The Importance of MARRIAGE Is Being Overlooked.

• Author: Waite, Linda J.
• Position: Decreasing popularity of marriage

Married people drink, smoke, and abuse substances less; live longer; earn more; are wealthier; and have children who do better. Yet, many public policies undermine marriage.

MARRIAGE seems to be less popular with Americans now than in the past. Men and women are marrying for the first time at much older ages than their parents did. They are divorcing more and living together more often and for longer periods. Perhaps most troubling, they are becoming unmarried parents at record rates.

What are the implications, for individuals, of these increases in nonmarriage? If marriage is thought of as an insurance policy--which the institution is, in some respects--does it matter if more people are uninsured or are insured with a term rather than a whole-life policy?

It does matter, because marriage typically provides important and substantial benefits, to individuals as well as society. Marriage improves the health and longevity of men and women; gives them access to a more active and satisfying sex life; increases wealth and assets; boosts children's chances for success; and enhances men's performance at work and their earnings.

A quick look at marriage patterns today compared to, say, 1950 illustrates the extent of recent changes. Figures from the Census Bureau show that, at the height of the baby boom, about one-third of adult whites were not married. Some were waiting to marry for the first time; others were divorced or widowed and not remarried. Nevertheless, most Americans married at least once at some point in their lives, generally in their early 20s.

In 1950, the proportion of black adults not married was approximately equal to that among whites, but since that time, marriage behavior of blacks and whites has diverged dramatically. By 1993, 61% of black women and 58% of black men were not married, compared to 38% of white men and 41% of white women. In contrast to 1950, when slightly over one black adult in three was not married, a majority of black adults are unmarried today. Insofar as marriage "matters," black men and women are much less likely than whites to share in the benefits than they were even a generation ago.

The decline in marriage intimately is connected to the rise in cohabitation--living with someone in a sexual relationship without being married. Although Americans are less likely to be wed today than they were several decades ago, if both marriage and cohabitation are counted, they are about as likely to be "coupled." If cohabitation provides the same benefits to individuals marriage does, then is it necessary to be concerned about this shift? Yes, because a valuable social institution arguably is being replaced by one that demands and offers less.

Perhaps the most disturbing change in marriage appears in its relationship to parenthood. Today, a third of all births occur to women who are not married, with huge, but shrinking, differences between blacks and whites in this behavior. One-fifth of births to white mothers and two-thirds of births to blacks currently take place outside marriage. Although about a quarter of the white unmarried mothers are living with someone when they give birth, so that their children are born into two-parent--if unmarried--families, very few black children born to unwed mothers live with their fathers, too.

These changes in marriage behavior are a cause for concern because, on a number of important dimensions, married men and women do better than those who are unmarried. The evidence suggests that is because they are married.

Healthy behaviors. Married people tend to lead healthier lives than otherwise similar men and women who are not. For example, a 1997 national survey about problem drinking during the past year compared the prevalence of this unhealthy behavior among divorced, widowed, and married men and women. Problem drinking was defined as drinking more than subjects planned to, failing to do things they should have done because of drinking, and/or drinking to the point of hurting their health. Responses showed much lower rates of problem drinking for married than for unmarried men and extremely low reports of this condition for married or unmarried women...