Those of you following this discussion may wish to read this new article at The Institute For Family Studies titled 'What's Stopping Young Adults From Forming Families' which adds a few more social attributes to what I've already contributed in this thread:
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Family turmoil. Almost 60 percent of the 75 working-class young adults we interviewed experienced the fragmentation of their family before the age of 18. Many of them said the event caused some lasting difficulty in their lives."
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Crisis of trust. For many, an enduring legacy of a fragmented or unstable family is a crisis of trust. For example, Christopher told us that because he didn’t experience love in his own family of origin, he didn’t trust that his wife would always love him. The fear of loving and then losing, of trusting and then being betrayed—this is perhaps the most tragic legacy of family fragmentation, as Judith Wallerstein pointed out in her longitudinal study of children of divorce."
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Conflicted about marriage. This crisis of trust, in turn, informs young adults’ conflicted thinking about marriage."
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The libertarian sexual ethic... But this philosophy of sex leaves little room for discernment about character—about what makes for a good man or woman to build a family with. Since sex happens very early on in a relationship, or before a relationship even starts, young adults frequently find themselves, as family researcher Scott Stanley describes, sliding “through important transitions in relationships”—such as having sex and starting to live together—“rather than deciding what they are doing and what it means.”
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The fixed love mindset. Instead of a growth mindset about love that focuses on working through possible differences, these stories about love transmit a fixed mindset that focuses on immediate and perpetual compatibility—the absence of which probably indicates that a couple is no longer meant for each other."
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Extreme individualism. Despite the common challenges that confront working-class young adults, the idea that “my relationship is no one else’s business” prevents them from thinking about marriage and family life as a public issue that demands our common efforts."
What’s Stopping Young Adults from Forming Stable Families? | Family Studies
Also note that a study titled 'People's Reasons for Divorcing: Gender, Social Class, the Life Course, and Adjustment'
People's Reasons for Divorcing found that the third most-cited response by divorced people was drinking or drug use (after infidelity and incompatibility).