7 Benefits of Marriage

1. Healthy Children

   • Children who grow up in a home with their two married parents are healthier than children who grow up with parents who just live together

   • They are less likely to be abused and to misbehave/drop out of school

   • They are more likely to have good marriages later on

   • Less likely to face teen pregnancy and drug/alcohol abuse

2. Healthy Marriages Lead to Strong Relationships with Children

   • Men who wait to have children until they marry are 3x more likely to be involved in their children’s lives than outside of marriage

   • Dads who have good marriages are more involved in their children’s lives than never-married/divorced dads

   • It’s easier for married men to be with their children every day 

3. Better Family Finances

   • Married couples have 2x money and assets as unmarried couples

   • Better financial future for them and their children

   • Married men are more likely to save and invest even when they have the same income as unmarried men

   • Marriage comes with tax, inheritance, and Social Security benefits

4. Fuller, Happier Lives

   • Married men are more likely to say they are happy than unmarried men

   • After divorce, men are worse off overall than women

   • The well-being of the family is the highest priority for married men

   • Married men are less likely to be depressed

   • Marriage gives men more family members they can turn to for social, emotional, and financial support

5. A Long, Healthy Life

   • A full, happy life often leads to a long healthy life

   • Married men are more likely to take care of themselves by working out and getting medical help

   • Married men are less likely to do things that can hurt them, such as smoking, drinking, and drugs

6. More, Better, and Safer Sex

   • A sign of a full, happy life is an active, good and safe sex life

   • Married couples say they have sex more often than unmarried people

   • Married couples say they have better sex than unmarried couples

   • Married men work hard to build healthy relationships and know that sex is best when they are faithful to one woman

   • Sex is best when you are emotionally close to their wives

   • When a husband and wife are faithful, sex is safer physically and emotionally

   • There is little chance that you will get a sexual disease if you are faithful

7. Increased Faithfulness

   • Married men and women are on average more faithful to each other than men and women who simply live together or date

   • Most married men and women are faithful to each other

   • One study found that only 4% of wives are unfaithful compared to 20% of unmarried women who live with a man and 18% of women who date

   • Marriage can reduce the chance that the woman you love will cheat on you