The future of marriage

Here & Now Anytime

NPR

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Marriage rates in the U.S. are falling, but relationship coach Allison Raskin doesn’t necessarily see that as a bad thing. She and her husband, John Blakeslee, explain how millennials are approaching modern marriage differently.

Then, our resident chef has some ideas for what to give your sweetie, even if you have no interest in exchanging vows. Kathy Gunst shares her recipes for chocolate chip cookies, pudding pie and chocolate Bundt cake.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Here and Now Anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at Mathworks.com.
0:17.5	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:22.1	We are having a modern marriage that comes from our choice and our self-interest, and it is rewarding to us.
0:28.3	But there might come a time where it isn't, and everyone needs to make that decision for themselves.
0:32.3	We're talking love, marriage, and chocolate on this Valentine's weekend.
0:47.4	It's Friday, February 13th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBWR.
0:53.6	I'm Chris Bentley.
0:57.5	Love is complicated. Whether you're single, seeking, or ensconced in marriage,
1:05.5	you can always be surprised by what the heart wants. So today we're getting a relationship coach's take on the future of long-term relationships.
1:14.6	And a little later, we'll discuss something just about universally desired.
1:20.6	Chocolate.
1:22.6	You use chocolate chips, you make a very simple dough, you make these cookies. And just when they come out of the oven and
1:29.6	they're still warm and a little soft, you sprinkle them with coarse sea salt. Kathy Gunst's chocolate
1:34.9	recipes coming up in about 15 minutes. But first, Americans are getting married later in life
1:42.5	than they used to. The national marriage rate has declined by 54% in the last century
1:49.8	and is currently hovering near an all-time low, according to federal data.
1:54.7	The Pew Research Center found a few years ago that the share of Americans who turned
1:58.7	40 without ever having been married has quadrupled
2:01.9	since 1980 to about one in four. It's a topic that relationship coach Alison Raskin has been
2:09.7	fascinated by for years. She's the author of, I do, I think, conversations about modern marriage.
2:19.8	She and her husband, John Blake'sley,
	...

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