51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse

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The stat seems a bit misleading, what we should consider is how many women are living without a spouse who have minor children.
 
renee1258 said:
The stat seems a bit misleading, what we should consider is how many women are living without a spouse who have minor children.
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Yes, you are right. The article itself mentions three trends and it doesn’t try to tease them apart.
At one end of the age spectrum, women are marrying later or living with unmarried partners more often and for longer periods. At the other end, women are living longer as widows and, after a divorce, are more likely than men to delay remarriage, sometimes delighting in their newfound freedom.
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Its well known that wives tend to outlive their husbands. Consider that
Over all, a larger share of men are married and living with their spouse — about 53 percent compared with 49 percent among women.
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This shows the difference in the size of male and female populations.
 
As, I remember, Disraeli said there are lies, damned lies and statistics. These are statistics, and their value lies in the group studied.

In this case the base is terribly flawed because all women above the age of 15 are included.

How many married 15-, 16-, 17-, 18-, and 19-year-olds do you know?
 
I’m the reverse of the ‘statistic’.
Married at 16.
Unmarried at 59.
 
The giant hole in this stat is that women outnumber men in population so of course their unmarried women catgory may be higher. To get the real numbers they would need to publish the numbers for men and women, population totals of men and women and the divorce rate. Are they counting widows who have been married? Other wise this study is just a misleading lie.
 
Living without a spouse is not necessarily a bad thing you know.
Kathy
 
Michael Medved has something to say about this: Journalistic Malpractice

I found this via Relapsed Catholic; Kathy writes:
Know where he says the NYT got its “51% of American women are single” (and therefore the institution of marriage is useless) figures? By including a) military wives whose husbands are serving in overseas (hey, they’re “living alone,” right?); b) widows and c) girls 15 to 19 living with their parents.
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Bruised_Reed said:
Michael Medved has something to say about this: Journalistic Malpractice

I found this via Relapsed Catholic; Kathy writes:
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Thanks for the link to Michael Medved, Bruised Reed. I was listening to the show yesterday and he totally ***demolished ***this so-called “study.”

–all women over 15 are included
–widows are included
–1 unmarried woman counts as 1;
a married couple (2 people) counts as 1
…and on and on…

Supposedly the author of this study has done another one previously, with similar silly stats.
 
Poorly done research. NYT seems to have a problem with truth.:mad:
 
StephanieC said:
Thanks for the link to Michael Medved, Bruised Reed. I was listening to the show yesterday and he totally ***demolished ***this so-called “study.”

–all women over 15 are included
–widows are included
–1 unmarried woman counts as 1;
a married couple (2 people) counts as 1
…and on and on…

Supposedly the author of this study has done another one previously, with similar silly stats.
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As I have said often before, you can skew a poll to get any results you want–whatever serves your purpose.
 
I am confused by what purpose they would have in skewing this poll…? How does it benefit them?
 
If it is misleading I don’t know why. The statistic is exactly what it says that it is. A spouse can provide healthcare, help raise children, mortgage a home etc.

“2.4 million said their husbands were not living at home for one reason or another.”

Far more likely in jail then in the services.

“Between 1950 and 2000, the share of women 15-to-24 who were married plummeted to 16 percent, from 42 percent.”

I think this is an incredibly relevent statistic and it does help tease widows and singles apart.

“Among 25-to-34-year-olds, the proportion dropped to 58 percent, from 82 percent.”

This statistic shows a 24% decrease compared to the 26% decrease of 15-to-24. The difficulty is determining if the reason for the decrease is the same in both demographics i.e. teen pregnancy not prompting marriage resulting in no marriage most of the time could be one part of the decrease.

It appears that the numbers are drawn from census figures which can be inaccurate but are thorough.
 
vampares said:
If it is misleading I don’t know why. The statistic is exactly what it says that it is. A spouse can provide healthcare, help raise children, mortgage a home etc.

“2.4 million said their husbands were not living at home for one reason or another.”

Far more likely in jail then in the services.

“Between 1950 and 2000, the share of women 15-to-24 who were married plummeted to 16 percent, from 42 percent.”

I think this is an incredibly relevent statistic and it does help tease widows and singles apart.

“Among 25-to-34-year-olds, the proportion dropped to 58 percent, from 82 percent.”

This statistic shows a 24% decrease compared to the 26% decrease of 15-to-24. The difficulty is determining if the reason for the decrease is the same in both demographics i.e. teen pregnancy not prompting marriage resulting in no marriage most of the time could be one part of the decrease.

It appears that the numbers are drawn from census figures which can be inaccurate but are thorough.
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The problem is the conclusions that the “researchers” draw:

“This is yet another of the inexorable signs that there is no going back to a world where we can assume that marriage is the main institution that organizes people’s lives,” said Prof. Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit research group. “Most of these women will marry, or have married. But on average, Americans now spend half their adult lives outside marriage.”
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and

"For better or worse, women are less dependent on men or the institution of marriage,” Dr. Frey said. “Younger women understand this better, and are preparing to live longer parts of their lives alone or with nonmarried partners. For many older boomer and senior women, the institution of marriage did not hold the promise they might have hoped for, growing up in an ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ era.”
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The article is trying to “prove” that the institution of marriage is no longer important or necessary, and using stats that include women who would not normally be married to "prove’ their hidden agenda.
 
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