Four in 10 say marriage is becoming obsolete

[armeck]

Hm, well here is my view on the whole matter. I do believe in marriage, but you better make sure it's the right person, the person you want to be with forever, before you marry them. If you don't that could lead to a lot of problems later on. I'm of the belief you don't fully know a person until you live with them for example. Living like a family or a married couple before actually getting married can show you what your future may be like. Meanwhile this article seems to be mixing marriage with family which is kind of different as everyone else has already mentioned.

AMEN!

[Nate]

we have many people who are the result of families with split time between parents, or time with only one parent in the household, or step-parents or other conditions. Even among the "traditional" families, there are always those where one spouse dies during the raising of children or is forced to leave on military duty or work related activities. Many of these children do not wish to live their lives saying "My life is lacking because of what fate has cast upon my family." Instead, they choose to redefine the concept of family in a more liberal manner, expanding it to contain their circumstance and other views.

Pascal, many times you post things that make me go "wut" or facepalm, but I want to say this. This right here, I agree with 100%. That is the best way of explaining it, and I feel it's absolutely true.

And is this thread going to turn into the "views on sexuality" thread again? Because it seems like it.

[TopazRaven]

And is this thread going to turn into the "views on sexuality" thread again? Because it seems like it.

Would that be a good or bad thing?

[ShiroiHikari]

Everything always comes back around to sex.

[Midori]

Since we decided we were done with that thread a while ago, I'm gonna say "no". This thread is about a survey not about sex. If you don't have anything new to say about the survey that nobody's said before, just leave it be.

[ShiroiHikari]

For the record, I was just joking around.

[mysngoeshere56]

I would have to say that I'm surprised it's only 1/3 kids, too... And yes, sometimes friends really do make better family than biological family does.

Personally, I find these changes in our society pretty sad, but I don't find them all that surprising either. But then again, I come from anything but the traditional family. I only grew up with one parent because the other abandoned us, and never really had much of a figure to substitute for the other. I don't really have much family in the area, either, so I rarely see my extended family... I actually went to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family of a friend this past time, and of all the 20-something people there, I was only biologically related to one.

Honestly, even though I think it would've been better for me to have another person to play that "missing parent" figure in my life, I think it would've been best played by somebody other than my biological... This parent did eventually try to become re-asserted into my life, but it just caused more of a mess and more heartache for everybody in the end. I think a step or godparent would of been better in this case, because my biological was too self-centered to really understand what it's like to care for a kid.

So, speaking from experience, I think it's best for children to grow up in a married household if the father and mother both provide positive examples... But if they don't, then I personally don't view it as beneficial to a child or to society either way.

I don't think it's becoming obsolete, really. The problem is what the study is focusing on, which is the family. I think marriage is becoming obsolete as far as having a family, which I think doesn't really matter.

But marriage by itself won't become obsolete, as it provides stability, as well as legal benefits such as shared health coverage, hospital visitation, inheritance, tax benefits, and so on.

So yeah the title of that article is a bit misleading. It should probably say something like "Four in ten say marriage is not necessary for a family."

I agree entirely. I don't see marriage fading from use at all, but I do see it becoming less necessary to be considered a "family" by the definition of this society.

[Ally-Ann]

I believe it. Divorce is especially common in the military.