Marriage again

Last Friday I showed a graph depicting the increasing age at marriage. The interesting aspect of this trend is that it means that we are delaying an event that nearly everyone looks forward to. Typically we like to “eat dessert first” so to speak, so this is a bit of a departure from the norm. For a minority of folks, gays outside of Massachusetts and California, perhaps legal constraints account for the delay, but for most this isn’t a good explanation.

Up to a point, delayed marriage is wise. Waiting until age 21 substantially decreases the chances of divorce.After age 21, delays don't do much to reduce the risk of divorce, but the median age at marriage is over 27 for men and over 25 for women. So, why wait 4-6 years after age 21?

Could it be that we actually value something else more than marriage? Or is it just that we’d like to marry, but the right person hasn’t appeared….yet.