For Melba, recent research on how beneficial marriage can be for couples is something she's not heard much about. Written by University of Chicago sociologist Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher, an associate with the Institute for American Values, the book will say that married couples generally have greater health, happiness and wealth than people who divorce or never marry. We think both are better off. In all things that we can measure, marriage gives men and women the good things in life. Married men and women report more happiness and less depression than cohabitating adults.
Married couples report more satisfying sex lives than single adults.
Married couples have more money and spend less to live separately than single adults maintaining a similar lifestyle. And, there is significantly less domestic violence among married couples than cohabitating adults. Married men earn more than similar single men. It shows up in every country. There can be up to 40 percent higher earnings.