For the Children: Attitudes Toward Marriage and Divorce in the United States

The deinstitutionalization of marriage suggests more support for divorce and the forgoing of marriage. In this study, we examine attitudes toward both marriage and divorce in the context of having children and how they coincide with each other, creating a new typology of attitudes. Based on a national probability sample of 2,789 adults from the American Marriage Survey conducted in 2021, we find that just over half (55%) of people express transformative deinstitutionalization attitudes, in which they support divorce as well as forgoing marriage, while the next largest group (22%) hold divorce deinstitutionalization attitudes, in which they support divorce but also encourage marriage when children are involved. Findings show that women, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual individuals, and those who are cohabiting or divorced are more likely to hold transformative deinstitutionalization attitudes compared to pro-institutionalization attitudes, which support marriage and oppose divorce when children are involved. Meanwhile, older individuals, those who attend religious services more frequently, and those who identify as more politically conservative are less likely to hold any form of deinstitutionalization attitudes. Interestingly, education and parenthood have no impact on this set of attitudes. Given trends that show decreases in marriage and increases in LGBT identification, there may be further movement toward the disconnection of marriage and children.