美國年輕人不結婚只因怕離婚

Fear of the trauma of divorce is stopping many young couples from walking down the aisle, a university report has found.

With the share of married adults at an all-time low in the United States, the latest research by demographers at Cornell University and the University of Central Oklahoma unveils clues why couples don't get married - they fear divorce.

Among cohabitating couples, more than two-thirds of the study's respondents admitted to concerns about dealing with the social, legal, emotional and economic consequences of a possible divorce.

The study, "The Specter of Divorce: Views from Working and Middle-Class Cohabitors," is published in the journal Family Relations and is co-authored by Sharon Sassler, Cornell professor of policy analysis and management, and Dela Kusi-Appouh, a Cornell doctoral student in the field of development sociology.

Roughly two out of three - 67 percent -of the study's respondents shared their worries about divorce.

Despite the concerns, middle-class subjects spoke more favorably about tying the knot and viewed cohabitation as a natural stepping stone to marriage compared to their working-class counterparts.

Lower-income women, in particular, disproportionately expressed doubts about the "trap" of marriage, fearing that it could be hard to exit if things go wrong or it would lead to additional domestic responsibilities but few benefits.

The study also found working-class cohabitating couples were more apt to view marriage as "just a piece of paper," nearly identical to their existing relationship.

They were twice as likely to admit fears about being stuck in marriage with no way out once they were relying on their partners' share of income to get by.

The authors hope that their findings could help premarital counselors to better tailor their lessons to assuage widespread fears of divorce and to target the specific needs of various socioeconomic classes.一項大學研究發現，許多美國年輕情侶不結婚是因爲怕遭受離婚的創傷。

眼下美國已婚人士的比例降到了史上最低點，康奈爾大學和中央俄克拉荷馬大學的人口統計學家做的最新研究揭示了爲什麼美國情侶們不結婚——他們怕離婚。

接受調查的同居情侶有超過三分之二的人承認自己擔心如果離婚將要應對社會、法律、情感和經濟等一系列後果。

這一研究名爲《離婚的陰霾：工人階層和中產階層同居者看婚姻》，發表在《家庭關係》雜誌上，由康奈爾大學的政策分析與管理學教授莎倫•薩斯勒和發展社會學方向的博士生德拉•庫西-阿坡共同撰寫。

約三分之二(67%)的被調查者吐露了他們對於離婚的擔憂。

儘管年輕人怕離婚，但中產階層的年輕人相對於工人階層的年輕人還是比較贊成結婚的，他們把同居視爲自然地走向婚姻的墊腳石。

擔憂婚姻會成爲“牢籠”的低收入女性比重尤爲突出，她們害怕如果婚姻不如意將難以持續，或認爲結婚會帶來額外的家庭負擔而卻沒多少好處。

研究還發現，工人階層的同居情侶更傾向於認爲婚姻“只是一張紙”，和他們現有的關係幾乎沒什麼兩樣。

他們承認自己害怕一旦要依靠另一半的收入過日子便無法從婚姻牢籠中逃脫，有這種想法的工人階層年輕人是中產階層年輕人的兩倍。

作者希望他們的發現可以幫助婚前諮詢師更好地調整課程，以舒緩人們對離婚的普遍恐懼，並能針對不同社會經濟階層的特定需要進行授課。