Writing at Reason, columnist Veronique de Rugy writes about the importance of parental marriage in the lives of children.
In the mid-20th century, only one in 20 children were born out of wedlock. Now it's two in five. I also learned that America has the world's highest rate of children living in single-parent households: 23 percent in the U.S. against an international norm of 7 percent.
40 percent of millennials from intact, two-parent families graduated from college and 77 percent achieved middle-class incomes or higher. Among those who didn't grow up in intact families, only 17 percent graduated from college and just 57 percent reached middle-class incomes. The latter are also roughly twice as likely to be incarcerated, even after controlling for other socioeconomic factors.
Married parents regardless of race and education suffer significantly less poverty than unmarried mothers.
De Rugy also shows that well-intentioned government policies incentivize single parenthood with tax breaks and SNAP eligibility.
Full disclosure: the DrsC recently celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary. We’re both children of intact, “till-death-do-us-part” marriages.
