More people are saying 'knot yet' and waiting to marry later in life

There’s a shift in marriage trends across the country. A new study found Americans are getting married later in life, often waiting to the age of 40.

Marriage also has become less common. The number of people who’ve never married has doubled since 1960. Fewer people are getting divorced and re-marrying. There’s a change in attitude about rushing to the altar to tie the knot, but does your age determine whether your marriage will truly succeed?  

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about the variety of marriage trends researchers are seeing across the country from delayed marriage, to the decline in divorce rates and involvement in marriage therapy.

Guests 

• Helen Fisher is a biological anthropologist, a senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute and chief science advisor to Match.com. She studies the human brain through a scanning process to study the neural systems associated with sex drive, romantic love, attachment, rejection, love addiction, long-term partnership happiness and the biological foundations of human personality. She has also written six books on the evolution and future of human partnerships.

• Bill Doherty is a marriage therapist and a professor in the Department of Family Social Science in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. His areas of focus include marriage and divorce.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS. 

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.