{"id":96955,"date":"2016-03-30T10:10:10","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T14:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=96955"},"modified":"2016-03-30T10:10:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T14:10:10","slug":"what-we-have-come-to-millennials-embracing-starter-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2016\/03\/what-we-have-come-to-millennials-embracing-starter-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Have Come To: Millennials Embracing “Starter Marriage”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Grim stuff:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Whether they call it a \u201cstarter\u201d marriage, \u201cbeta\u201d marriage or \u201ctest\u201d marriage, the 25- to 35-year-old generation has a far more elastic definition of the concept of \u201cforever.\u201d<\/p>\n

How elastic? A recent study found that 43 percent of millennials supported a form of marriage that allowed couples to easily split up after two years, while a full third were open to \u201cmarriage licenses\u201d valid \u2014 like mortgages \u2014 for set periods of time. It\u2019s an impressive figure, especially when you consider just a third of respondents still believe that marriage is \u201ctill death do us part.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s going on here? Have social media and dating apps killed off marriage? Or has digital culture \u2014 if not hook-up culture \u2014 so spoiled young people for choice that they\u2019re simply unable to settle down? With same-sex marriage now legal, has making marriage more inclusive eroded its traditional sense of exclusivity? Or are millennials merely early-adopting a future where marriage is unnecessary?<\/p>\n

Part of the problem is role models. Just 26 percent of millennials are married, according to a landmark Pew Center report, compared to 36 percent of Gen X-ers 20 years ago \u2014 and 48 percent of boomers back in 1980. Millennials are also among the least religious Americans ever \u2014 with a full third unaffiliated with any single faith.<\/p>\n

In fact, a lack of faith is, perhaps, the most defining millennial characteristic: Just 19 percent of them believe that most people can be trusted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo: Pixabay<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grim stuff:\u00a0 Whether they call it a \u201cstarter\u201d marriage, \u201cbeta\u201d marriage or \u201ctest\u201d marriage, the 25- to 35-year-old generation has a far more elastic definition of the concept of \u201cforever.\u201d How elastic? A recent study found that 43 percent of millennials supported a form of marriage that allowed couples to easily split up after two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":96961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat We Have Come To: Millennials Embracing "Starter Marriage"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Grim stuff:\u00a0 Whether they call it a \u201cstarter\u201d marriage, \u201cbeta\u201d marriage or \u201ctest\u201d marriage, the 25- to 35-year-old generation has a far more elastic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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