Your Marriage Matters

On Friday I shared some thoughts on marriage. At the beginning of this week, I still have marriage on the brain. Rather than just giving you my take on the subject, I decided to do a little research.

Proverbs 5:18 has become one of my favorite verses regarding the marriage relationship. Actually the entire chapter is full of incredible wisdom from a father to a son. Here's the verse: "Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth." (NLT) Of course the Bible has a lot to say about marriage. At least how we should behave in marriage. What we have come to understand over the years is how marriage affects society as a whole. During my research I came across a study by the Institute for American Values. The following is a list of 30 conclusions on Why Marriage Matters. It was adapted from the book of the same name. So here you go. Thirty Conclusions about marriage from the social sciences. Please take this to heart.

Family
1) Marriage increases the likelihood that fathers and mothers have good relationships with their children.
2) Children are most likely to enjoy family stability when they are born into a married family.
3) Children are less likely to thrive in complex households.
4) Cohabitation is not the functional equivalent of marriage.
5) Growing up outside an intact marriage increases the likelihood that children will themselves divorce or become unwed parents.
6) Marriage is a virtually universal human institution.
7) Marriage, and a normative commitment to marriage, foster high-quality relationships between adults, as well as between parents and children.
8) Marriage has important bio-social consequences for adults and children.

Economy
9) Divorce and unmarried childbearing increase poverty for both children and mothers, and cohabitation is less likely to alleviate poverty than is marriage.
10) Married couples seem to build more wealth on average than singles or cohabiting couples.
11) Marriage reduces poverty and material hardship for disadvantaged women and their children.
12) Minorities benefit economically from marriage also.
13) Married men earn more money than do single men with similar education and job histories.
14) Parental divorce (or failure to marry) appears to increase children’s risk of school failure.
15) Parental divorce reduces the likelihood that children will graduate from college and achieve high-status jobs.

Physical Health and Longevity
16) Children who live with their own two married parents enjoy better physical health, on average, than do children in other family forms.
17) Parental marriage is associated with a sharply lower risk of infant mortality.
18) Marriage is associated with reduced rates of alcohol and substance abuse for both adults and teens.
19) Married people, especially married men, have longer life expectancy than do otherwise similar singles.
20) Marriage is associated with better health and lower rates of injury, illness, and disability for both men and women.
21) Marriage seems to be associated with better health among minorities and the poor.

Mental Health and Emotional Well-being
22) Children whose parents divorce have higher rates of psychological distress and mental illness.
23) Cohabitation is associated with higher levels of psychological problems among children.
24) Family breakdown appears to increase significantly the risk of suicide.
25) Married mothers have lower rates of depression than do single or cohabiting mothers.

Crime and Domestic Violence
26) Boys raised in non-intact families are more likely to engage in delinquent and criminal behavior.
27) Marriage appears to reduce the risk that adults will be either perpetrators or victims of crime.
28) Married women appear to have a lower risk of experiencing domestic violence than do cohabiting or dating women.
29) A child who is not living with his or her own two married parents is at greater risk of child abuse.
30) There is a growing marriage gap between college-educated Americans and less educated Americans.

Have you ever asked the question: Does My Marriage Really Matter?
It seems like the results from this study are clear. Your marriage is not a mere drop in the bucket.
Sounds like it's high time we rediscover the necessity of strong and stable families within our communities, our churches, and our nation.
The generations are at stake.