Groundbreaking Marriage Research

A recent study reports, “Couples who want to stay together should marry before they have their first child… The study was based on 1,783 mothers with teenage children who took part in the state-financed survey called Understanding Society. It found that 76 per cent of mothers who married before becoming a parent were still with the father when the child was 14 or 15 years old. By contrast, of those who married after the birth of their first baby, only 44 per cent were still with their husband when their first-born reached the age of 14 or 15” (Daily Mail Online, March 9, 2015). 

The Marriage Foundation think tank’s lead researcher “Harry Benson said the findings indicated marriage is a bigger influence on parents having a solid relationship than education, which is often cited with wealth as a key driver in encouraging couples to marry and stay married” (ibid.). “Out of all the couples still together 15 years after the birth of their first child, 92 per cent were married. With cohabitee mothers who never married, less than a third were still in their relationship with the father 14 or 15 years later” (ibid.).

About 6,000 years ago God gave guidelines for marriage between one man and one woman that were to be to be the foundation for building a family and having children (see Genesis 2 and 3). The newly released research from the Marriage Foundation lends modern statistical weight to God’s age-old wisdom.

For more ways to find joy in marriage, read our free booklet, God’s Plan for Happy Marriage.