For Millennials, parenthood trumps marriage (Pew Research)

According to a 2010 Pew Research survey, 52% of Millennials—defined as 18- to 29-year-olds—say being a good parent is “one of the most important things” in life. Only 30% said the same thing about having a successful marriage—a 22 percentage point gap. When the same question was posed to the same age group in 1997 (Generation X), the gap was just 7 percentage points. In some respects, the attitudinal changes mirror behavioral changes. Just 22% of Millennials are currently married. That compares to 30% of Gen Xers, 40% of baby boomers, and over 50% for the Silent Generation (ages 65 and older) when they were all in the same age range.