Marriage and Family in America: April 29th-May 3rd

This week in Family Relations our class discussed the importance of marriage and family. The rate is growing in men and women living alone, 31.7 million Americans live alone. Young adults are choosing to delay marriage and those who are married, many are getting divorced for simple issues. What happened to the need and the desire to find a companion and a help meet? Wouldn't most people want to share their life experiences with others and have someone by their side to love and encourage them? I would think so, but I am learning that much of the world has a completely different outlook on what is important. Recent trends in the world are: birth rates dropping, delaying marriage, unmarried births are increasing, cohabitation is increasing, abortion is increasing, employed mothers are increasing, living alone is increasing, divorce rate is increasing as well as pre-marital sex. Seems like one trend leads to or is connected to many other trends. It makes me wonder if people are living the term of Exchange Theory, which means, keeping costs lower than rewards. Are we afraid of the challenges marriages can bring? I think too many people do not realize the happiness a family can create. I know that everyone has different opinions on this issue, and people come from many different situations and backgrounds. So I do not want to offend anyone by my comments, these are just some questions and concerns I have with this issue.