Social Anthropology in Understanding the Declined Marriage Rate

Social Sciences Discussion
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A declined marriage rate is one of the social problems in the United States. Based on observations, the likelihood of interacting with single mothers and formerly married men increases from one decade to another. In support of the supposition, Statista (2019) reports that the marriage rate in the United States has reduced from 9.8 to 6.1 marriages per 1,000 Americans from 1990 to 2019. As a result, an increasing number of children are raised by single parents, other relatives, and in foster homes. The reduced rate of marriage is a social problem because it has adverse effects on children’s development. Deviant behaviors among children have a close association with single-parenting. For example, a study by Patterson et al. (2017) found that children of divorcees have a greater probability of becoming drug-dependent and criminals than those from intact families.
Moreover, when people prefer singlehood to marriage, the future population size would reduce. However, reduced population size is detrimental because economies depend on the productivity of the people. For this reason, the economic performances of aging nations decrease because the majority have a low productivity rate (Maestas et al., 2016). As such, it is proper to engage social science to understand the problem of marriage and decipher efficient solutions.
Social sciences would help to understand the cause or triggers of the reduced rate of marriage. Social sciences include a wide range of disciplines, which, when considered, would help understand why people prefer singlehood and divorce to marriage. Considering that the problem is collective, it is proper to use disciplines such as anthropology and sociology. Anthropology is the study of humanity by engaging in various subjects such as archaeology, linguistics, religion, biology, and culture. It helps to understand the evolution of human beings and the behaviors they exhibit. In regards to the declined marriage rate, anthropology would assist in understanding the perceptions and adaptations of human beings and how these tenets affect the present collective behaviors of Americans.
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