While it may seem like a new study on some facet of family law/divorce emerges nearly every week, it may surprise you to learn that there has not been a comprehensive examination of marriage and divorce by federal officials in several decades.

In fact, the last time such an examination was undertaken was back in 1991. Here, federal officials examined data gathered in 1988 by the National Center for Health Statistics.

This all changed last week, however, with the release of a report by the U.S. Census Bureau based on data gathered on 3 million households by the 2009 American Community Survey.

Among the key findings of the report was that the lowest rates of both marriage and divorce can be found in the northeast region of the U.S., while the highest rates of marriage and divorce can be found here in the southern region of the U.S.

"It's been such a long time since we've been able to paint regional and a state-by-state picture; it really shows different marriage philosophies and how we have different marriage cultures in the same nation," said Diana Elliot, a Census family demographer.

Interestingly, one of the key factors identified by family experts for this disparity in marriage/divorce rates is that people in the southern U.S. tend to marry younger.

Still, experts point out that while people in the South tend to marry younger, the overall trend is that most people are marrying later in life.

For instance, the average age for a first marriage for men was determined to be 28.4 and the average age for a first marriage for women was determined to be 26.5.

Experts identified cohabitation - meaning living together as a step toward marriage - as one of the likely causes for this rise in the average age of first marriages.

They also indicate that the average age for a first marriage is unlikely to climb much higher due to biological considerations.

"It's not going to go up forever," said Andrew Cherlin of Johns Hopkins University. "There are biological reasons why the marriage age is not going to rise by more than a few more years - namely men and women need to have time to have children."

Stay tuned for more from our Ft. Worth family law blog ...

To learn more about dissolution of marriage, child custody/visitation or child support, contact an experienced and skilled legal professional.

This post is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal or financial advice.

Related Resources:

USA Today "Marriage, divorce rates higher in South, lower in Northeast" Aug. 25, 2011