Marriage is showing ‘new strength’ in US, sociologist argues
August 14, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: W. Bradford Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia, argued in a recent article that “reports of marriage’s demise are exaggerated.”
“Rather quietly, the post-’60s family revolution appears to have ended,” Wilcox wrote. “Divorce is down and the share of children in two-parent families is up. Marriage as a social institution is showing new strength—even among groups that drifted away from the institution in the 20th century, including Black and working-class Americans.”
Wilcox added:
The rate of new marriages among prime-age adults, which hit a nadir during the pandemic, has risen in each of the three years of data since 2020. In 2023, the most recent year available, it was higher than in any year since 2008. At least some of this increase is a post-pandemic bounce, but the share of all prime-age adults who are married has also leveled off in the past few years, which suggests that the decades-long decline in the proportion of Americans who are married may have reached its low point.The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
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