The Pew Research Center has just released interesting social and demographic findings about remarriage. The article, Four-in-Ten Couples are Saying “I Do,” Again http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/11/14/four-in-ten-couples-are-saying-i-do-again/ struck me as not all that surprising. As a multiple marrier (someone who has been married three times or more), I immediately honed in on the stats in the study to validate my assumptions about how many of these people had been married before. (Actually, five percent of the U.S. population are multiple marriers.)
Sure enough, at least one partner in the marriages in this study had been married before, and in two out of 10 of these marriages, both people had walked down the aisle before. Of “Three-Timers” in the 55-and-older age group, 33 percent are multiple marriers, as are 25 percent of "Three-Timers" between the ages of 45 and 54. Since newly married adults under the age of 45 were much less likely to be entering into their third marriage, could that mean that younger people are "getting marriage right" earlier?
The study also noted that 9 percent of high school diploma-holders were likely to be saying their wedding vows for the third time, versus 5 percent of people with a bachelor's degree. Almost double!
Pew Research states that since people are living longer, there is a higher likelihood that we will become widowed or divorced during our lifetime, which may translate into more scenarios for marital re-coupling. So, although multiple marriage seems to be on the decline because people wait later to get married or choose not to get married, more adults are remarrying…even if for the second time around.
It surely will be fascinating to watch remarriage trends in the future…for better or for worse.