Data from the U-S Census Bureau shows the marriage rate in Louisiana has fallen from 17.6 in 2009 to 14.1 in 2019. LSU Health New Orleans Professor of Clinical Psychiatry Doctor Richard Costa says many millennials are not getting hitched after watching their parents get divorced.
“They don’t want to make the same mistakes that they saw in their own household because of how devastating the impact can be very often in having to make lots of changes and accommodations as a result of the disruption in the family unit,” said Costa.
Along with declining marriage rates, the divorce rate also declined by about 27 percent from 2009 to 2019. Costa said that’s because younger people are feeling less pressure to make hasty decisions.
“Back in the day when folks were getting married at the age of 20 if you got to be in your mid-20s you got to feel more of the pressure and sometimes that pressure prompted you to make decisions that were, in hindsight, not the best,” said Costa.
In 2019 the divorce rate in Louisiana was 7.3 per 1,000 women aged 15 and over and the divorce rate nationally was 7.6 per 1,000 women aged 15 and over.
The marriage rate has been declining steadily for about four decades now. Costa said a big part of that is increased economic freedom for women.
“Society has changed so much that women can do things very independently. They have their own money and their own level of education that allows them to be independent and make the kinds of choices that they want to make,” said Costa.
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