Our Society’s Trend Toward Forming Families At Older Age: Effects On Mental Health

Since the 1950’s to present day, some of the main trends and consistent changes in family structure over the decades we’ve seen include: the delay in forming marriages, increase in cohabitation, growth in single parenting, a dramatic increase in women’s labor force participation, and delayed and declining fertility. But how do these profound changes actually influence a population’s mental health? Do these effects differ depending on gender and racial or ethnic group? Let’s explore each of these factors more in depth.

Delay in Forming Marriages

A delay in forming marriages gives young adults more time to self-reflect and get to know themselves, pursue various interests, and figure out what they are passionate about. Instead of jumping into a relationship, this also gives them more time to learn about relationships and more effective strategies when it comes to forming and maintaining intimate connections. This also provides time for people to heal from past wounds and other factors that may be having a negative effect on their lives and for introspection about old patterns they may be repeating in their relationships that may no longer be serving them. All of this should have a positive influence on the mental health of the population who are forming marriages later in life.

Increase in Cohabitation

Increase in cohabitation typically has a positive influence on mental health of populations in some respects, such as when we consider prevalent gender differences and stereotypes in society. It can, for example, help women be more accepting of themselves as sexual beings, instead of falling into the trap of feeling shame for their bodies and their sexual lives as they are able to gain experience through multiple partnerships in this way. Cohabitation itself, is a concept that encourages open-mindedness about sexuality, which may help those who are struggling in families with extremely rigid standards and outdated religious morals shunning ideas like sex before marriage, which may have a negative outcome on females who have been victims of rape or sexual abuse, for instance. This may be especially true for Islamic or Middle Eastern populations that may still practice arranged marriages. It can, on the other hand, also have a negative influence on mental health in other circumstances. For those without a strong family or religious foundation, this may have an overall negative effect because they may view this kind of arrangement as a long-term solution and an “easy way out” in terms of not having to face their own issues when it comes to relationships, such as deciding against long-term commitments characterized by marriage if they have a fear of intimacy. Men, especially, may see it as an opportunity for easy sex and couples may get a bit too comfortable with each other and as a result, grow farther apart over time. When there isn’t a strong enough bond, such as the long-term commitment that marriage provides, the sacredness and divinity of love in relationships tends to dissolve, and partnerships become less meaningful. 

Growth in Single Parenting

Growth in single parenting, in general, has a negative effect on mental health. Running a household and tending to things like bills, taking care of children, and career responsibilities, to name just a few, is hard enough as it is for a married couple, but all of these responsibilities for a single parent household most often leads to negative consequences for the family. Unless the parent has a lot of outside support such as through government programs and a community to rely upon for assistance, a single parent household is usually marked by a huge increase in life stressors, decrease in income, and therefore worst mental health for not only the parent, but all other family members involved. Unavoidable conflicts that lead to divorce or abusive situations, for example, that resulted in a single parenting situation may improve the overall quality of health for the family post-divorce, but other than extreme circumstances like these, a single parent household would not fare as well as one characterized by loving spouses who support and care for each other. This lack of emotional connection is also another factor that leads to lower mental health of those experiencing it.

Dramatic Increase in Women’s Labor Force Participation

A dramatic increase in women’s labor force participation, I believe, leads to better mental health in the overall population because having work commitments can help in removing negative effects of socialization. It can increase peoples’ self-esteem because they will be out in the real world, utilizing their talents and abilities to help other people and serve humanity. It can even be a constructive outlet for people who need an activity to dedicate their focus and efforts on, which can help them overcome other negative life situations they may be facing. In addition, this also allows people to gain more work experience and develop essential skills and training that will help them in the long run. It can also lead to better mental health outcomes in other respects, such as through the improvement of women’s social lives in general, especially women who are prone to getting into and staying in abusive relationships, which are often characterized by control and limiting outside communication with other friends and family members.  

Delayed and Declining Fertility

Delayed and declining fertility can potentially create circumstances where populations are able to provide themselves with better self-care, especially since people don’t have to worry about constantly taking care of someone else, even if it is their own child. Overall, this leads to lower levels of stress. It can also cause couples to have more time to get to know one another and form closer bonds with partners. When couples have less responsibilities to tend to outside of their relationship, they will be able to have more time to get to know each other, and therefore make better judgement calls about choices in long-term partnerships. We can expect all of these factors combined to serve as positive influences and better mental health in the population.

As a side note: I believe that overall, there are different effects, both positive and negative, on mental health depending on the kind of change in family structure we are talking about, as well as conditions for each depending on various factors. In terms of gender differences, it can allow women more freedom to choose. One way that this happens is through empowering women by enabling them to support themselves financially. I don’t think there is a huge gender bias, but I do believe that these changes have different kinds of effects, depending on one’s gender. For example, I believe cohabitation helps women be more accepting of themselves and to embrace their femininity; however, I think that it doesn’t help men, for the most part, because it may encourage lower levels of long-term commitment in relationships.