Marriage is a strong deterrent to poverty

What do you think distinguishes the high and low poverty populations? There are some evidence that "the only statistical distinction between both the black and white populations is marriage. There is far less poverty in married-couple families, where presumably at least one of the spouses is employed. Fully 85% of black children living in poverty reside in a female-headed household".

According to earlier Census data, only 4.0% of married couples without children are in poverty. In contrast, the poverty rate for singles without children is 8.6%. One study found that married men earn 22% more than their unmarried counterpart.

Are Christian less likely to divorce ?

While it's true that people who report themselves to be Christian are just as likely to divorce as the general population, it is not true if you factor religious attendance (a reasonable proxy for level of religiosity/strength of belief). Here is an excerpt from an interview (my friend pointed me to this) with University of Virginia Sociologist, W. Bradford Wilcox.

"This idea that Christians are just as likely to divorce as secular folks is not correct if we factor church attendance into our thinking. Churchgoing evangelical Protestants, churchgoing Catholics, and churchgoing mainline Protestants are all significantly less likely to divorce.
How much less likely?
I estimate between 35-50% less likely than Americans who attend church just nominally, just once or twice a year, or who don't attend church at all. It is true that people who say they've had a born-again experience are about as likely to divorce as people who are completely secular. But if you look at this through the lens of church attendance, you see a very different story".

Wilcox's research is also empirical evidence to support the traditional Christian notion that if you're religious, you will be much better off if you marry someone who shares your level of belief and religiosity. (Or as the Bible puts it: "Do not be unequally yoked.")

Commuter marriages increases in US

According to a report from TIME, the Commuter Marriages, in which couples live apart (dual-address) for long stretches, are increasing. From 2000 to 2005, their number jumped 30%, to 3.6 million. That is 2.9% of all marriages. About 50% of those couples are at least 100 miles away from each other, and 50% are separated for more than 9 months.

In US today, it is more often the women's career that drives the separation. I think I can live a separated life for 6 months. We can kiss each other through the webcam, pillow talk through IM, no big deal. But with 2 young childrens, 6 months is probably is the limit.

What are your life's regrets ?

Here is an interesting survey of 1,250 men and women in UK. When asked what are some big regrets in life, 22% married women said that if they could go back in time they would change their husband, while only 12% of married men admitted picking the wrong wife.

30% of people told researchers they would like to have chosen a different career, while over 37% wished they had saved more money. The biggest regrets are about travel, with 53% wishing they had done more globetrotting before settling down.

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What are your life's big regrets ?

Who need prenups ?

Source.

"A 2003 Harvard Law School study showed that although survey subjects knew the national divorce rate is more than 50%, they estimated their own likelihood of getting divorced one day to be about 12%. It's called optimism bias, and it's one reason only 1% of married couples reported prenups in a 2002 survey by Harris Interactive for Lawyers.com".

Number of kids born out of wedlock

According to TIME (July 16, 2007), 71% of people surveyed in a recent Pew Research study believe that having children out of wedlock is a "big problem" for the U.S.; 44% believe it is "always or almost always wrong" for unmarried women to have children.

But, 37% of U.S. birth in 2005 were out of wedlock. In 1960, the rate was 5.3%. Today 47% of adults in their 30s and 40s have lived in a cohabiting relationships.

Marriage makes you rich

The economist.com had a special report on the recent marriage trend in America. I found some numbers in the report clearly demonstrated that marriage is a great "wealth-generating institution":

(1) research have shown those who married and never divorced, end up on average, 4 times richer than those who never marry. This is partly because marriage provides economies of scale—two can live more cheaply than one; partly because marriage encourages the division of labour, couples are complement to each other in their skill set.

(2) research also shown married men drink less, take fewer drugs and work harder, earning between 10% and 40% more than single men with similar schooling and job histories.