majority of all Americans and 70 percent of young adults agree that women should have the right to bear a child out of wedlock without reproach. But as marriage comes to be viewed as primarily a subjective, emotional relation between two adults, the marriage bond begins to be described as just one of many equally valid lifestyle choices.
Marriage is demoted from a uniquely honored relation to just another relationship.
Differently The promise of permanence is key to marriage s transformative power. People who expect to be part of a couple for their entire lives unless something awful happens organize their lives differently from people who are less certain their relationship will last. Most married people describe their marriages as very happy. Almost no one 2 percent of the married men and 4 percent of the married women described their marriage as not too happy. Increases Salary In the United States, according to some estimates, getting a wife increases a man s salary by about as much as a college education.