The rates of marriage in the military today rival civilian numbers from the 1950’s. That’s what UMass Amherst sociology professor Jennifer Lundquist discovered.  She tells New England Public Radio’s Susan Kaplan that benefits like health care, free education and housing create a culture conducive to marrying young. Lundquist says these policies show that the military has tried to induce service members to get married. One reason, she says, has to do with long conflicts like those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

UMass Amherst sociologist Jennifer Lundquist’s new study was published in the latest issue of the journal of marriage and family