Traditional views on marriage, divorce and children

A recent survey from America has found that, despite growing up in an era of celebrity marriages and widespread divorce, today's young people are remarkably traditional about their expectations for love, marriage and children.

The Clark University Poll of Emerging Adults found that 86% of 18 to 29-year-olds surveyed nationwide expect to have a marriage that will last a lifetime. A further 73% believe that couples should be married before having a child.

Clark psychology professor Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, who directed the poll, commented:

“It’s striking to see how optimistic today’s emerging adults are about their prospects for having a life-long marriage. They grow up knowing that half of marriages end in divorce, yet nearly all of them expect to be in the half that doesn’t.”

One noteworthy way emerging adults are not traditional, however, is in how they prioritise family goals over career goals: 61% expect they will give up some of their career goals in order to have the family life they want. Surprisingly, young men are as likely as young women to have these expectations.

“That’s a lot different from the past. Traditionally, women have been far more likely to sacrifice career goals for family. These new findings suggest that this may change in the new generation of emerging adults to a more equal sharing of family responsibilities,” said Arnett.