While Baby Boomers may gripe about entitled Millennials and the participation trophies they handed them, studies show the younger generation may be better at life.
They work harder.
They’re more optimistic.
They’re better educated.
They give back more to their communities.
They had way less teenage pregnancies.
And, unlike their parents, they don’t get divorced.
According to an analysis by University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen, the U.S. divorce rate dropped 18% from 2008 to 2016. Cohen’s calculations are based on the ratio of divorces to the total number of married women.
The study suggests that marriages today have a greater chance of lasting than they did ten years ago. So, to put it bluntly, Generation X and Millennials are much better at marriage than their Baby Boomer parents.
“The change among young people is particularly striking,” Susan Brown, a sociology professor at Bowling Green State University, said of Cohen’s results. “The characteristics of young married couples today signal a sustained decline [in divorce rates] in the coming years.”
The lowering divorce rate also tracks another trend in American life: fewer people getting married.
“One of the reasons for the decline is that the married population is getting older and more highly educated,” Cohen said. “Marriage is more and more an achievement of status, rather than something that people do regardless of how they’re doing.”
A poll by Gallup found that young people still believe that marriage is important, but are waiting to walk down the aisle for reasons that include: finding the right person, feeling ready/old enough, and being financially stable.
According to sociologist Nicholas Wolfinger, couples who get married between 25 and 34 have the best chance of sticking together.
So while Millennials may get accused of killing everything from yogurt to diamonds, they’re not killing each other in divorce court as much as their parents did.
