Sexual Relationship Patterns in Adulthood

1) Singlehood

        - Increasing participation in singlehood

        - Do not feel they need to be in a relationship

        - Many young people are staying at home longer. They are living a kind of extended youth

        - Serial Monogamy - this is when people go from one serious relationship to another

        - Celibacy (abstinence) - as a choice there are three reasons why people would choose for this

                   1) Religious

                   2) S.T.I.'s - avoid HIV/AIDS

                   3) Moral - Just do not think that it is right

2) Cohabitation

        - People that Cohabitate before they get married have a higher chance of divorce

        - 84% of Canadian now approve of cohabitation

3) Marriage

        - Most people do get married in their life

        - Same sex marriage is a huge topic on society. If the institution of marriage opens up to this, it can weaken it or strengthen it, depending on the person’s opinion and how the person looks at the idea of same sex marriage

        - When marriage was opened up to same sex marriage it had an impact on everyone that is getting married or is married because it changes the cultural meaning of marriage.


Talking about the fact that people are single longer then they used to be, I think that the legal drinking age might have something to do with it because the legal drinking age was estabilshed in 1984 so the generations before ours did not have a legal drinking age. I think that this gave them more freedom to grow up at the pace that they wanted to. Most people go through a phase in their life where they have to party and do stupid thing. Most people this happens during the end of high school and during college which is when they turn 18 and become legal. I think that if their was not a legal drinking age and they let adolescence let loose when they wanted to that this might help them not have this crazy party phase.