Research on Declining Marriage and Family Structures in America

This essay examines the declining marriage rates in the United States, exploring factors such as the rise of individualism, economic conditions, and changing social norms. It reviews literature discussing the 'retreat from marriage' and the impact of male unemployment on marriage rates. The research employs a positivist philosophy, deductive approach, and descriptive design, using surveys and quantitative data analysis to test the hypothesis that increasing individualism contributes to declining marriage rates. This assignment is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wealth of study resources including past papers and solved assignments to support students in their academic endeavors.

Running head: MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
Marriage and family
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
Introduction
Marriage is considered to be one of the social activities in which the adult population
indulges in. It is the legal tender through which two individuals are allowed to be with each other
and start a family (Raley, p. 89). This age old custom, however, has undergone a significant
change in the modern contemporary world. The individuals no longer believe in this aspect of
marriage in the sense that they are critical of the ‘legal’ nature of the social custom (Lundberg,
Pollak and Stearns, p. 80). This has led to a significant decline in the marriage rates of the
country.
Definition of the problem
The main purpose of this research proposal is to understand the issue of marriage and to
investigate the various reasons which has led to the decline in the marriage rates of the
individuals living in the United States of America.
Literature Review
In order to understand the issue of declining rates in marriages within the United States of
America, there is first a necessity to understand the various reason which were put forth by the
earlier scholars and authors. The analysis of such secondary sources of literature would help the
researcher to gain a comprehensive insight in to the research study under consideration.
The outlook towards the issues of marriages and families have undergone significant
changes in the present world order, especially within the United States of America. Autor, Dorn
and Hanson (2018), are of the view that there is the imposition of the idea of “retreat from
marriage” where there is significant emphasis on the ideas of non-marital child bearing. The

2MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
main reasons which have been attributed to the decline in the marriage rates within the country is
the related instability which is associated with marriages. In other words, the authors opines that
the entire issue of marriage occurs specifically with the purpose to rear children for the future
generation. However, often times, it can be observed that the couples themselves are
incompatible with one another and hence, their married lives falls apart. In this scenario, they
decide not to be married, but rather to live together as cohabited individuals where they would
stay together till they want to be with each other.
However, as argued by Lundberg, Pollak and Stearns (2016), it can be seen that the main
reason for the declining rates in marriages within the United States of America is that of the job
opportunities which is available in the economy. The author is of the idea that the unemployment
status of the male members of the society affects them more adversely than the unemployment
status of the women members of the community. In other words, it can be seen that it is believed
that it is the responsibility of the male members to look after their families and provide for them
(Ruggles, p. 1780). This requires them to work and earn a decent standard of living for their
family members.
Hypothesis
H0 – The marriage rates are declining in the United States of America because of the rise in the
support of the idea of individualism.
H1 - The marriage rates are not declining in the United States of America in spite of the rise in
the support of the idea of individualism

3MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
Research methodology
For the effective execution of this research, the researcher would adhere to a proper
research methodology. The research methodology would consist of a positivist research
philosophy, deductive research approach and descriptive research design. The positivist research
philosophy would provide the researcher with the opportunity to look at the entire research study
from a logical and objective point of view (Silverman). Furthermore, the deductive research
approach would enable the research to take in to consideration the various existing theories and
concepts as advocated by the previous scholars in the related field of study. The descriptive
research design would help the researcher to take in to account both the explanatory and
exploratory kind of researchers. In other words, it would provide the opportunity to the
researcher to understand the various reasons which leads to the declining rate of marriages
amongst the population of the United States of America. Furthermore, such reasons and their
consequences would also be explained.
The researcher would try to collect the data with the help of survey which would be
conducted with the aid of non-random probability sampling (Smith). This data would be
analyzed with the aid of quantitative data analysis technique. The use of figures and facts would
provide an objective outlook to the entire research study.

4MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
References:
Autor, David, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson. "When work disappears: Manufacturing decline
and the falling marriage-market value of young men." American Economic Review:
Insights (2018).
Lundberg, Shelly, Robert A. Pollak, and Jenna Stearns. "Family inequality: Diverging patterns in
marriage, cohabitation, and childbearing." Journal of Economic Perspectives 30.2 (2016): 79-
102.
Raley, R. Kelly, Megan M. Sweeney, and Danielle Wondra. "The growing racial and ethnic
divide in US marriage patterns." The Future of children/Center for the Future of Children, the
David and Lucile Packard Foundation 25.2 (2015): 89.
Ruggles, Steven. "Patriarchy, power, and pay: The transformation of American families, 1800–
2015." Demography 52.6 (2015): 1797-1823.
Silverman, David, ed. Qualitative research. Sage, 2016.
Smith, Jonathan A., ed. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage,
2015.