Overview of Marriage and Family



Marriage is a personal decision. But the government has a significant interest in promoting marriage and family because societies depend on our family structures for generational development.


Fewer Americans and Europeans are getting married today than in previous decades. There has been an accompanying rise in single parent families, particularly in the U.S..


The U.S. divorce rate has began to significantly increase in the 1970's although it is now declining. The long term social reprecussions of the high divorce rate have not been completely evaluated.