Life Innovations, the creator of the Prepare/Enrich curriculum, has just released some interesting Marriage and Family Facts that they have found from their research.
I want to share some today about the benefits of marriage and look at more of this information later this week.
Benefits of Marriage
• Married people live longer than unmarried or divorced people. Nonmarried women have 50% higher mortality rates than married women and nonmarried men have a 250% higher rate than married men. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
• Married people are happier than single, widowed, or cohabiting people. About 40% of married people report being very happy with their lives, whereas only 18% of divorced people, 15% of separated people, and only 22% of widowed and 22% of cohabiting people report being very happy. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
• Married people have more sex and a better quality sexual relationship than do single, divorced or cohabiting individuals. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
• Married people are more successful in their careers, earn more, and have more wealth than single, divorced or cohabiting individuals. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000; Antonovics & Town, 2004)
• Children from homes where the parents are married tend to be more academically successful, more emotionally stable, and more often assume leadership roles. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000; Manning & Lamb, 2003)
• Adolescents living with their biological parents are less likely to have sexual intercourse. (Pearson, Frisco, 2006; Sieving, Eisenberg, Pettingell, & Skay, 2006)
• Adolescents living with both biological parents exhibit lower levels of problem behavior than peers from any other family type. (Carlson, 2006)
• Males whose parents never married are significantly less likely to marry and more
likely to cheat on their romantic partners. (Colman & Widon, 2004)
I want to share some today about the benefits of marriage and look at more of this information later this week.
Benefits of Marriage
• Married people live longer than unmarried or divorced people. Nonmarried women have 50% higher mortality rates than married women and nonmarried men have a 250% higher rate than married men. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
• Married people are happier than single, widowed, or cohabiting people. About 40% of married people report being very happy with their lives, whereas only 18% of divorced people, 15% of separated people, and only 22% of widowed and 22% of cohabiting people report being very happy. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
• Married people have more sex and a better quality sexual relationship than do single, divorced or cohabiting individuals. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
• Married people are more successful in their careers, earn more, and have more wealth than single, divorced or cohabiting individuals. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000; Antonovics & Town, 2004)
• Children from homes where the parents are married tend to be more academically successful, more emotionally stable, and more often assume leadership roles. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000; Manning & Lamb, 2003)
• Adolescents living with their biological parents are less likely to have sexual intercourse. (Pearson, Frisco, 2006; Sieving, Eisenberg, Pettingell, & Skay, 2006)
• Adolescents living with both biological parents exhibit lower levels of problem behavior than peers from any other family type. (Carlson, 2006)
• Males whose parents never married are significantly less likely to marry and more
likely to cheat on their romantic partners. (Colman & Widon, 2004)
There is so much talk about marriages being in trouble that I had to share some positive aspects for us to think about. Now I am not suggesting that you should get married just because the statistics are favorable for being married, but there are too many benefits that some are missing out on because they do not stick with their marriage vows. I am a firm believer that if each person approaches marriage seriously and prayerfully then the results from it would be overwhelmingly positive.
There is constantly debate on how we can make our communitives more positive. I believe the answer is found in couples staying committed to and working on their marriages so that their children will be given a good example to follow. This is one area that each of us can improve in.
2 comments:
The Prepare/Enrich program is lacking massively in one area: Money. I took the Prepare program with my husband before we were married, through Oklahoma Christian University. I learned more about Money from Dave Ramsey and his Financial Peace University program.
As in almost all aspects of marriage, if you are not on the same page when you start, you will have a hard road ahead of you.
It is most important to discuss the preconceived notions you each have about things before you marry. If you expect that the wife will own the kitchen duties, and the husband needs to fix the cars in the driveway on Saturdays, but you never talk about it, the dishes pile up and the cars break down because there is no communication.
Thanks for your comment. I do agree with you about the Prepare/Enrich program. It is a good tool, but could be improved in this area. Due to me being a therapist I use it as a spring board to get the discussion started and not as a "fix it all." Each person coming to the marriage needs to know the history of the other and what they are expecting when it comes to duties in the relationship. Too many people have unmet expectations and this can kill a relationship quickly. Thanks again.
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