Note that this article has been updated to also include some of the private discussions with thought leaders in the past. You can read my final overview of my research into the Millennial generation along with what I predicted and what happened as they matured at this link. While I still speak about Echo Boomers and iGenZ privately, I seldom add new articles to this specific blogspot site. If you're reaching out about a speaking engagement, you can contact me at the research firm SqlinSix.
It looks as if Pew saw something other social research has failed to see (check out the below image; update - no longer available). Using sentiment trackers and analysis, so far U.S. males (n=1000+) seem to be hostile toward the idea of marriage (contributing to the low marriage rate?).
This study, of course, is ongoing, and the findings seem similar to the Pew findings - though, unlike Pew, this study does not evaluate what is considered the "most important thing in life," but what is the general sentiment toward marriage of men and women. To a certain degree, I think the Pew study creates a weakness by asking a dumb question, instead of trying to capture the overall sentiment (which would be more accurate). Nonetheless, a post explaining more details about this study (which is much larger) will be forthcoming.
While my study does not calculate age (unlike the Pew study), this seems to reconcile with my findings where Millennial males didn't seem interested in the prospect of marriage. As it turns out, male Echo Boomers may be wise for abstaining from marriage. While this bodes well for men, it creates a dilemma for culture (from Male Echo Boomers Dump Marriage):
Related, there's been an increase in young women who say that having a successful marriage is one of the most important things. A recent study might even show why they would think this since parenthood ranks of high importance to young women as well:
A new study discovers that while mothers have a unique social and emotional bond with each child, a father’s love contributes as much — and sometimes more — to a child’s development.
...
The results from more than 500 studies suggest that while children and adults often experience more or less the same level of acceptance or rejection from each parent, the influence of one parent’s rejection — oftentimes the father’s — can be much greater than the other’s.
In other words, Kay Hymowitz is both right and wrong about family formation: while a marriage - including a man and woman - cultivates the best environment for child-rearing, the Millennial generation will probably have a low marriage rate, affecting its other social value, parenthood.
Impacts (Update From Private Discussions)
For reasons that I don't care to understand, discussions about marriage and fatherhood can often seem politically incorrect. I will not communicate all my thoughts here for this reason and continue to speak privately about many of the trends along with the why, but there are a few public points worth noting that cannot be denied.
Civilized society is a relatively new concept in human history. It has allowed us to do many things that our ancestors could have only dreamed of doing. But it's not guaranteed. I will end this point here and note that I have more to say privately.
