Men and women who are married and regularly attend church are among the happiest couples, according to data compiled by a prominent sociology professor.
Brad Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia and director of the National Marriage Project, told EWTN News Nightly this week that he wrote his latest book, "Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization," after hearing his students' concerns about the state of marriage today.
"They are worried about their marriage prospects, especially the women at UVA," Mr. Wilcox told Tracy Sabol, host of "EWTN News Nightly." "Contrary to popular perception, the data indicates that married men and women are significantly happier than their unmarried counterparts."
Contrary to popular perception, the data indicates that married men and women are significantly happier than their single counterparts. "We've seen a lot of articles (...) about how [women], for example, are really unhappy in marriage and unhappy as mothers," said Mr. Wilcox, citing a recent media report alleging that "married mothers were worse off" than "childless single women."
"In fact, the data tells us exactly the opposite direction," he said. "What we find is that for both women and men, the path to prosperity and happiness runs somewhat through marriage. So, married women and men, for example, are almost twice as likely to be very happy in their lives as their single counterparts."
"There really is no group that is as happy for men as married fathers and for women as married mothers," added Mr. Wilcox. "As difficult as marriage is [and] as difficult as parenting is, the advantage of having a spouse and children for most Americans is quite high."
According to Mr. Wilcox, the happiness factor is even more evident among married couples who regularly attend church.
"What we see in this data is that couples who go to church together are about 15 percentage points more likely to be very happy in their marriage," said Wilcox. "They are 30 to 50 percent less likely to divorce, depending on the dataset."
These high numbers also translate into greater sexual satisfaction for married couples.
"I think what surprised me the most is that not only are they more sexually satisfied on average, but couples who go to church together tend to have more sex than couples who don't go to church at all," said Mr. Wilcox. "So there are a whole host of outcomes that seem better for couples who go to church together."
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The decline in the number of divorces in recent years is an encouraging sign, Mr. Wilcox noted, although the overall decline in the number of marriages poses specific problems.
"The 1970s were known as the divorce revolution," he told Ms. Sabol. "But since then, the divorce rate has declined. Today at least, we estimate that well under one in two couples who marry will end up divorcing. Or, to put it more positively, most couples who marry today are going to go the distance."
"We are seeing, because marriage is more stable, that a growing share of children are being raised in stable married households," added Mr. Wilcox. "That's the good news. The bad news is that for American adults, we are still seeing a fairly sharp decline in marriage rates. This is what is called the closing of the American heart."
Data has long indicated a sustained decline in marriage rates for each age cohort following the "Silent Generation," the group of Americans born between 1928 and 1945. A recent Pew survey found that only 30% of marriage-age Millennials live with a spouse and child, compared to 70% of Silent Generation members at the same stage of their lives.
Last year, Mr. Wilcox told CNA that the sharp drop in the marriage rate among young Americans worried him: "Many adults – more than a third of young adults today in their twenties – will never marry," he said at the time. "That's record demographic territory we're heading into."
National Marriage Week is celebrated in the United States from February 7 to 14 and coincides with World Marriage Day, which takes place on the second Sunday of February.
This article was originally published by Catholic News Agency and then translated by LeCatho | Original link.