The Benefits of Marriage

The Benefits of Marriage

Benefits for Adults

1.       Married men and women have lower mortality rates and tend to have better overall health than their single counterparts.

2.       Married couples tend to have more material resources, less stress and better social support than people who are not married

3.       Married men are less likely to abuse alcohol

4.       Both married men and women report significantly lower levels of depression and have better overall psychological well-being than their single, divorced, widowed and cohabiting counterparts.

5.       Married people have better life satisfaction than those who are single.

6.       Married men report higher incomes than single men and have found to be more productive and more likely to be promoted.

7.       Married women tend to have substantially more economic resources than single women.  The economic benefits of marriage are especially strong for women who come from disadvantaged families.

Benefits for Children

1. Children from families with married parents are less likely to experience poverty than children from single-parent or cohabiting families.
2. Children born to cohabiting couples have a higher chance of experiencing family instability, a factor that has been linked to poor child well-being.
3. Children from married, two-parent families tend to do better in school than those who grow up in single-parent or alternative family structures.
4. Children from intact, two-parent families are less likely to experience emotional-behavioural problems.
5. The more time children live in a married, two-parent home, the less likely they are to use drugs.
6. Children who grow up in a married, two-parent family are less likely to have children out of wedlock in their future relationships.
7. Women with married parents are less likely to experience a high-conflict marriage.
8. Single mothers report more conflict with their children than married mothers.
9. The rate of infant mortality is lower among married parents.
10. Children living with their married, biological parents are less likely to experience child abuse.

Source: William J Doherty is Professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA