Marriage: It's Good for You

We've posted it before that marriage has positive effect on individuals. In "Systematic Review of the Impact of Marriage and Relationship Programs" by the Urban Institute, further studied results are revealed:

Recent research also suggests a relationship between marriage and positive outcomes for adults. Married couples build more wealth on average than singles or cohabiting couples, while divorce and unmarried childbearing increase the risk of poverty for children and mothers (Lupton and Smith, 2002). Individuals who are married are found to have better health and longer life expectancies than similar singles (Lillard and Waite, 1995). Married mothers have lower rates of depression than cohabiting or single mothers (Brown, 2000). Research also shows that unhappily married adults who divorce or separate, on average, are no happier than unhappily married adults who stay together (Waite et al., 2002).

The full 43-page report is available here for download.