While cohabiting couples have similarly high levels of sex, married men and women have more satisfaction in the bedroom. That's because married people know the tastes of their partner better and can safely cater to them, while the emotional investment in the relationship boosts the thrill. In addition to having more sex, the married have more money. Further, married partners are more productive around the home than single people because each spouse can afford to develop some skills and neglect others, thereby increasing efficiency. Married couples also save more of their earnings than do single people at the same level of income.
Children do better in two-parent families.
Children in single-parent households are twice as likely to drop out of high school, and they are more likely to become teenage parents. They are also far more likely to grow up poor. Children of single-parent families also move more often, thereby losing such important sources of support as neighbors and other community members. While married motherhood lowers women's wages, they use their husband's support to give them time with their kids, a benefit generally unavailable to the nonmarried. Divorce drastically diminishes women's financial well-being.