Research Reminds Us Marriage Still Matters
A recent study from Barna reveals that fewer Americans are getting married today, but most still believe marriage is important and they want to get married someday.
According to Barna, only 46% of U.S. adults are currently married, down from two-thirds in 1950. The decline largely seems to be due to people waiting longer to marry. The average age for first marriage has risen since 1950. Men now marry at 30, on average, and women marry at age 28 – 29.
The good news is most unmarried adults still want to get married. Among Gen Z, 81% say they value marriage, and 78% hope to marry someday. So while cultural attitudes may be changing, marriage is a deeply desired goal for most Americans.
Barna also found that divorce rates have remained steady, with about 18% of adults reporting they’ve been divorced and more than half of divorced adults reporting that they have remarried.
One concerning trend is the growing acceptance of cohabitation. Barna noted that 58% of all adults—including 42% of practicing Christians—now say it’s “wise” to live together before marriage.
That’s troubling, because cohabitation creates relationships that are less happy and less healthy, and children with a married mother and father are less likely to live in poverty.
Married couples, on the other hand, report more satisfaction across the board than cohabiting couples, and marriage is also broadly connected with better health and wellbeing.
Family Council has written repeatedly about the rising percentage of Arkansans who have “never married.”
The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey found that 17% of men and 12.6% of women ages 35-44 had never married. By 2024, those percentages had increased to 25.6% of men and 18.7% of women.
Overall, married Arkansans dropped from 51% of the population in 2010 to 49.8% in 2024.
Cohabitation could be one explanation for the rising percentage of Arkansans who have never married, but the data isn’t clear.
Despite cultural changes, Americans—including young people—still believe marriage matters. That’s good news for Arkansas’ families and churches who understand that strong marriages are the key to building strong communities.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
Revisiting How Sports Betting Hurts Young Adults
There is evidence that mobile sports betting apps may use the same addictive technology as other tech platforms to hook people on gambling.
Young people are particularly vulnerable. Research shows that gambling is more addictive for college-aged individuals. Player prop bets let college students to engage in “micro-betting,” a more repetitive — and therefore more addictive — form of sports betting.
Twenty-year-old males account for approximately 40% of calls to gambling addiction hotlines, and upwards of 20 million men are in debt or have been in debt as a result of sports betting.
The numbers in Arkansas are alarming. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Arkansans wagered a staggering $655 million on sports betting last year. State tax revenue data shows that more than 90% of sports wagers are now placed through mobile apps.
Mobile betting has caused a wave of financial misery. One writer at The Atlantic described the impact as “a wave of financial and familial misery” for households that are least able to afford it. A UCLA study found that states with online sportsbooks saw credit scores decline three times as much as states with only physical betting locations.
Internet searches for gambling addiction help have skyrocketed. Researchers found a 35% increase in searches for gambling addiction terms in Illinois and a 37% increase in Michigan following the legalization of mobile sportsbooks.
Arkansas families are seeing the consequences. In 2024, the Arkansas Problem Gambling Council announced a 22% increase in calls for help with problem gambling — driven largely by sports betting.
Arkansas families need to understand that mobile sports betting isn’t harmless entertainment — it’s predatory technology that fosters addiction and hurts families and communities.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.