New Research Shows Why Men Shouldn’t Reject Marriage

Trending News: New Research Shows The Many Benefits Of Marriage For Men

Long Story Short

More and more American men are turning their backs on marriage, viewing a spouse as a restriction on their freedom. A new research brief explains why that’s a bad idea.

Long Story

What do you think about when it comes to marriage? An ideal life with a happy partner? Something you take on just so you can procreate? Something you don’t want at all? According to new research, it’s increasingly the latter.

The Pew Research Center reported in 2014 that the share of American adults who have never been married has hit 20 percent — a record high. The figure is even higher for young adults. Elsewhere, there has been the growth of the Men Going Their Own Way movement — with its tag line, “…where the modern man preserves and protects his own sovereignty above all else.”

The reasons? The main one is an idea that marriage entails a lack of freedom. And while that’s an obvious excuse to not want to settle down, a new research brief says that the benefits of marriage are being under-represented.

According to Nicholas H. Wolfinger and W. Bradford Wilcox, more education is needed to ensure young people know “the truth about marriage”. Wolfinger is a professor in the University of Utah’s Department of Family and Consumer Studies. Wilcox is a professor of sociology and director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. Together, they’ve authored Men & Marriage: Debunking the Ball and Chain Myth.

And if this sounds like the work of a couple of marriage acolytes (and you may be right; it was released by the Institute for Family Studies, which focuses on strengthening marriage and family life), you should at least listen to some of their statistics, because they’re eye-opening.

First, the marriage premium for men includes higher earnings and more job stability. How much higher earnings, you ask? $16,000, according to Wolfinger and Wilcox.

Second, you get more sex. You get more sex, even, than men who are just co-habiting with a partner. 51 percent versus 39 percent. Compelling.

Third and possibly most importably, married men live longer. So while it’s all fine and dandy to do whatever you want, you’ll die ten years sooner. Also, 43 percent of young married men report they are very happy with life, compared to just 20 percent of single men.

“Marriage is broadly beneficial to men and women alike, and many of these benefits appear to be causal,” Wolfinger said in a University of Utah news release. “In other words, they’re a direct benefit of marriage itself, and not simply a benefit of the fact that happier, healthier, and wealthier men are more likely to get married in the first place.”

Read the entire research brief here.

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When and why did marriage get so on the nose for so many men?

Drop This Fact

An Indiana University study suggests that as many as 23 percent of men and 19 percent of women have admitted to cheating on their spouses.