Now, almost 40 years later, after years of living for the moment and ever-climbing cohabitation rates, new evidence is showing that America is finally waking up to the fact that marriage and families is better after all.
In comparing results from a similar survey three years earlier, Pew found that 47 percent of U.S. adults say women serving as single parents is not good for society—an increase of 7 percent from the previous survey. While 43 percent say it doesn’t make a difference, only 10 percent say single-parenting is positive for society. Perhaps the fallout from absent fathers, and the toll it has taken on children and in our inner cities, has been a wake-up call.
On the issue of cohabitation, nearly a quarter of those polled said that couples living together without being married isn’t good for society—up five points from the previous survey—with the greatest increase among African Americans—those who have seen the worst devastation from the breakdown of the family.
Among African Americans, there was an increase of 8 percent who believed cohabitation was harmful. Four out of five African American children raised by a single parent live at or below the poverty line, while among African American children who live in intact, married families, only 10 percent do. So, tragically, the African American community knows the negative consequences of single-parenting and cohabitation well.
When politicians, activists, and social commentators talk about inequality, they often leave out the critical role marriage plays in keeping parents and children above the poverty line. There’s long-standing evidence that the breakdown of the nuclear family is the primary reason why the gulf between the “haves” and “have nots” has widened over the past 50 years.
But besides the economic consequences, Americans are beginning to see other reasons why cohabitation is not what it’s cracked up to be. Numerous studies have shown that cohabitating couples—if they do eventually marry—are still more likely to divorce.
If that’s the case, it’s a rose that I’m glad is beginning to lose its bloom, as current cohabitation arrangements have been nothing more than a bouquet of personal, economic, and societal thorns.
Thankfully, Americans are beginning to wake up to that fact, and it’s my hope that the trend toward affirming marriage as good for society, and cohabitation as bad, only continues to grow in the years to come. Men, women, and perhaps most importantly, children are going to benefit from this new awareness. Reagan’s thinking was right after all—the family unit is fundamental and important after all —and thankfully more Americans are beginning to agree.
