【英语国际】经济衰退拉近美国情侣关系

In the wake of the worst recession since World War II, people are getting closer - children are moving back in with their parents, more families are living together and fewer people are getting divorced. A new report suggests that the recession may be pushing more couples to live together, even though fewer of them are getting married.

Between 2009 and 2010 there was a 13% increase in opposite-sex couples living together and an analysis, notes demographer Rose M. Kreider in a new working paper based on Census Bureau data. She finds that 24% of men in newly formed couples in 2010 didn't work last year compared to 14% in 2009. Meanwhile, the percentage of couples in which one partner was employed and the other was unemployed increased to 15% in 2010 from 8% in 2008, suggesting economic concerns are pushing people together.

The problem of long-term unemployment, which has been exacerbated in the last year, may be playing a role. 'Pooling resources by moving in together may be one method of coping with extended unemployment of one of the partners,' Kreider says.

However, even as more people are moving in together, the U.S. marriage rate continues its long-term trend downward, according to data released last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The marriage rate in 2009 fell to 6.8% in 2009 from 7.3% in 2007. There were 80,000 fewer marriages in 2009 than 2008, even as the population base rose 2.3 million.

二战以来最严重的经济危机似乎也拉近了人们的关系──孩子重新回到父母身边，更多的家庭一起生活，离婚的人数也减少了。一份最新报告显示，经济衰退可能促使更多的情侣住在一起，虽然他们之中选择结婚的越来越少。

Getty Images 人口学家Rose M. Kreider 基于美国人口调查局(Census Bureau)数据完成了一份工作报告，她在报告中指出，2009-2010年同住在一起的异性情侣增加了13%。报告发现，2010年刚刚建立情侣关系的男性一方有24%去年没有工作，而这一比例在2009年只有14%。与此同时，一方工作、另一方无业的情侣比例从2008年的8%上升至2010年的15%，这说明对经济情况的担心促使人们选择在一起。

另外，长期的失业问题可能也对拉近情侣关系起到了一定的作用，去年美国的失业状况尤其严重。Kreider说，两人住在一块，将双方资源整合到一起，可能是应对一方长期失业问题的一个办法。

不过，美国疾病预防控制中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)上月公布的数据显示，即使越来越多的情侣住到一起，美国的结婚率依旧从2007年的7.3%跌落至2009年的6.8%，长期来看仍呈下降趋势。2008-2009年间，美国人口基数增长了230万，但结婚登记数却减少了8万。