ABSTRACT

Marriage serves as a fundamental social institution, providing benefits to both spouses and children. Previously, marriage served as the foundation for adulthood, sex, and childbearing. No longer does marriage perform these functions. Marriage is a commitment. It is a serious commitment to share resources, live and raise children together, and avoid sexual temptations. It is based on choosing self-restraint over self-indulgence. Despite the accepted wisdom over the millennia, a transformation in America's cultural and societal norms occurred in the second half of the twentieth century, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. For millennia, it was "illegitimate" to have children outside of marriage. Unwed motherhood has become one more choice from an ever-growing menu of lifestyles. The age-old social stigma associated with out-of wedlock births was overthrown, resulting in an astonishing rise in births to unmarried mothers. Single mothers were divorcees who raised children from their severed marital unions.