Marriages Trendsandcharacteristics S United States
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Scrims 2a DATA FRQM THE NATIONAL VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEM Numb.r 21 Marriages TrendsandCharacteristics s United States Analysis of national marriage data including trends over the past 100 years, recent changes, national estimates by age and sex, with special emphasis on more detailed sta- tistics by selected characteristics for 1967. Reprinted 1980 DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 81-1007 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Public Health Service Health Services and Mental Health Administration National Center for Health Statistics Rockville, Md. September 1971 NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS THEODORE D. WOOLSEY, Director PHILIP S. LAWRENCE, SC.D., Associate Director OSWALD K. SAGEN, Ph.D., Assktant Director for Health Statistics Devebpment WALT R. SIMMONS, M.A., Assistant Dizector for Research and Scientific Development JAMES E. KELLY, D.D.S., Dental Advisor EDWARD E. MINTY. Executive Officer ALICE HAYWOOD, Information Officer DIVISION OF VITAL STATISTICS ROBERT A. ISRAEL, MS., Director JOHN E. PATT3RSON, Assistant Director for Demographic Affairs ALICE M. HETZEL, Chiej Marriage and Divorce Statistics Branch Vital and Health Statistics-Series 21, No. 21 DHEW Publication No. (HSM) 72-1007 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 73-610283 CONTENTS Page Introduction ------------------ --------------------------- ------------- 1 National Trend --------------- -------------- -------------- ------- --.-.- 1 Numbers and Rates --------------------------- ---------------------- 1 Rates for the Eiigible Population ------------------------------------- 3 Median Age -------------------------------------------------------- 5 Married Population --------------- --y---- ------- -------------- ------ 6 Seasonal Variation ---------------------------------------------------- 6“ Geographic Variation -------------------------------------------------- 8 @mo~aphic Characteristics ------------------------------------------- 12 Lack ofNatfonal Data ---------------------------- ------------------- 12 Marriage-Registration Area ----------------------------------------- 12 National Estimates of Marriages by Age and Sex----------------------- 13 Changes During 1963-67 --------------------- ------------” ------- ------ 14 Modal Age---------------------------- ---------------------------- - 14 AgeofBrideby Age ofGroom ---------------------------------------- 15 Age-Sex-Specific Rates --------------------------- ------------------ 15 First Marriages and Remarriages ---------------------------- ---------- 17 Interracial Marriages -------- ----------------------- -------- ------- --- 19 List ofDetafled Tables --------------------------- ------------------ ---- 22 Appendix -General Notes --------------------------- ---------- --------- 32 Sources of Data ---------------------------- ------------------ ------ 32 Marriage Sample --------------- ---------------------- -------------- 32 “Not Stated” Cases --------------------- -------------- -------------- 33 Sampling Errors --------------------------- ------------------------ 33 ... Ill SYMBOLS Data not available ----------------------- --- Category not applicable ------------------ . Quantity zero------------------=-------- - Quantity more than Obutless than0,05---- 0.0 Figure doesnot meet standards of reliability or precision ------------------ * iv MARRIAGES: TRENDS AND CHARACTERISTICS Alice M. Hetzel and Marlene Cappetta, Division of Vital Statistics INTRODUCTION NATIONAL TREND This is an analysis of national trends in Numbers and Rates marriages over a period of 100 years, with special emphasis on changes and characteristics The annual number of marriages in the United in recent years. Crude rates for the period States has increased significantly since the end 1940-1967 are compared’ with rates for the “eli- of the Civil War. The number doubled between gible population.” 1867 and 1900 and more than doubled between Until the mid-1950’s the trend in the United 1900 and 1940. From 1940 to 1968 it increased States was toward earlier marriage and a nar- about 30 percent. The general upward progres- rowing of the age difference between bride and sion through the years has been largely the result groom at first marriage. From 1956 to 1967 of a growing population. there was a gradual though not continuous in- The marriage rate relating all marriages to crease in the median age at first marriage for total population has varied widely (figure 1). both men and women. Over the past 100 years it has fluctuated under National statistics for specific character- the influence of wars, changing economic con- istics of brides and grooms are not available ditions, the sex ratio of the marriageable popu- for the entire United Stktes but are shown lation, and the number of potential brides and for the marriage-re@ration area (MRA), com- grooms present in the general population. The prised of States with central files of marriage latter number depends primarily upon the size certificates and sufficiently complete and accu- of the birth cohorts that are the source of the rate reporting of demographic items on their young persons entering the prime marriage ages records to warrant collection, processing, and and upon any backlogs of marriage eligibles publication in the official United States annual that may buildup as a result of large numbers reports. Data from these States, along with data of postponed marriages. Such backlogs have from several other States on the verge of ad- been produced by wars and major economic mittance to the MRA, are the basis for the crises. national estimates of marriages by age and sex Characteristically, the marriage rate has shown in this report. risen at the outset of a, major war, declined The national estimates for 1967 showed more during the course of the conflict, and increased marriages occurring in ages 20-24 than in any sharply in the immediate postwar years. This other age group. This was true for both men and was the experience during World Wars I and women. In 1966 it was true only for men, as II and was probably true of the Civil War; age group 15-19 led all others in number of marriages for women. Marriage rates were highest at ages 20-24 years for women and %*UI H. Jacobson, Ph. D., .+?l=~i==. Mturiage and for ages 25-29 for men. Divorce, Rinehart and Company, Inc., New York, 1959. 1 t GL ofillll lltllll ollllll llllllfilflll, lltll, llrllll B&llltrlltltlfillllll ltaalflN1’tt’’U’’fl1”l” ~ 1870 1s00 1890 1900 1910 1930 1940 1950 ‘‘ ‘ld60w70 YEAR . 1970 Provisional data Figure 1. Marriage rate: Un i ted States, 1867-1970 Economic recessions and depressions generally rate plunged to a low of 7.9.,. probably wun=- have had an inhibiting effect- upon marriages as cedented in this country except perhap-s during have shifts in the age-distribution of the popu- the Civil War. 1 By 1934 the rate had more than lation resulting in a smaller proportion of the regained its predepression level and except for population at the young adult ages. a slight setback during the 1938 recession con- From 1867 to 1900, a period of reconstruc- tinued to increase through 1942. Just how much tion and rapid industrial and urban growth, of this upsurge was due to marriages post- the marriage rate was relatively stable, staying poned during the depression, how much to the within the bounds of 8.6 and 9.6 per 1,000 maturing of the large birth cohorts of 1910-25, population. 2 Early in the twentieth century the and how much to the onset of World War H marriage rate pushed upward, showing wider is not clear but undoubtedly all contributed. fluctuations at a higher level until the stock The impact of World War II is unparalleled market crash in 1929. During this period, which in the history of the marriage rate for the encompassed World War 1, the rate ranged United States. Just before and immediately after ,from 9.6 to 12.0. the United States’ entry into the warthemarriage During the 1930’s and ’40’s fluctuations in rate rose sharply as young men sought to avail the marriage rate became even more pronounced, themselves of the deferred status granted to In 1932, at the depth of the depression, the married men or simply to marry before leaving for overseas. From 1942 through 1944 the rate declined as active participation in the war in- ~J creased and more and more men were out of Estimates, based on incomplete data, publishcrl in the country. In 1945 the end of the war and the table 7 of National Office of Vi Lal Statistics, \’1/(11 Sfafisfics--Spc cltll Rrporfst vol. !27, No. 10, PP. 171 return of millions of men to civilian life precipi- and 172, Washington, D. C. , 1947. tated an upsurge in marriages. In 1946 the 2 marriage rate reached 16.4, an unprecedented opposite conditions prevailed immediately pre- and to date unsurpassed peak. By 1949 the rate ceding the wars. Just before World War II there had returned to the pre-World War 11 level, was a backlog of postponed marriages as a dropping as rapidly as it had climbed. This result of the depression. Also, in the 1940’s marked the end of 20 years of the most frequent there was a relatively large concentration of and pronounced fluctuations in the recorded young men and women, born before the rapid history of the United States marriage rate. decline in the birth rate, who were of ages The behavior of the marriage rate in the where marriages are most numerous. The Korean 1950’s and ‘60’s was quite distinct from that War, on the other hand, not “only followed the of earlier years. During this period, that was high marriage rates of the p&t-World