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One of the goals of Issues in Perspective is to enable you to think biblically and Christianly about culture. One of the most significant cultural developments is the growing acceptance of cohabitation. It is growing at amazing rates of acceptance in Europe, where in some of the Scandinavian countries, the majority of children being born are to cohabiting couples. The cohabitation trend is growing in acceptance in the US as well. A recent study demonstrates how costly this trend truly is.
Writing in the June 2008 issue of Citizen, Jenny Tyre demonstrates clearly that “cohabitation derails young singles from the path to marriage, depriving them of the economic benefits that married couples enjoy, and putting the children in the household at risk—especially if the man in the house isn’t the child’s biological father.” Poverty rate studies show that in 1996 just 6% of children living in married households lived in poverty, while the rate is 31% for children in cohabiting households and 45% for those living with single mothers. Among African-American women the situation is worse: From 1960 to 2006, the number of African-American women marrying fell by 20%, while the unwed childbearing rate among blacks grew from less than 25% to more than 70%. So compelling is the evidence on the benefits of marriage that scholars David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead have recommended that the benefits of marriage become “a regular part of educational programs and public discourse.”
What are some of the documented benefits of marriage?
- The National Marriage Project of Rutgers University reports that married men earn from 10 to 40% more than single men who have similar education and job experience. The productive behavior of men as a result of marriage makes the difference.
- In the same Rutgers study, a study of retirement data concluded that “individuals who are not continuously married have significantly lower wealth than those who remain married throughout their lives.”
- Studies from Princeton and The Brookings Institution also conclude that children across virtually all ethnic and racial lines benefit from marriage.
- Joel Kotkin, an internationally recognized authority on economic and social trends, argues that cities that invest in families also thrive economically. That means affordable housing, short commutes, family-friendly communities and ample economic opportunities. Compare Houston, Dallas, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, which are intentionally family-oriented, with Cincinnati, Baltimore, Detroit and Memphis, all of which have focused on the young-single professional. Kotkin writes that “families provide the most reliable foundation for successful economies.”
- In a recently released study published on 15 April, divorce and unwed child-bearing costs the US economy about $112 billion per year!! The national, state and local costs to taxpayers include expenditures for anti-poverty, criminal justice and education programs, as well as lower levels of taxes paid by individuals whose productivity has been negatively affected by family fragmentation. The study is entitled “The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimates for the Nation and All 50 States.” The principal researcher and writer is Dr. Ben Scafidi of Georgia College and State University. Just a few statistics to illustrate the cost of family fragmentation for US taxpayers:
Medicaid $27.9 billion
Justice System 19.3
Food Stamps 9.6
Housing Assistance 7.3
We really do not need to do any more studies or research on the benefits/costs of marriage. The evidence is in and the conclusions are compelling: Marriage and family are the bedrock of civilization. When the family is fragmented or dysfunctional, there are enormous costs to the nation. What God stated is His Creation Ordinance is being proven every day. God’s priorities must be our priorities, or we will pay a dear price. The various studies cited in this Perspective illustrate how serious that cost truly is.
See Jenny Tyre in Citizen (June 2008), pp. 19-21. |
