The Want for Gaucho Pants: Current Trends in Marriage and Family Relations

I can recall my first day of the seventh grade, walking through Highland Jr. High School’s triangular courtyard, observing my classmates’ first-day-of-school outfits. One outfit sticks out in my memory, and it was a fashionable girl wearing a pair of brown gaucho pants, a tight camisole, and a sequined shrug over her shoulders. I immediately thought, “I need those pants.”

Yikes.

Much like trends have been observed in fashion, trends have been observed in patterns of marriage and family relations. Listed below are the nine current trends in America observed by researchers in the field of Marriage and Family Relations. For the sake of simplicity, I have forgone listing the statistics of each trend, but these statistics can be found in the source at the end of this post.

In no particular order:

• Premarital sex has increased
• Babies born to unwed mothers has increased
• Adults living alone have increased
• Cohabiting (unwed couples living together) has increased
• Average age of marriage for men and women has increased
• The number of Stay-At-Home Moms has decreased
• Birth rates have decreased
• The number of divorces has increased
• The average household size has decreased

In examining each of these trends, I found one principle that I would like to offer as a foundation from which decisions can be made in marriage and family relations. That is, that trends should be addressed if they worsen the life of a child. I understand that defining what “worsens” the life of a child is subjective. However, most people agree on what hurts a child versus what strengthens them.

I’m not stating this principle for the well-being of the child alone, but for the implications a child’s well-being has for the future as a whole. The effects that several of the current trends in marriage and family relations have on children are changing our future. Take for instance, the increase in children born to unwed mothers. Numerous studies have been done in which conclusions show that grown children of single mothers lack in education, economic standing, and emotional/mental health compared to grown children raised by two parents that were married. It's been projected that increasing the number of children born to unwed mothers also increases the future percentage of adults that are less educated, less wealthy, and less mentally/emotionally healthy. Do you agree?

I knew at thirteen years old that avoiding comparison and saving money were more important than gaucho pants. Now, I understand that the principles I choose to believe affect my behavior. In regards to the current trends in marriage and family relations, I think the negative effects our generation’s decisions have on our children today are changing the future in ways that are not desirable. For that reason, I feel we should change the current leading trends.

What principles do you use to decide what’s important, or unimportant, in marriage and family trends?

Which trends do you feel should be addressed? Which trends do you feel should be continued?


Source: Marriage & Family: The Quest for Intimacy, Robert H. Lauer and Jeanette C. Lauer (2012)