They point, for example, to a growing emphasis on the primacy of individual fulfillment in any relationship, and to an all-pervasive consumer culture that stresses immediate gratification over satisfaction reached through hard work and commitment. Although I hate to make sweeping generalizations, we seem to be more and more comfortable over time with impermanence. If something doesn't contribute to our individual growth, then we leave it. Our threshold has somehow changed. Ms. Smock and others also point out that for young couples today, marriage can be a terrifying prospect.
Many young adults are the products of marriages that ended in divorce.
It's one where there's an interdependency that holds people together in those inevitable hard times. Sociologists aren't the only ones thinking hard about marriage. Individuals like Dianne are rethinking it, too. After giving birth to a son seven months ago, she has decided she's ready to marry again and is making plans to wed her boyfriend in September. I know it's going to work.