Conclusions About Children

>Parental divorce reduces the likelihood that children will graduate from college, and achieve high-status jobs.

>Children who live with their own two married parents enjoy better physical health, on average, than children in other family forms. The health advantages of married homes remain even after taking into account socioeconomic status.

>Parental divorce approximately doubles the odds that adult children will end up divorced.

Conclusions About Men

>Married men earn between 10 and 40 percent more than single men with similar education and job histories.

>Married people, especially married men, have longer life expectancies than otherwise similar singles.

>Marriage increases the likelihood fathers will have good relationships with children.  Sixty-five percent of young adults whose parents divorced had poor relationships with their fathers (compared to 29% from non-divorced families).

Conclusions About Women

>Divorce and unmarried childbearing significantly increases poverty rates of both mothers and children. Between one-fifth and one-third of divorcing women end up in poverty as a result of divorce.

>Married mothers have lower rates of depression than single or cohabiting mothers.

>Married women appear to have a lower risk of domestic violence than cohabiting or dating women. Even after controlling for race, age, and education, people who live together are still three times more likely to report violent arguments than married people.

Conclusions About Society

>Adults who live together but do not marry (cohabitors) are more similar to singles than to married couples in terms of physical health and disability, emotional well-being and mental health, as well as assets and earnings. 

>Marriage appears to reduce the risk that children and adults will be either perpetrators or victims of crime. Single and divorced women are four to five times more likely to be victims of violent crime in any given year than married women.

Fundamental Conclusions

The authors conclude with three fundamental conclusions:

>Marriage is an important social good, associated with an impressively broad array of positive outcomes for children and adults alike.

>Marriage is an important public good, associated with a range of economic, health, educational, and safety benefits that help local, state, and federal governments serve the common good.

>The benefits of marriage extend to poor and minority communities, despite the fact that marriage is particularly fragile in these communities.

The Authors

W. Bradford Wilcox, University of Virginia

William J. Doherty, University of Minnesota

Helen Fisher, Rutgers University

William A. Galston, University of Maryland

Norval D. Glenn, University of Texas at Austin

John Gottman, University of Washington (Emeritus)

Robert Lerman, American University

Annette Mahoney, Bowling Green State University

Barbara Markey, Creighton University

Howard J. Markman, University of Denver

Steven Nock, University of Virginia

David Popenoe, Rutgers University

Gloria G. Rodriguez, AVANCE, Inc.

Scott M. Stanley, University of Denver

Linda J. Waite, University of Chicago

Judith Wallerstein, University of California at Berkeley (Emerita)