We must recognize that there are healthy as well as unhealthy ways to be single or to be divorced, just as there… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
It no longer makes sense to see singlehood and marriage as two distinct and stable social categories that should be accorded different… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
The worst problems for children stem from parental conflict, before, during, and after divorce or within marriage. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Economically as well as emotionally, modern marriage has become like an affluent gated community. It has become harder for low-income Americans to… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Over the ages, some societies have accorded far less value and respect to singles than to married individuals. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
There is one group of people - social conservatives, religious conservatives - who honestly feel that women's place is in the home… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
A significant minority of senior women I've interviewed say, 'Love the companionship, glad to live with him, but I spent my first… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Heterosexuals were the upstarts who turned marriage into a voluntary love relationship rather than a mandatory economic and political institution. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Sometimes, having a mom stay home is a big help. On the other hand, when a mother works outside the home, her… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
In my work as a historian and in my relationships as a friend, teacher, wife, and mother, I have come to think… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Giving married women an independent legal existence did not destroy heterosexual marriage. And allowing husbands and wives to construct their marriages around… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Marriage is generally based on more equality and deeper friendship than in the past, but even so, it is hard for it… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Unilateral divorce has decreased the bargaining power of the person who wants the marriage to last and has not engaged in behavior… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Whatever their relative valuation of the single and married states, most societies in history made sharp distinctions between those who married and… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Deciding together to have a child and sharing in child-rearing do not immunize a marriage. Indeed, collaborative couples can face other problems.… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
I've had the kind of complex life I write about. I was a single mother for 12 years. I'd been engaged. The… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
There is no going back to a time when most women will feel compelled to enter or stay in a bad marriage… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
“Like it or not, today we are all pioneers, picking our way through uncharted and unstable territory. The old rules are no… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Hollywood overstates both the romance of marriage and the prevalence of divorce. Celebrities have divorce rates that are atypical and higher than… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
For every nineteenth-century middle-class family that protected its wife and child within the family circle, there was an Irish ora German girl… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Because we live so much of our adult lives as singles, it no longer makes sense to assume that marriage is the… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Marriage has been in a constant state of evolution since the dawn of the Stone Age. In the process, it has become… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
As soon as love became the driving force behind marriage, people began to demand the right to remain single if they had… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
People feel better when their spouses have good friendships, over and above the effects of their own friendships. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Marriage can provide a bounty of emotional, practical, and financial support. But finding the right mate is no substitute for having friends… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Marriage is no longer the main way in which societies regulate sexuality and parenting or organize the division of labor between men… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Using the existence of a marriage license to determine when the state should protect interpersonal relationships is increasingly impractical. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Some people may long for an era when divorce was still hard to come by. The spread of no-fault divorce has reduced… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
The notion that marriage is an impediment to commitments to the larger community is a long-standing one - and one reason early… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
When parents are educated about how not to involve children in their conflicts and co-parent amicably, a lot of the ill effects… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
The origins of modern marital instability lie largely in the triumph of what many people believe to be marriage's traditional role -… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
To my mind, it is better to have regrets about the good aspects of your former marriage because you were able to… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Marriage is no longer the only place where people make major life transitions and decisions, enter into commitments, or incur obligations. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Many alternatives to traditional marriage have emerged. People feel free to shop around, experimenting with several living arrangements in succession. And when… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Singlehood is not longer a state to be overcome as soon as possible. It has its own rewards. Marriage is not the… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Unemployment, low wages, and poverty discourage family formation and erode family stability, making it less likely that individuals will marry in the… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Usually, Valentine's Day comes and goes with just a day or two of news media attention to courtship and marriage. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Why do people - gay or straight - need the state's permission to marry? For most of Western history, they didn't, because… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
The real gender inequality in marriage stems from the tendency to regard women as the default parent, the one who, in the… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
As an overly confident college freshman, the first time I received a below-average score on an exam was a needed wake-up call. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
For every nineteenth-century middle-class family that protected its wife and child within the family circle, there was an Irish ora German girl scrubbing floors… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
A primary motivation for introducing no-fault divorce was, in fact, to reduce perjury in the legal system. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Graduating from high school is certainly a good idea, but it's no longer much protection against poverty. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Almost all scholarly research carries practical and political implications. Better that we should spell these out ourselves than leave that task to people with… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Investing in living-wage jobs and reducing the inequities between local school districts would give young people more, not less, incentive to postpone childbearing and… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Hyper-parenting has many pitfalls. Overprotected and overpraised children may develop an inflated sense of entitlement. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Social and economic policies constructed around the male breadwinner model have always disadvantaged women. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
When I speak on work-family issues to audiences around the country, some of the biggest complaints I hear come from individuals who are described… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Extended families have never been the norm in America; the highest figure for extended-family households ever recorded in Americanhistory is 20 percent. Contrary to… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Unilateral divorce has decreased the bargaining power of the person who wants the marriage to last and has not engaged in behavior that meets… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
The closer we get to achieving equality of opportunity between the sexes, the more clearly we can see that the next major obstacle to… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
