WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�Fewer couples are choosing marriage, according to a new report by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, and the marriage rate is at a 40-year low.

The report, released July 1, found that young women increasingly are pessimistic about their chances for successful marriage and young men are increasingly reluctant to commit to marriage.

"The institution of marriage is in serious trouble," said Dr. David Popenoe, report co-author and co-director of the National Marriage Project. "Americans are now less likely to marry than ever before, and those who do marry seem to be less happy than in previous decades. And despite a modest decline in the divorce rate, nearly 50 percent of all marriages are projected to end in divorce or permanent separation."

"The State of Our Unions: The Social Health of Marriage in America" gathers in a single source historical and statistical trend data on marriage over the past four decades.

The report shows a substantial long-term weakening of marriage as a lasting couples union, a rite of passage into adulthood, a major stage in the adult life course, and the primary social institution governing childbearing and parenthood.

In the Black community, the problem of marriage can be called a "state of emergency." According to the U.S. Census in 2000, 43 percent of Black males were married compared with 60 percent of White males. For that same year, 36 percent of Black females were married compared with 57 percent of White females.

"Commitment is a major problem in Black marriages staying together," said Dr. Tiy-E Muhammad, relationship therapist and professor at Clark- Atlanta University. "Commitment means to be responsible for something and we�re just not teaching and training our men to be committed or responsible."

The Rutgers study showed that young men are so comfortable with the benefits of marriage that women offer without the responsibility of saying "I do" that they don�t see a need to commit.

"The median age of first marriage for men has reached 27, the oldest age in our nation�s history," said Dr. Popenoe. "The good news is that men who marry later may be more financially stable and emotionally mature. The bad news is that they may be more inflexible and less able to make the compromises needed in marriage and family life."

"Cohabitation contributes to men�s delay of marriage," noted Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-director of the National Marriage Project. "Men are able to enjoy many of the benefits of marriage by living with a girlfriend without giving up their independence."

The book "Why Men Won�t Commit: Exploring Young Men�s Attitudes About Sex, Dating and Marriage," reveals 10 reasons why men are taking a longer time to wed. The findings were based on eight focus groups with 60 not-yet-married heterosexual men, ages 25 to 33. Focus groups were conducted January 2002 to April 2002 in northern New Jersey, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Houston. Among the reasons are: They want to enjoy single life as long as they can; they are reluctant to marry a woman who already has children; they can enjoy the benefits of having a wife by cohabiting rather than marrying; and they face few social pressures to marry.

According to Dr. Popenoe, the "standards and expectations for marriage have risen to a much higher level than in earlier decades. Fewer marriages can meet these standards, and there are fewer social forces holding marriages together."

Not all the marriage indicators are negative, according to the report. The unwed birth rate and the divorce rate have declined modestly, and the importance of marriage as a life goal has increased among young people.

However, according to the authors, it�s not yet clear whether these indicators are early signs of a revival of marriage or simply fluctuations in the trends indicating a weakening of marriage.