This is a MYTH. Repeat, this is a myth.

This myth is embedded in our culture and has crept into our speech and even our jokes.
 
The Facts

~  Married people are happier. 
~  Married people are healthier. 
~  Married people live longer.  
~  Married people are better off financially and accumulate more wealth. 
~  Married people are less depressed and have less mental illness and suicide. 
~  Married people have more and better sex.
 
Here's the TRUTH.

 

The best information we have comes from the in-depth research of Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher in their book The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier and Better Off Financially   In summarizing over 200 research studies, they found the following: 
 
~  Married people report being "very happy" twice as often as do unmarried people. 
~  Non-married men have a mortality rate 250% higher than married men. Non-married women have a mortality rate 50%  higher than non-married women.  
~  Married couples accumulate 12-30% more wealth. 
~  Cohabiting women are 3 times more likely to experience domestic violence than married women. 
~  Married people have more and better sex. For example, 48% of married men say sex is extremely emotionally satisfying, compared with 37% of cohabitating men. 
~  Children from married families are more likely to do well in school, be emotionally stable and take on leadership roles. 
 

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Resources
 
Waite, L. J. & Gallagher,  M. (2000). The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier and Better Off Financially.   New York: Doubleday. 
 
Waite, L. (1995). Does marriage matter? Demography, 32, 483-507.
 
Institute for American Values (2005). Why Marriage Matters,  Second Edition, Twenty-Six Conclusions from the Social Sciences.

 © 2007, Scott Gardner, PhD;  http://www.buildingrelationshipskills.org/