Jessica Megerian
Readings 9&10 Summary

Reading 9
In reading 9, it is made that clear that no matter what our generation thinks, marriage is not something that has faded away. People still marry, and the desire to do so is widespread. Marriage is something that is still viewed as meaningful, however some aspects of it have definitely changed throughout time. One thing that has changed is the age of marriage. People now tend to get married later than they used to, meaning the median age of marriage has gone up. Unlike before, unmarried adults now are preoccupied with school, and a good percentage lives independently. Cohabitation is also something that is much more common now than any time before. 40 percent of births are to cohabitating couples. This reading also talks about race being involved with statistics. It says that 69% of children born to African Americans are outside of marriage. It also mentions how Hispanic people have higher birth rates than any other race. Though many people think that the culture of poverty had diminished the value of marriage that is simply not true. Marriage is something that has still remained strong for lower class families. According to the book, “marriage is more prevalent in the United States than in nearly all other developed Western nations.” It also a strong ideal here, since only ten percent of Americans agreed that marriage is outdated in a survey done between 1999-2001. However, United States has a total divorce rate of 517 per 1,000 marriages, making it the highest.
Reading 10
In reading 10, it tells us that despite the high divorce rate, America still has the highest marriage rates among all other developed countries. It is estimated that 90 percent of Americans will marry.