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According to the 2005 U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of women in the nation are married, while 58.5 percent of women in Utah are married. This trend is due to a number of factors in which Utah differs from the rest of the nation.
Tom Lee, department head of family, consumer and human development at USU, offered many reasons why this may be the case.
"More often women are delaying marriage to get a degree or start a career," Lee said.
According to the 2003 census, the median age of women in the nation at their first marriage is 25.3 years old. In Utah it is 23 years old.
This may be because of the higher population of members of the Chuch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a church that focuses on marriage from a young age and also stresses no sexual relations before marriage, Lee said. He said it's easier for a young LDS couple in love to get married than to wait a few years for marriage without being sexually active.
"It's a huge social and religious stigma to get married young in Utah," LDS single and USU student Celeste Moos said. The 24-year-old said, "If you're 25 and unmarried, you are looked down upon by your church friends and family, like there is something wrong with you."
Another factor that may cause this trend is the rising national trend of cohabitating before marriage. This is not as common in Utah as it is in the rest of the United States, Lee said. The trend in the country seems to be that a couple date, get serious, cohabitate, become engaged and then marry, Lee said. He said it is not unlikely for a woman to focus on her career goals and delay marriage while living in a monogamous relationship with her partner these days.
Utah also has a higher divorce rate than the nation, according to the Utah Department of Health. Mike Toney, a professor in the sociology department, said this may be because the younger a couple marries, the more likely a couple is to get divorced.
Lee said this may be because the laws in the western United States are very different than the laws in New York, for example. In Utah, people can be granted a divorce within a couple of days, while in New York, they must have a two-year trail separation period before a divorce can be granted, he said.
Women will also live unmarried with their partners for longer periods of time than in the past, said New York Times writer Sam Roberts in a Jan. 16 article. Women are more likely to delay remarriage than men and enjoy their new-found freedom in today's society, he said.
Ultimately, married women being in the minority of the population can shape social and workplace policies, Roberts said. He said Americans may even soon see benefit packages changing.
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