Sep 30, 2009 by Jenny
New index measures health of U.S. marriage
A new marriage publication, “The Marriage Index,” is a significant contribution to measuring the health of marriage in America.
The five indicators (listed below) combined to give the U.S. a score of 60.3, down from 76.2 in 1970. The marriage index for African-Americans is much lower, 39.6 down from 64 in 1970.
“The Marriage Index” was released (published by the Institute for American Values and The National Center on African American Marriages and Parenting) at a marriage conference held at Virginia’s Hampton University. The goal of the conference was to bring together various experts to talk about how to reverse trends such as high divorce rates and out-of-wedlock births.
The conference also marked the launch of the school’s National Center on African American Marriages and Parenting, set up to “conduct research and collect data about issues that affect black marriages and families, and provide resources to help parents” according to this article. Hampton is a historically black university, and the emphasis on marriage is pertinent to black Americans who have suffered disproportionately more than other ethnic groups due to the breakdown of marriage.
The five indicators used to calculate the combined score include:
- percentage of adults married (ages 20-54)
- percentage of married persons “very happy” with their marriage (18 and up)
- percentage of first marriages intact (ages 20-59)
- percentage of births to married parents
- percentage of children living with their own married parents
