Majority of single U.S. adults under 50 hope to marry one day

Most U.S. adults under 50 who have never married say they hope to do so at some point, according to a new brief from Pew Research Center.

That includes nearly 6 in 10 LGBTQ adults who’ve never married, and 63% of non-LGBTQ adults in that age range who are also single. But marriage doesn’t necessarily translate to a desire to have children. Just one-third of the LGBTQ adults in the survey who are childless say they hope to have children, compared to 47% of those who are not LGBTQ and don’t have children but want them.

The brief is a shortened version of two surveys Pew released earlier this year. The center looked at differences between LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ adults, noting it’s been 10 years since the Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.

Age definitely matters. Those ages 18 to 29 who haven’t married are keen on the idea in much larger numbers than those 30 to 49. Among those in the younger group, 67% of LGBTQ adults want to get married, as do 73% of non-LGBTQ adults. For the older group, the numbers are about equal: 48% of LGBTQ adults want to marry one day, while 49% of non-LGBTQ say the same.

A sizable share in both groups say they’re not sure, while far fewer definitively say they have no interest in marriage.

Among those who were married in the past and are now divorced, widowed or separated, LGBTQ adults under 50 are much more likely than their non-LGBTQ peers to say they want to marry again at some point: 46% compared to 25%. The share who say they don’t want to marry again are similar, while a larger share of non-LGBTQ adults say they don’t know.

What about having kids?

Nearly half of childless non-LGBTQ adults say they want children, compared to a third of their LGBTQ peers, Pew found. Roughly 28% of both groups say they aren’t sure.

There’s no real difference between LGBTQ men and women in who want children someday, at 36% and 37%.

But among non-LGBTQ adults, men are far more likely to say they want to become parents, at 54% versus 39% for non-LGBTQ women.

The report, by Pew Research analyst Kiley Hurst and research assistant Blen Wondimu, notes that “this gender difference is largely driven by the preference of non-LGBTQ Republican men. Most in this group (66%) say they want children someday. Far fewer Republican women (42%), Democratic men (43%) and Democratic women (38%) say the same. (Republicans and Democrats include those who lean toward either party.)”

Again, the younger group is more apt than the older group across categories to say they want children.

Marriage up a little, divorce down

A recent report by the Institute for Family Studies looked at trends in marriage and divorce from a different angle recently. That report found that marriage rates have gone up a little bit, while divorce has declined. It noted that for families with children, at least, marriage seems to be the background in which those kids are raised, with more children growing up in two-parent homes.

The divorce rate is at its lowest point in the past 50 years, with indications that young generations are far less likely to divorce than baby boomers.

The difference, the authors wrote, is in who marries. Those most likely to get married, per that study, were well-educated couples, those who have more wealth and those who are religious. All three of those factors may make couples more stable.

Nor is it as simple as fewer marriages mean fewer divorces. And a “slight shift toward marriage among Black and low-income families is clearer,” as Deseret News reported. While marriage in those two groups lost “considerable ground” over the decades, divorce in those groups has fallen and family stability has increased.

But that report noted, as well, that about a third of young adults are likely to never marry and it said that 1 in 4 will not have children.