The long arm of the Great Recession has had a signal impact on the quality and stability of American married life in recent years, according to a new survey by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. According to this new data, although the recession has brought considerable stress to many American couples, there are also two silver linings when it comes to marriage:
- Many couples report that the recession has deepened their commitment to marriage.
- Among those who were considering a divorce prior to the recession, a large minority of couples say the recession caused them to postpone or put aside divorce.
The data come from the National Marriage Project’s Survey of Marital Generosity (SMG), a nationally representative survey of 1,197 married Americans aged 18–45. The SMG was conducted by Knowledge Networks from December of 2010 through January of 2011 and is the first survey to focus on the impact that the Great Recession has had on the quality and stability of marriage in the United States. This report is being released in connection with National Marriage Week, which runs February 7–14, 2011.