Marriage Calculator and Starter Marriages
“Marriage Calculator” and Starter Marriages - When Gen X journalist Paul found her marriage ending one year after the lavish nuptials, she was depressed and bewildered. Soon, all around her, she was seeing other 20-somethings with failed “starter marriages” (which she defines as lasting five years or less and ending without children). To understand what was happening, Paul interviewed some 60 couples, mostly white, college-educated friends of friends, all between the ages of 24 and 36. While many of her generation had divorced parents, she found, they still hold marriage in high regard; family togetherness and children are what add up to the “good life.” But idealizing the institution of marriage and understanding what married life is actually like are distinctly different.