PRESS RELEASE

10/18/2006

CWA's Crouse Says Death of Marriage Exaggerated

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 /Christian Newswire/ -- Last week, headlines from Seattle to New York blared the death of marriage across the country. Their “news” about the death, though, was greatly exaggerated.

Dr. Janice Crouse, Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America’s (CWA) think tank, The Beverly LaHaye Institute, said, “The headlines are misleading. In fact, the text of the New York Times article admits that the total number of married couples is higher than ever and that most Americans do get married.”

Crouse explained: “While it is accurate that married couples as a proportion of all American households have fallen below 50 percent (many households consist of single people -- unmarried young adults or older widows and widowers), 60 percent of women aged 25-54 are married.

“We’ve been writing for months about the ‘loneliness epidemic’ -- the increasing number of people who live alone. We’ve also been writing about the dramatic increase in the number of couples who are cohabitating. Even so, these trends are negligible in comparison to the number of couples that marry.

“Another important fact has been overlooked,” said Crouse. “Most households with children are families of married couples (though the number of cohabiting couples with children is increasing).”

Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.