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- Marriage looks a lot different today than it did 30 or 60 years ago.
- For example, millennials are more open to interracial and interfaith relationships and less likely to have sex outside of marriage.
- We rounded up the biggest differences between the way millennials and their predecessors approach marriage.
The institution of marriage is constantly evolving.
Couples who get hitched today create a partnership that looks totally different from their parents’ and grandparents’ — from their wedding to their commitment to monogamy.
Below, Business Insider has collected some of the starkest contrasts between the way millennials and their predecessors approach married life. Just imagine how different marriage will look in another 30 years.
Millennials are more accepting of premarital sex …
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A 2015 study, published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, found that millennials are the generation most accepting of pre-marital sex.
In the 1970s, just 29% of American adults believed premarital sex among adults was “not wrong at all.” That number increased to 42% in the 1980s, 49% in the 2000s, and 58% between 2010 and 2012.
… but they’re waiting longer to have it
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Meanwhile, a 2016 study, also published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, found that millennials have had fewer sexual partners than previous generations.
As Business Insider’s Chloe Pantazi reported, results showed 15% of millennials aged 20 – 24 said they had no sexual partners since turning 18. When people born in the 1960s were ages 20 – 24, just 6% said they hadn’t had sex.
Dr. Helen Fisher, an anthropologist and the Chief Scientific Advisor to Match.com, told Pantazi this is possibly because millennials are more ambitious in their careers and more cautious about starting relationships.
They’re starting relationships online, and those marriages may be stronger and happier
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At least one-third of couples meet online. Dating sites and apps are especially popular among younger generations of Americans.
And a growing body of research suggests those who connect through online-dating services go on to have happier marriages, and are less likely to divorce.
For example, a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012 looked at about 19,000 people who married between 2005 and 2012. People who met their spouse online said their marriage was more satisfying than those who met their spouse offline. Plus, marriages that began online were less likely to end in separation or divorce.
(That study was funded by eHarmony.com, but one of the study authors told MarketWatch that it was overseen by independent statisticians.)
It seems likely that people who register for online dating are more interested in a serious relationship — not that online dating directly causes relationships to be stronger.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
