CHANGES IN FAMILY AND MARRIAGE IN BRITAIN SINCE WORLD WAR 2 Presented by Fox Lee & Rodger Liu

MAJOR FACTORS non-marriage on the increase formal marriage → stable cohabitation number of marriage fallen steady rate of divorce lone parent family

Non-marriage on the Increase Of women born in the early 1960s, 28 percent remained unmarried at the age of thirty-two. Only 7 percent of women born in the early 1940s were still unmarried by that age.

Formal Marriage Stable Cohabitation women under sixty cohabiting—from 13 percent in 1986 to 25 percent in 1998 and 1999 By the early 1990s as many as 70 percent of women cohabited prior to marriage

Number of Marriage Fallen first marriages 343,000 in 1971 →184,000 in 1999 average age 22 for women & 28 for men 28 for women & 30 for men

Steady Rate of Divorce 145,000 divorces per year since the early 1980s, a rate of 12.9 per thousand married people The numbers of divorces involving children under sixteen Peak of 176,000 in ,000 in 1999 ¼ children under five years old

Lone Parent Family form about 23 percent of all families with children in Britain 1.7 million families with about 2.8 million children

Family & Marriage Great changes ntnthe drop in rates of marriage ntnthe increasing rate of divorce n cohabitation n one-parent families n the single patrician

Fear and resistance of marriage The social conception towards marriage The working pressure The fear of divorce

The social conception towards marriage youth culture : Freedom Independence self-help enjoyment Fulfill the desire of human nature No marriage → cohabitation other dating way

Fear of divorce  Emotion  Money

Reason for divorce the simplification to get divorced the higher expectation of marriage extra-marital affairs domestic violence the simplification to get divorced the higher expectation of marriage extra-marital affairs domestic violence

The decrease of the production rate of children the application of contraceptive the rise of the married people ’ s edu cation level changes in women's social positio n

cohabitation Possibility: a trial marriage get married cohabitation =a family form Cause:  Marriage value  application of contraceptive  social welfare system

Compare with china Similarity Acceptance of cohabitation Increasing di vorce rate Distinction. stick to their family Cohabitation never replace marriage

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