Wedding bell blues

The proportion of adults who are married has plunged to record lows as more people decide to live together now and wed later, reflecting decades of evolving attitudes about the role of marriage in society.

Just 51 percent of all adults who are 18 and older are married, placing them on the brink of becoming a minority, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of census statistics to be released Wednesday. That represents a steep drop from 57 percent who were married in 2000.

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The marriage patterns are a striking departure from the middle of the 20th century, when the percentage of adults who never wed was in the low single digits. In 1960, for example, when most baby boomers were children, 72 percent of all adults were married. The median age for brides was barely 20, and the grooms were just a couple of years older.

This is the kind of news that incites a lot of bloviation. There area lot of contributing factors (the lousy economy and the trend of marrying later, to name two), so it's hard to pinpoint one exact cause. That means people can bring out their pet theories and read whatever they want to into it. Traditional values are disappearing! Let's celebrate the freedom to choose!

Still, from 72 percent to 51 percent in 51 years is a hell of a drop. I'm not sure if it's ominous or not, but it is significant given that "two by two" has been the norm forever. Planning to eventually share your life with someone and planning to go it alone are two different ways of looking at the world. Don't know how the world will change when "going it alone" becomes the majority, but it will change.