For example, during the 1960s and 1970s divorce and premarital sex both became more widely accepted.58 Changes in attitudes toward divorce appear to have followed rises in divorce, suggesting something other than growing acceptance was responsible for the rise in divorce that started around the beginning of the 20th century.59 Nonetheless, rising divorce rates combined with growing acceptance of premarital sex might have encouraged people to delay marriage and cohabit outside of marriage.60 Altogether, this reinforced the notion that decisions to marry or divorce are a private concern, not something subject to social sanction.
