Howard, K., & Reeves, R. V. (2016, October 26). The marriage effect: Money or parenting?

Does it matter if your parents were married or not?For richer or poorer. A new blogpost on the Brookings website explores why children raised by married parents typically do better in life on almost every available economic and social measure. Is it an effect of marriage itself, or is it simply because married parents have, on average, higher family incomes? The authors argue that there is a growing marriage gap along class lines in America, with fewer poorer couples choosing to marry while the institution flourishes among the affluent and well-educated. They also say that married parents tend to have, on average, higher family incomes anyway. The researchers used benchmarks developed as part of the Brookings Social Genome Model to explore patterns in attainment, cognitive and non-cognitive skills, higher education, and later earnings. Read more of the article for more information.