For a generation that has grown up amid a parental divorce rate of 50 percent, most millennials – now in or near their thirties, are succeeding remarkably well in their love lives, so far.
Clark University, the nation’s leading institution tracking the development of Emerging Adults (18 to 29 years old), has released a new Clark University Poll of Established Adults, which surveyed 1,000 respondents nationwide who are 25 to 39 years old. The poll revealed 74 percent reported being in a close relationship and, of those, a remarkable 82 percent said they have found their “soul mate.”
“You might think that people would become less romantic and idealistic once they trade their ‘soul mate’ dream for an actual person,” said Clark University Research Professor of Psychology and Poll Director Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Ph.D., who coined the term “emerging adulthood”— the phase of the life between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood. “But it turns out that most people are finding someone close—or at least close enough—to what they hope for.”
Here are more findings from the Clark University Poll of Established Adults:
- Among those who are single, 73 percent would like to be married “eventually.”
- Looking back, a healthy 70 percent of the 25- to 39-year-olds say their sex life is the same or better than it was 10 years ago.
- 21 percent of respondents said they have used an Internet dating service and, of those, 41 percent reported finding their current partner online.
The Clark University Poll of Established Adults employs a mixed-mode methodology with a margin of error of +/- 3.06 percent. To read the full report, “Becoming Established Adults: Busy, Joyful, Stressed — and Still Dreaming Big,” click here. To download an infographic, click here.
