ABSTRACT
Most of today's young adults marry significantly later than did their parents (Cheri in, 1992). The proportion of men aged 20-24 who had not yet wed in 1988 was 78%-23% higher than it was in 1970. For women in this age group, the proportion of those who had never married increased from 36% in 1970 to 61 % in 1988 (U.S . Bureau of the Census, 1989). By the end of the 1980s, the average age for women entering a first marriage is at a twentieth century high (See Figure 4.1). Blacks postpone marriage even more than whites. In 1988 the median marrying age for black women was 3 years older than for white women. The proportion of never-married black women in their early 20s was 75% compared to 59% for white women. For black men as compared to white men, the figures were 87% and 76% respectively (Cherlin, 1992; Saluter, 1988).
