Millennials saving marriage

You’ve heard that Millennials balk at buying houses or getting drivers licenses. Now comes news that the Millennial generation is reversing another trend of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations — they aren’t getting divorced nearly as much.

Surprising new research from the University of Maryland revealed that the U.S. divorce rate plummeted about 18 percent between 2008 and 2016. And the researchers give the credit for that decline to Millennials who are getting married later in life and staying married.

The sociology professor behind the study said he expects the divorce rate to continue declining as this generation matures and their parents and grandparents age.

The divorce rate for those parents and grandparents, by the way, is accelerating, according to Bowling Green State University’s Center for Family and Marriage Research. The divorce rate doubled between 1990 and 2015 for people 55-64. For people older than 65? It tripled.

Asked to explain the longevity of Millennial marriages, the researchers pointed to the fact that fewer of them are getting married at all. And Millennials are getting married later in life — in 2017, the average age for first marriages was at an all-time high at 27.4 for women and 29.5 for men — after they have gotten an education and become more financially stable.

Many have theorized that Millennials are taking a much different approach to marriage than previous generations, viewing it less as social or financial necessity. Instead, Millennials see marriage as an option and hold out for better suited partners at more opportune times.

So maybe today’s 20- and 30-somethings learned something from the marriage mistakes of their Gen X and Boomer family members. If it wasn’t what it may have been what after you say I do.