“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!”
Psalm 127:3-4
Social science research shows that marriage benefits every family and promotes the common good of society in many ways.
For children:
• Children living with their biological parents score higher on the social development scale.
• Children living with their married biological parents have the lowest rate of anti-social behaviors among all family types.
For Adults:
• Married men earn up to 26 percent more than their unmarried counterparts.
• Lack of marriage and retreat from marriage (divorce, cohabitation, and staying single) has been shown to decrease labor participation and productivity.
• Men raised in married families have more open, affectionate, and cooperative relationships with the women to whom they are attracted to than do those from divorced families.
Given the significant benefits for children and adults that come from marriage, is there anything you can do to make yours better? What can you do to spread the word on the benefits of marriage, in schools and at local community colleges?
The graph below is from a recent Harvard study showing that the upward economic mobility of a community decreases as the rate of single mothers in that community rises. This groundbreaking study suggests that a child is disadvantaged not only if it is in a single-parent family, but also if there are many single mothers in the surrounding area. We are doing all children a
disservice if we do not help communities build cultures of marriage.
*It bears emphasizing that these patterns hold for the groups involved, not for all the individuals who make up each group. There is naturally a wide variation among individuals.
http://marri.us/wp-content/uploads/Marriage-Promotes-the-Common-Good-of-Society.pdf