The vast majority of teenagers want to get married when they grow up, despite the growing trend for cohabitation, a study has found.
More than three out of four youngsters aged 14 to 17 said it was one of their key aspirations and that marriage was not the same as living together, according to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
The right-wing think tank is calling for teaching on marriage and commitment to be part of the revised sex education curriculum. The guidance will be updated for the first time in 20 years in the spring, with sex education lessons becoming compulsory, and campaigners fear that the emphasis on life-long commitment will be lost.
While the desire for marriage remains strong, statistics suggest many teenagers will never realise their ambition. The last census found that more than a third of people are not or have never been married, an increase of three percentage points on ten years ago. The number of weddings taking place each year is at a historic low. The Marriage Foundation predicts that on current trends half of today’s 20-year-olds will ever marry.
Marriage has also become a perk of being rich. Among the highest earners, 87 per cent get married, compared with only 24 per cent of low earners.
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Cohabiting parents are also far more likely to split up than those who walk down the aisle. Only a quarter of parents who were married when their first child was born had separated by the time the child turned 15. This compared with 56 per cent of parents who were unmarried when their first child was born and married later and 69 per cent of those who had never married.
Frank Young, head of family policy at the CSJ, said: “Despite growing up with no better than a 50/50 chance of their own parents separating, young people still have strong relationship ambitions. Not only do young people want a lasting relationship in adult life, they aspire to marriage. Updated guidance on relationships education shouldn’t ignore the word marriage.”