Unwed relationships Are Inferior to Marriage In General

Unwed relationships Are Inferior to Marriage In General

Percentage of Births to Unmarried Women
An increasing proportion of unmarried births occur to cohabiting parents.8 Although children born to cohabiting parents are more likely to see their parents eventually marry than are those born to non-coresidential parents9, nevertheless children born to cohabiting parents experience higher levels of socioeconomic disadvantage and fare worse across a range of behavioral and emotional outcomes than those born to married parents.10
National Goals
Reducing the number of out-of-wedlock births was one of the goals of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PROWRA).  Although
specific targets were not set, annual bonuses were awarded to states that reduced
the percentage of births to unmarried women by the largest amount (without increasing abortions).

More information is available here, under Title IX: Miscellaneous.
8Kennedy, S. & Bumpass, L. (2008). Cohabitation and children's living arrangements: New estimates from the United States. Demographic Research, 19(47), 1663-1692.
  9Carlson, M., McLanahan, S., & England, P. (2004). Union formation in fragile families. Demography, 41(2), 237-261.
  10Brown, S. (2004). Family structure and child well-being: The significance of parental cohabitation. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 66, 351-367.

http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/?q=node/196
The relative stability of cohabiting and marital unions for children
Wendy D. Manning1, Pamela J. Smock2 and Debarun Majumdar3

[W]hite, black and Hispanic children born to cohabiting parents experience greater levels of instability than children born to married parents.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/u347mq424j8378l2/

Cohabitation Versus Marriage - Is Lack of Marriage Undermining the Family Structure?
Results also indicate that children of cohabitation are more likely to do poorly in school and have an increased likelihood of suffering from emotional problems. This is partially attributed to lack of stability in the relationships.

Unmarried couples with children are also more likely to break up. In some cases of cohabitation where children are involved one partner is willing to become a sort of stepparent to his or her partner's child or children while the other partner is not as willing to do likewise. Such an attitude on the part of the unwilling partner causes friction in the relationship and is one major source of dissolution. One or both partners often enter into cohabitation with children. When the relationship dissolves they soon move on to a new relationship, possibly with more or less children and a new proxy stepparent. Such behavior can be very confusing for a young child. Children receive nothing but mixed messages from unions such as these. When parents are dealing with a partner that is unwilling to accept their children as part of the package they need to reexamine the relationship. Their child or children should be the main concern and priority over the partner.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/261741/cohabitation_versus_marriage_is_lack_pg2.html?cat=41


 
THE FACTS BEHIND COHABITATION

Stability
Cohabiting relationships are fragile. They are always more likely to break up than marriages entered into at the same time, regardless of age or income. On average, cohabitations last less than two years before breaking up or converting to marriage. Less than four per cent of cohabitations last for ten years or more. 2 Cohabiting also influences later marriages. The more often and the longer that men and women cohabit, the more likely they are to divorce later. 3
Cheating
Both men and women in cohabiting relationships are more likely to be unfaithful to their partners than married people. 4
What happens to children born to cohabiting parents?
Some people believe that if a cohabiting couple have children together, then they must be committed and stable. However, cohabitations with children are even more likely to break up than childless ones. 11 About 15 percent of one-parent families are created through the break-up of cohabiting unions. One study found that less than ten per cent of women who have their first child in a cohabiting relationship are still cohabiting ten years later. About 40 per cent will have married, but 50 percent will be lone unmarried mothers because their relationships have broken up. 12
Today, more than 20% of children are born to cohabiting couples. However, only about one third of those children will remain with both their parents throughout their childhood. That is partly because cohabiting couples who have children are even more likely to break up than childless couples, and partly because cohabiting couples who subsequently marry are more likely to divorce, and to divorce earlier. 13
All this means that children born to cohabiting parents are more likely to experience a series of disruptions in their family life, which can have negative consequences for their emotional and educational development. Children living with cohabiting couples do less well at school and are more likely to suffer from emotional problems than children of married couples. 14
Financially, children of cohabitants are less well off than children whose parents are married. Married fathers are more likely than cohabiting fathers to support their children. Even after the break-up of their parents' relationship, children of divorced parents are more likely than children of cohabiting couples who have split up to receive support from their fathers. 15
Unmarried fathers, even those cohabiting with their children's mother, do not automatically have the same parental rights as married or divorced fathers. If their parents break up, children born to cohabiting couples are less likely than children of divorced parents to maintain contact with their fathers. 16

Waite, L. and Gallagher, M., The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially, New York: Doubleday, 2000, p. 46. Return to text
4 Wellings, K., Field, J., Johnson, and A., Wadsworth, J., Sexual Behaviour in Britain: The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, London: Penguin Books, , p. 116; Steinhaiser, J., 'No marriage, no apologies', New York Times, 6
11 Ermisch and Francesconi, Cohabitation in Great Britain: Not for Long, but Here to Stay
12 Ermisch, Pre-marital Cohabitation, Childbearing and the Creation of One Parent Families
13 Ermisch, Pre-marital Cohabitation, Childbearing and the Creation of One Parent Families
14 Sarantakos, S., 'Children in three contexts: family, education and social development', Children Australia, Vol. 21, No. 3, Meltzer, H. et al., Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in Great Britain, Office for National Statistics, London: The Stationery Office,.
15 McClean, M. and Eekelaar, J., The Parental Obligation, Oxford: Hart Publishing,  Seltzer, J.A., 'Relationships between fathers and children who live apart: The father's role after separation', Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 53,  pp. 79-101; Beller, A.H. and Graham, J.W., 'Child support awards: Differentials and trends by race and marital status', Demography, Vol. 23, pp. 231-45.
16 Burghes, L., Clarke, L, and Cronin, N., Fathers and Fatherhood in Britain, London: Family Policy Studies Centre

http://www.civitas.org.uk/hwu/cohabitation.php

Comments

[how to relationship]

Wow I am really surprised! I didn't know there was a lot of research that supports married parents. It makes a lot of sense though, I have seen many situations like this first hand and it is really quite true.