It is no secret that our generation is choosing marriage much later than previous generations. Just look at our grandparents. Most of them were married close to 18, or whenever the war ended, depending on how old your grandparents are.

In 1950, close to half of Canadian women aged 20 to 24 were married. By 2002, only 11 per cent were. Similarly, 75 per cent of Canadian men in the same age bracket were single in 1951, compared with 95 per cent in 2002.

Our parents’ generation, while they had far more academic opportunities than those before them, for the most part married early. Most opted to marry in their mid-to-late twenties.

Now, however, the marriage statistics are drastically different. In 2004 the average age for first time marriage was 34.3 for men and 31.7 for women. The new statistics to be released later this year suggest these numbers may go even higher.

All indications point to people opting to marry later and have children later in favour of forging careers first. It doesn’t appear that Canadians have fallen out of love, or have somehow become disinterested in the institution of marriage. In 2002, 84 per cent of families were still headed by couples who had walked down the aisle.

Where the difference lies is that our generation is going to university and obtaining post-secondary education in record numbers. All this schooling makes it less likely to settle down until achieving steady employment, something not often found until after graduation.

Earning a bachelor’s degree takes between three and five years, so the earliest you can finish is age 21 if you started at 18. More people are also opting for post-graduate training.

With the dual trends of people opting to stay at home longer and travel more, the process of “getting on one’s feet” seems to occur later now than ever before.

The standards of stability have also changed, with many graduates being unhappy with incomes which don’t provide them a $300,000 house with a Lexus. While in the past couples may have been happy with enough food on the table and a roof over their heads, the amount of education achieved appears to dramatically increase the requirements of what determines success.

With the amount of students who wind up poor from their loans and debts, it’s looking more and more like ending up broke in the pursuit of material wealth is a likely option – but that doesn’t lead to happiness.

Commitment and responsibility go hand in hand in marriage and while I don’t doubt our generation’s ability to commit or be responsible, I think it is taking longer for us to make those decisions. We’re a generation who has been able to delay responsibility as long as we want and it seems that more of us than ever are waiting as long as possible.

Melanie Murchison is a criminal justice student at the University of Winnipeg.

Published in Volume 64, Number 7 of The Uniter (October 15, 2009)