Marriage Public Policy

1
MarriagePublic Policy

• Why Public Officials Should
• Support Marriage

By James E. Sheridan
2
Single vs. Married Men

• Single men who are heading toward marriage
  reduce their drinking up to a year before the
  ceremony, so that although they start with the
  same heavy drinking patterns as their friends who
  stay single, by the time they marry they drink
  much less than they did a year earlier.
• Apparently young mens values change as they
  move from bachelors to husbands, with the change
  taking place gradually as they develop a closer
  relationship with the woman they will marry.
• (The Case For Marriage, Waite and Gallagher)

3
Single vs. Married Men (2)

• Young men who were light drinkers,
  moderate drinkers and heavy drinkers prior to
  marrying, all drink less after they marry than
  they did before (Bachman, Wadsworth, OMalley,
  Honson, and Schulenberg, 1997 Miller-Tutzauer et
  al., 1991). This evidence saysthat marriage
  causes these changes in mens behavior. Getting
  married moves men away from destructive and
  unhealthy drinking behavior and towards
  moderation or abstinence. (The Case For
  Marriage, Waite and Gallagher)

4
Single vs. Married Men (3)

• And, its not just alcohol. Both young
  men and women smoked less,and snorted less
  cocaine, during the year before marriage.
  Marijuana use, which tends to drop after high
  school anyway, drops 2 to 3 times more rapidly
  for those who marry compared to those who do not.
• (The Case For Marriage, Waite and Gallagher)

5
Married and Engaged Couples are Less Likely to be
Violent

• 3-4 of married couples
• 11-12 of engaged cohabitors
• 13-15 of disengaged cohabitors
• Tabulations from the
  National Survey of Families and Households,
  1987-88

6
Dr. Linda Waite

• The research clearly shows that, outside of
  hying thee to a nunnery, the safest place for a
  woman is inside marriage.
• (The Case For Marriage, Waite and Gallagher,
  page 152)

7
Married Women are Safer

• Single and divorced women
• 4-5 times more likely to be victims of crimes of
  violence.
• 10 times more likely to be raped
• 3 times more likely to be victims of aggravated
  assault than wives.
• (The Case For Marriage, Waite and Gallagher ,
  page 152)

8
Married Men are Safer

• Bachelors are 4 times more likely to be victims
  of crimes of violence than husbands.
• (The Case For Marriage, Waite and Gallagher,
  page 152)

9
Fatal Abuse of Children in Canadian study

• Children two years of age and younger are 70
  to 100 times more likely to be killed at the
  hands of their stepparents than by their
  biological parents. (Younger children, because of
  their small size, are much more vulnerable.)
• The Heritage Foundation,
  Backgrounder

10
Fatal Abuse of Childrenin British study

• The data from Britain predict a smaller
  risk, but this research is not as rigorous as the
  Canadian study. The British study reports that
  fatal abuse of children of all ages occurs three
  times more frequently in stepfamilies than in
  intact married families.
• The Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder

11
Neglected Children

• Neglect of childrenis twice as high among
  separated and divorced parents.
• The Heritage Foundation,
  Backgrounder

12
Rate of Sexual Abuseof Girls

• The rate of sexual abuse of girls by their
  stepfathers is at least six or seven times
  higherthan sexual abuse of daughters by their
  biological fathers who remain in intact
  families.
• The Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder

13
Families in the U.S. where the father is absent
make up

• 63 of youth suicides
• 71 of all high school dropouts
• 75 of all adolescent substance abuse patients
• 70 of juveniles in state-operated institutions.
• The Critical Importance Of Responsible
  Fatherhood, Murray Davis, Chairman, Dads of
  Michigan, to the Joint House Committee Hearings,
  November 5, 2001, Detroit, Michigan

14
Families in the U.S. where the father is absent
make up

• 85 of all persons incarcerated in prisons
• 85 of children exhibiting behavior disorders
• 90 of all homeless and runaway children
• The Critical Importance Of Responsible
  Fatherhood, Murray Davis, Chairman, Dads of
  Michigan, to the Joint House Committee Hearings,
  November 5, 2001, Detroit, Michigan

15
Absent Biological FatherAnd Criminal Behavior

• A (1998) U.S. longitudinal study which
  tracked over 6,400 boys over a period of 20 years
  (well into their adult years) found that children
  without biological fathers in the home are
  roughly three times more likely to commit a crime
  that leads to incarceration than are children
  from intact families.
• The Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder, page 6

16
Impact on Daughters

• Daughters raised outside of intact marriages
  are approximately three times more likely to end
  up young, unwed mothers than are children whose
  parents married and stayed married.
• Why Marriage Matters, page 3

17
Dr. Judith Wallerstein

• Early sex was very common among girls in the
  divorced families and has been described in
  several national studies. In our study, one in
  five had her first sexual experience before the
  age of 14. Over half were sexually active with
  multiple partners during their high school years.
  In the comparison group, the great majority of
  girls postponed sex until the last year of high
  school or their early years of college.
• The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, Judith
  Wallerstein, PhD, p. 189

18
Children with Married ParentsDo Better

• Half as likely to drop out of high school
• More likely to go to college to graduate
• Half as likely to have a teen birth
• Less likely to have emotional problems

19
Children in Poverty

• Children 0-6 Years Old Living in Poverty
• Overall 1 in 10 live in poverty
• Living in 1 in 3 live in poverty
• Female-headed
• Households
• Environmental Scan of Lenawee County (MI),
  Lenawee United Way and Volunteer Center, 2003

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Is Povertya Selection Effect?

• Women with a first premarital pregnancy leading
  to birth experienced a poverty rate of
• Those with shotgun weddings 20
• Those who did not marry 47
• (CLASP Policy Brief, Couples and Marriage
  Series, Brief No. 3, P. 5)

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Selection Effect (2)

• Divorce and unmarried childbearing increase
  poverty for both children and mothers.
• Child poverty rates are very high primarily
  because of growth of single-parent families.

22
Selection Effect (3)

• When parents fail to marry and stay married,
  children are more likely to experience deep and
  persistent poverty, even after controlling for
  race and family background.

23
Selection Effect (4)

• The majority of children who grow up outside of
  intact married families experience at least one
  year of dire poverty (family incomes less than
  half the official poverty threshold). Divorce as
  well as unmarried childbearing plays a role
  Between one-fifth and one-third of divorcing
  women end up in poverty following the divorce.
• Why Marriage Matters, page 9

24
Graduation Rate(Nationally)

• High School 88
• 4 Years of College 25.6
• Environmental Scan of Lenawee County (MI),
  Lenawee United Way and Volunteer Center, 2003,
  page 15

25
Graduation Rates (2)

• Studies have linked graduation rates to the
  number of times a child moves while attending
  school, with one move decreasing the average
  graduation rate to 68, two moves to 56, and
  three moves to 30.
• Environmental Scan of Lenawee County (MI),
  Lenawee United Way and Volunteer Center, 2003,
  page 15

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Graduation Rates Linkedto Household Moves

• The number of times a child moves while
  attending school decreases the graduation rate
  from high school
• Number of Moves Rate Reduces To
• 1 68
• 2 56
• 3 30
• Environmental Scan of Lenawee County (MI),
  Lenawee United Way and Volunteer Center, 2003,
  page 15

27
Life Expectancy ofAdult Children of Divorce

• The parents divorce lowered the life expectancy
  of the adult children by 4 years.
• Forty-year-olds from divorced homes were three
  times as likely to dire from all causes as
  forty-year-olds whose parents stayed married.
• (The Case For Marriage, Waite and
  Gallagher)

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Adult Children fromDivorced Parents are

• 70 more likely to have circulatory problems
• 56 more likely to show signs of mental illness
• 27 more likely to report chronic aches and pains
• 26 more likely to rate their overall health as
  poor
• (The Case For Marriage, Waite and Gallagher)

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Stability in Childrens LivesBy Family Makeup

• Children living with both biological parents at
  birth compared to the percent of children who
  will not be living with biological parents after
• 1 Year 5 Years 10 Years
• Cohabiting Parents 15 50 66
• Married Parents 4 15 33
• (The Case For Marriage, Waite and Gallagher)

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Number of Alcohol-Related Problems
SOURCE Umberson (1987) Figure 5. Reports of
Problem Drinking in the Past Year, by Marital
Status and Sex
31
Physical Aggression DuringArguments(NSFH
1987-1988)
Net of the effect of education, gender of
respondent, age, race, and ethnicity
32
In Britain, the Serious Abuse of Children in
Stepfamilies Was Six Times More Likely than for
Children of Intact Married Families
Comparative Risk Ratios for Serious Abuse,
1982-1988
Note No U.S. data by family structure
availableSource Robert Whelian, Broken Homes
and Battered Children, 1994.
33
In Wisconsin, Juvenile Incarceration Rates for
Children of Divorced Parents are 12 TimesHigher
than for Children in Two-Parent Families
Juvenile Incarceration Rate, Two-Parent Family
Rate 1
Source Heritage calculations, based on 1993 data
from Wisconsin Department of Health and Human
Services and U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current
Population Survey.
34
Percent of Families with ChildrenLiving in
Poverty by Family Structure
Source Heritage Center for Data Analysis
calculations based on data from 1995 Survey of
Consumer Finance, Federal Reserve Board.
35
Poverty Rates
SOURCE McLanahan and Sandefur (199482)
Figure 14. Percentages of Children in Poverty at
Age 16, by Race and Family Structure
36
Impact of Divorce on Incomeof Families with
Children
1993 Average Annual Income
Source Mary E. Corcoran and Ajay Chaudray, The
Dynamics of Childhood Poverty, Future of
Children, 1997.
37
Median Household Wealth ofPersons Aged 51-61, by
Marital Status
1993 Household Capital Wealth
Source James P. Smith, Marriage, Assets and
Savings, Rand Corporation, 1995.
38
Percentages of Dropouts
SOURCE McLanahan and Sandefur (199441)
Figure 13. Percentages of Adult Children Who Did
Not Complete High School by Childhood
Family Structure
39
Cohabitation Rates of Young Adults by Parents
Marital Status
Percent Ever Cohabited
Age of Young Adults
Source Paul Amato and Alan Booth, A Generation
at Risk, 1997, p. 112.
40
Married Women Live Longer
Probability of Survival
Age
Lillard, L.A., Waite, L.J. (1995). Til Death
Do Us Part Marital Disruption and Morality.
American Journal of Sociology, 100, 1131-1156
41
So Do Married Men
Probability of Survival
Age
Lillard, L.A., Waite, L.J. (1995). Til Death
Do Us Part Marital Disruption and Morality.
American Journal of Sociology, 100, 1131-1156