Tie the Knot

Writing at USA Today, W. Bradford Wilcox sums up his and others’ research on children born into or growing up in a home with unmarried parents:

“Cohabiting families in America, partly because they are characterized by markedly lower levels of commitment, are also characterized by markedly higher levels of instability. In fact, children born to cohabiting parents in the United States are almost twice as likely to see their parents break upby age 12, according to my research. That instability matters because children are more likely to flounder when they face a revolving cast of caretakers and unrelated adults in their lives, particularly when those unrelated adults are men.”

He presents two hypothetical children: “Sarah, a child living with her mom and a cohabiting boyfriend who is not her dad, and Amanda, whose parents are married. In grade school and middle school, Sarah will be more than four times more likely to experience serious emotional problems than Amanda, according to research by the Urban Institute. Sarah is also twice as likely to get expelled, suspended or struggle in school. And when it comes to the threat of abuse, a child like Sarah faces a much higher risk than a child like Amanda. Children living in cohabiting families with an unrelated adult are about 10 times more likely to be physically, sexually, or emotionally abused, according to a 2010 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”

Economics are one factor in undermining marriage; so are policies that favor unmarried partners. But, Wilcox argues, culture plays a role: The “marriage mentality has lost ground among poor and working-class Americans, who are less likely to appreciate how important marriage is for their kids, and more likely to have children in a cohabiting union. Marriage has partly lost ground among the poor and working-class because men in these communities are having a tougher time finding decent-paying, stable jobs. But marriage has also lost ground in these communities because the larger culture rarely stresses the importance of stable marriage and often spotlights stars — from the Rock to the Kardashians — who flout it.”