Importance of Marriage to Families and Society

Paul R. Amato in his research, “The Impact of Family Formation Change on the Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Well-Being of the Next Generation” shared, “…children growing up with two continuously married parents are less likely to experience a wide range of cognitive, emotional, and social problems, not only during childhood but also in adulthood”(Amato, 2). What exactly does this mean, and how does a child’s upbringing determine their future lives? When families start to break down, so does society. The impact of the disintegration of families on society is wreaking havoc on children who are the future parents in this world.

Amato’s research shows how children raised in traditional two-parent families differs from children who are raised in single-parent families because “those who grow up in stable, two-parent families have a higher standard of living, receive more effective parenting, experience more cooperative co-parenting, are emotionally closer to both parents, and are subjected to fewer stressful events and circumstances”(Amato).  Stressful events and circumstances being things like, economic hardship, quality of parenting, and exposure to stress.

President Spencer W. Kimball warned people back in General Conference in October 1980, “Many of the social restraints which in the past have helped to reinforce and to shore up the family are dissolving and disappearing. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us.” From 1980 to 2000 the number of children born into single parent families more than tripled and continues to rise (Marquardt, 11). We need to do everything we can to preserve families and have social programs in place that teach children the importance of marriage and families as the world’s future depends upon it. Children and youth could be taught in school, community, and even church settings, the importance of marriage and family stability. Marriages preparation courses should be made readily available to couples wanting to get married and this would greatly improve chances of couples staying married because they will have learned some tools in how to make their marriages stronger.

References:

Photo credit: https://www.cheshirefitnesszone.com/it-takes-two-to-talk/

Amato, P. (2005). The Impact of Family Formation Change on the Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Well-Being of the Next Generation. The Future of Children, 15(2), 75-96. Retrieved January 14, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/3556564

Kimball, Spencer, W. (1980, November). Families Can Be Eternal. Ensign, 4.

Marquardt, E., Blankenhorn, D., Lerman, Robert I., et al. “The President’s Marriage Agenda for the Forgotten Sixty Percent,” The State of Our Unions (Charlottesville, VA: National Marriage Project and Institute for American Values, 2012).