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Why America is waiting to get married (Hint: It's not because we don't value relationships.)
marriagetrial
Marriage is so important to young people that they're even willing to try new ways to find stability, such as a two-year beta, or trial, marriage, even though it may not be the best route. In a beta marriage, two people agree to test a potential partnership for two years before they are free to dissolve the relationship with no strings attached. - photo by istockphoto.com/Muenz
Herb Scribner
Deseret News National
Updated: Oct 19, 2014, 9:00 AM
Published: Oct 15, 2014, 1:54 PM

American families aren't as prominent as they used to be, according to Michael Wear of The Atlantic, who says the amount of families, as well as the importance of them in the American mindset, has dropped significantly in recent years.

This is because the average American household is poorer than they were 10 years ago and policymakers have been slow to introduce or support legislation necessary to help build strong partnerships until recently, The Atlantic reported.

However, citizens still believe in a stable married and family life. They’re just waiting longer to start one.According to the Pew Research Center, the average age for marriage in the U.S. is 26.5 years for brides and 28.7 for grooms — a record high for the country. And American marriage rates, even though they are ocurring later in people's lives, are also holding steady, according to Ben Casselman of FiveThirtyEight.

But why, specifically, are Americans waiting to get hitched?

Fear of bad finances

According to Forbes’ Trevor Butterworth, the decline of marriage is parallel to the decline of America’s economy. When America’s economy crashed in 2008 because of the housing bubble, Americans started acting more cautious about whom they dated and married because of their desire for financial stability, Butterworth wrote.

But the economic downturn still impacts people six years later. Millennials and young people alike are moving in with their parents and living at home, while they struggle to find work or make ends meet,according to Deseret News National. And a quarter of young people say they will never get married because they either haven't found the right person, or aren't financially secure enough.

News about the economy hasn't been all bad, however. It has actually helped women by giving them more financial independence and success in the workplace than ever before. And young women have increasingly become the breadwinner in families since 1960, making them more cautious about who they marry. New research from Pew — which shows that women, even though they can now pay the bills to support a family, still want to marry a partner who can hold a steady job — supports this trend.

Men, on the other hand, are not experiencing the same good fortune. According to Pew, there are more single adult females with jobs than there are males. And men, who were hit hardest by the recession, lost more than 3 million more jobs than women did in recent years, according to The Economic Policy Institute, making it harder for men who are unemployed to find a female partner to settle down with.

This may be because laid off workers and the unemployed aren't in a good position financially to raise a kid, which costs about $250,000 from birth to 18 years old. And being poor, according to Olga Khazan of The Atlantic, means you’re less likely to have kids and families overall.

But worry not — the American family isn't dead

Despite these concerns, young people still see marriage as the next frontier, according to the Pew Research Center. In fact, 68 percent of all Americans still believe marriage is important for society, Pew reported.

Marriage is so important to young people that they’re even willing to try new ways to find stability, such as a two-year beta, or trial, marriage — even though it may not be the best route. In a beta marriage, two people agree to test a potential partnership for two years before they are free to dissolve the relationship with no strings attached.

Pope Francis, too, sees the benefits of marriage. According to ABC News, the pope recently married 20 couples at the Vatican, despite their different backgrounds, and the Roman Catholic Church's Synod of Bishops recently held a conference to investigate new ways to support families.

President Barack Obama is also supporting new legislation that helps students pay off their loans quicker,The Atlantic's Michael Wear reported, which will help students achieve the stability needed to start a family sooner.

"It can be easy to miss the value of family to our nation because its contributions are so ingrained into our lives," Wear wrote. "From cradle to grave, the social and personal benefits of a healthy family, and the costs of its absence, are evident."

Email: hscribner@deseretdigital.com
Twitter: @herbscribner
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
Herb Scribner
Deseret News
Published: Aug 13, 2018, 1:39 PM
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.