• Women raised in intact married families have the lowest average number of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and births.
• Those who marry experience increased commitment and stability.
• Men raised in married families have more open, affectionate, and cooperative relationships with the women to whom they are attracted than do those from divorced families.
• Married mothers report more love and intimacy in their romantic/spousal relationships than cohabiting or single mothers.
• Married people are more likely to exchange emotional or material support with their parents and are more likely to turn to their parents for support in case of an emergency.
• Married parents are more encouraging and have higher expectations for their children than always-single parents are, even after adjusting for intelligence and abilities.
• Those who are married are more likely to worship, and those who attend religious services are more likely to marry.
• Children of married parents are more engaged in school than children from all other family structures.
• Children from married households have higher cognitive scores and more self-control.
• Compared with children in stable married families, students whose parents are in the process of divorcing have lower academic expectations and test scores.
• Children in intact married families have the highest combined English and math grade point averages (GPAs.)
• Children from intact married families have the highest high school graduation rate.
• Children from intact families have fewer behavioral problems in school.
• Married women’s likelihood of becoming ill decreases the longer they are married.
• It seems that marriage, as a sort of social support, strengthens the immune system and makes married persons less likely to catch the common cold.
• Married individuals occupy hospitals and health institutions less often than others.
• Married women are at decreased risk of obesity, are more physically active, and use preventive care measures more often, independent of income differences.
• Married people have lower mortality rates, including lower risk of death from accidents, disease, and self-inflicted injuries.
• Married persons have higher levels of emotional and psychological well-being than those who are single, divorced, or cohabiting.
• Both adults and children in married families suffer less psychological distress than their counterparts in divorced families.
• Those who are married report less depression than cohabiting couples.
162 Reasons To Marry (February 8, 2012) Marri Research, Marriage & Religion Research Institute
marri.us/reasons-to-marry.