The retrenchment of marriage: Results from marital status life tables for the United States, 1995

Marital status life tables were calculated using 1995 US rates of marriage, divorce, and mortality. Compared to figures for 1988, the proportion of pe rsons surviving to age 15 who ever marry remained fairly steady at about fi ve-sixths of all men and seven-eighths of all women. The average age at fir st marriage rose substantially: to 28.6 years for men and 26.6 years for wo men. The probability of a marriage ending in divorce changed little and was .437 for men and .425 for women. It is likely that no US period or cohort will ever have half of all marriages end in legal divorce, though the highe st cohort may reach 47 percent. Patterns of marriage and divorce observed s ince 1970 show the effect that cohabitation continues to have on the Americ an family, where it is delaying, but not replacing, marriage.