Societal Trends and the Family

(The biggest, cutest 8 month old twins i got to watch over the winter break)

 I am a 22 year old unmarried female, almost finished with my bachelors degree in the clinical study of marriage and family. In today's society I would be considered normal, and well on my way to personal success. If I was to travel back in time, not even one hundred years, this would be almost unheard of. People tend to get caught up in the normalcy of today's everyday life and forget to look at how much of what is considered "normal" has changed. One trend that i find interesting is that the age that the average person gets married has gone up. Not even looking at statistics we can see this evidence within our own families, at least within mine i am able to see it. Both of my Grandparents were married around the age of 18 or 19, my mother got married when she was barely 21, I am turning 23 in a few months and i'm not even engaged. The average person now gets married around the ages of 26 for a female and 28 for a male. As an LDS culture we like to imagine that society doesn't affect us, but the average age has gone up for Mormons as well, 24 being the average age for females and 26 for males. At first glance, i like most people would think that this is probably better for society in that kids aren't just getting married willy nilly and divorced when they are too immature to handle the pressures of marriage. But there is more to this phenomenon than first meets the eye. Since the age of marriage has gone up, the birth rates have gone down, which plays a big role in how well the economy is functioning. The correlation of marriage and birth rate is fertility. Everyone knows that after a certain point in a woman's life they, sadly, cannot have children anymore, and at some age people don't want to or can't raise a child for their whole adolescent life. People are getting married older and wiser, therefore they cannot have as many kids as previous generations. Some opinions might be that this is better for life and for the economy, less people less problems. There is evidence suggesting that with less people on this earth the economy will suffer. There will be less workers, less inventors, less doctors, less teachers, and so much more. Many couples today are not having kids and are not replacing themselves in the world's human capital. I loved growing up with siblings, they taught me so much about myself and about my world. I feel sad for those who don't get the same experience. Children are a blessing from God, if they weren't important for the world we wouldn't have that sacred ability to create them.