Marriage
- Married couples have been consistently more likely than cohabiting couples to report high well-being, loving and supportive relationships, and low conflict.
Full 2024 Article from Gallup - "Women [in 14,545 households in rural Burkina Faso] who were given free access to medical contraception for three years did not have lower birth rates; we can reject even modest effects."
Abstract of 2024 Study from the National Bureau of Economic Research - 63% of divorcees believed their marriage could have been saved if they had a "better understanding of the commitment of marriage prior to marrying", while only 5% believed their marriage could not have been saved.
Full 2023 Article from Forbes Advisor - "34% of first marriages beginning 2010-2019 dissolved (divorce or separation) by August 2022 among couples who cohabited prior to getting engaged, compared with 23% of marriages dissolved among couples who cohabited after engagement or marriage."
Full 2023 Study from the Institute of Family Studies, see page 3 - A higher rate of cohabitating couples who attended church services on Sunday reported being only somewhat satisfied or worse in their relationship (19.6% of men and 36.7% of women) than married couples (12.8% of men and 21.3% of women).
Full 2023 Study from Communio, see pages 11-12 - "[T]here has been a 91.10% total rise in pornography consumption and solo masturbation since 2000. This result suggests that individuals are becoming increasingly dependent on pornography as a source of sexual gratification, decreasing the frequency of sexual encounters with partners."
Full 2023 Study in Cureus - Married couples who regularly attended religious services were more likely to report frequent sex and that they were very happy with their sexual relationship, compared to couples who attended less often or never.
Data from 2022 Study from the Institute of Family Studies, see charts - 54% of married women and 49% of married men reported being "very happy" in their relationships compared to 40% of cohabiting women and 35% of cohabiting men.
Full 2019 Article from the Institute for Family Studies - "Those who cohabited before engagement (43.1%) reported lower marital satisfaction, dedication, and confidence as well as more negative communication and greater potential for divorce than those who cohabited only after engagement (16.4%) or not at all until marriage (40.5%)."
Abstract of 2009 Study in the Journal of Family Psychology
Fatherhood
- "Married fathers spend twice as much time in managerial child care activities, such as planning activities and picking up/dropping off their children, than cohabiting fathers."
Full 2023 Article from the Institute for Family Studies - "The rate of Harm Standard abuse for children living with two married biological parents (2.9 children per 1,000) is significantly lower than the rate for children living in all other conditions of family structure and living arrangement (10.2 or more children per 1,000). Again, the highest rate was among children living with just one parent and that parent’s unmarried partner (33.6 per 1,000 children)."
Full 2010 Study from the Department of Health & Human Services, see pages 5-19 to 5-25 - "Children residing in households with adults unrelated to them were 8 times more likely to die of maltreatment than children in households with 2 biological parents."
Abstract of 2002 Study in Pediatrics - "Children who had a father surrogate living in the home were twice as likely to be reported for maltreatment after his entry into the home than those with either a biological father... or no father figure in the home."
Abstract of 2001 Study in Child Maltreatment - More data available from the National Fatherhood Initiative.
Family
- When asked about the preferred number of children in a family, 45% of American adults said 3 or more children would be ideal, the highest percentage since 1971. Women were slightly more likely than men to give this response.
Full 2023 Article from Gallup
Gender Discordance
- This landmark study commissioned by NHS England serves as an "independent review of gender identity services for children and young people".
Full 2024 Document from The Cass Review - "Individuals who underwent gender-affirming surgery had a 12.12-fold higher suicide attempt risk than those who did not"
Full 2024 Study in Cureus - Among biological female patients who received cross-sex hormones as part of "gender-affirming care", 88% experienced serious Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs). Among biological males who received cross-sex hormones, 53.6% experienced serious ADRs.
Abstract of 2024 Study in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy - "Clinical gender dysphoria does not appear to be predictive of all-cause nor suicide mortality when psychiatric treatment history is accounted for."
Full 2024 Study in BMJ Mental Health, with further explanation in this article's section, "Does the Finnish Study Show That Gender Transition Reduces Suicides?" - Twelve months after a group of British 12-15-year-olds diagnosed with "gender dysphoria" started receving pubert blockers, psychological outcomes were more likely to deteriorate than improve. No change was more likely than deterioration or improvement.
Full 2023 Study in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy - Suicide attempts were twice as common for male patients after undergoing vaginoplasty (3.3%) as before (1.5%), and attempts were equally as common for female patients after undergoing phalloplasty (0.8%) as before (0.8%).
Abstract of 2021 Study in The Journal Urology - Childen who presented to gender services were much more likely to have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including having a mother with mental illness (52.6%) or a father with mental illness (40.4%).
Full 2021 Study in Frontiers in Psychology, see page 9 - A diagnosis of autism was more common among people who identified as "gender-diverse" (24%) than the general population (5%).
Full 2020 Article from Spectrum re-posted in The Transmitter - Fact-check of American Academy of Pediatrics policy entitled "Ensuring comprehensive care and support for transgender and gender-diverse children and adolescents".
Full 2019 Article in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy - "Even though surgery and hormonal therapy alleviates gender dysphoria, it is apparently not sufficient to remedy the high rates of morbidity and mortality found among transsexual persons."
Full 2011 Study in PLoS ONE
Note: Various references are cited on this page. Their inclusion does not imply endorsement of an author or his or her work, or agreement with an author’s position on marriage, family, or sexuality.