A Good Partner is Hard to Find. NewsWire

NewsWire: 3/9/22

• Most Americans say that young adults today face more challenges than their parents’ generation. This applies to a wide range of issues, including saving for the future and finding a spouse. (Pew Research Center)
  
• NH: Most of the results in this survey align with what we’ve previously written about Millennials. When it comes to saving for the future (72%), paying for college (71%), and buying a home (70%), most Americans of all ages agree that today’s young adults have it harder compared to their parents’ generation. (See "Rich Countries Have Lost Faith in Upward Mobility.") The only activity that most people believe has gotten easier for young people is staying in touch with friends and family (75%).

• There’s less consensus when it comes to other activities. One finding in particular gave me pause: Americans are more than twice as likely to say that young adults have a harder time finding a spouse or partner (46%) than to say it’s easier (21%). Around a third (32%) say it’s about the same.
• Unlike the case with other questions, the views on this do not differ significantly by age. 18- to 29-year-olds are the most likely to say it’s harder (52%), but 30- to 49-year-olds (47%) and the 50+ (42%) are not far behind. 

• Women are more likely than men (51% vs. 40%) to say that it’s harder for young people to find a partner today compared to their parents’ generation. But this gap is only present among those age 30 and older. Among those younger than 30, roughly equal shares of women and men (53% vs. 52%) say it’s harder.
• Why does everyone seem to agree that finding a spouse or partner is harder than it used to be? If we just look at this question from a technology angle, we might think that it's never been easier to meet people. After all, we live in an era in which dozens of potential partners are just a swipe away.
• One possible answer might be the so-called "paradox of choice." Abundance of choice, according to social scientists, does not necessarily make choosing any easier. While it may be easier to find someone, it's also easier to find someone else even better. This is a dreary consequence of "FOMO" psychology if we just look at picking a spouse like picking a pair of shoes. (See "Love at First Site.")
• But I doubt this is the best explanation. IMO, there are bigger socioeconomic issues at play here--namely, the growing gap in "marriageability" between women and men. Women still want providers, and there simply isn't enough young men who measure up in terms of education and income. Women understand this, and they understand it better as they get older. Hence the larger margins of agreement among older women.
• Yet most men probably have a pretty good understanding of this dynamic as well. Their problem is not so much too few women to choose from. Their problem is figuring out how to make themselves choice-worthy. (See "Millennial Woman Just Can't Find Enough Good Men" and "Are Young Men Giving Up on College?")