After reading the University of Virginia’s study of nearly 3000 people to evaluate what makes marriages work, I was delighted to get validation for most of my theories that I espouse on this blog.
Among the highlights of the comprehensive report:
Women who are married are twice as likely to report they’re very happy than single women. 50 percent of married women say they’re “very happy” vs. 25% of single women.
65% of cohabiting parents break up vs. 24% of parents who had a child while married.
People who are married with kids are 8% less very happy than childless couples, but both relationships end up with the same marital satisfaction after 8 years.
People without college degrees get divorced 3x more within the first 10 years of marriage than people with degrees. Divorce has more to do with lack of employability and financial stress than education itself.
58% of married women prefer part time work once they get married. 78% of married men prefer full time work.
Regular church/temple attendance increases “very happy” reports by 9%. People who feel “God” is the center of marriage goes up by 25%. This has more to do with these people being commitment oriented than religious, per se.