TELL US: Young Men & Women and Their Views of Marriage: Headed in the Opposite Direction?

Among the under-35 set, more women value a successful marriage; more under-35 men don't care.

That is one slightly startling data point to pull from a recent Pew Research Center study that compares views on career and marriage now to 15 years ago:

The share of women ages 18 to 34 who say that having a successful marriage is one of the most important things in their lives has risen nine percentage points since 1997, from 28% to 37%.

On the other hand, the share of young men ages 18 to 34 who say that having a successful marriage is one of the most important things has dropped from 35% in 1997 to 29% now. Today a significantly smaller share of young men (29%) than young women (37%) list marriage as one of their highest priorities; this represents a change from 1997, when men and women were statistically equal on this measure.

Are you surprised? I first stumbled across this while doublechecking a provocative opinion piece on foxnews.com called 'The War on Men.' A Huffington Post piece followed that, of course, took issue with what the original author posited.

So what do you think is happening here — what accounts for, in the past 15 years, so many more young men to not place much value on marriage, while so many more young women do? What accounts for this — and should we be concerned? Is there, in fact, a 'war on men'? Or is this natural shifting of gender roles and values that will shake out as men and women acclimate to new realities?