The Millennial Marriage

This essential text explores the concept of "Me-Marriage"-a marital relationship that blends individualized life goals and interests-and draws from research on the current benefits and costs of marriage to consider how to achieve success, both individually and relationally. Chapters explore the larger patterns at play and identify the trends about what a modern "healthy marriage" looks like for this new generation. Brian J. Willoughby combines a review of the latest social science research on the benefits and costs of marriage with new quantitative and qualitative data from married and single adults. The book explores how marriage has fundamentally shifted in the Western world due to the changing values and approaches to relationships by the Millennial generation that is now largely transitioning to marriage. This book is an ideal text for clinicians and practitioners (particularly those working with young married populations) looking for guidance on how to understand the increasingly complex ways that adults are navigating their relationship landscape, as well as students and scholars in the fields of psychology, family studies, and sociology and those interested in individual development, relational development, and demographic trends on the family.

Brian J. Willoughby, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University and a research fellow at the Wheatley Institution. Dr. Willoughby has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on topics related to couple and marital relationships.

1. Why Millennial Marriage?, 2. Millennials and the New Marriage, 3.Me-Marriage: A New Type of Marriage for Millennials, 4. Me-Marriage and Marital Quality, 5. Balancing Education and Career Trajectories, 6.Mental Health and Physical Well-being in Me-Marriage, 7.Parenting within a Me-Marriage, 8.Religion and Spirituality in Me-Marriages, 9.Gender and a Role-Less Marriage, 10. Modern Diversity in Marriage, 11. A New Case for Marriage, 12. Appendix