A few years ago, it was not frequent to have children without being previously married and according to a study carried out by the Council on Contemporary Families (USA), couples who chose to follow this path were 60% more likely to end up in divorce compared to those who married before becoming parents.
But the trend is changing, and today there are more and more couples becoming parents before signing their marriage union, or even deciding never to marry after the arrival of the children. What do studies say about the success of these types of couples?
A few years ago, the order of the factors did alter the result ... but what now?
The organization Council on Contemporary Families, dependent on the University of Texas (USA) has conducted a thorough sociological study to determine the relationship that exists between marriage, its success and paternity.
The researchers analyzed data from American couples who had their first child between the decade of 1985 and 1995, and compared them with those obtained from couples who became parents between 1997 and 2010.
25 years ago, education, family history, race or ethnicity had a lot of weight in making these kinds of decisions, and there was a clear relationship between these factors and the decision to marry before becoming parents.
Thus, and according to the study, it has been seen that couples who had a baby before marriage in the period between 1985 and 1995 they divorced 60% more than couples who married before becoming parents.
However, the data analyzed between 1997 and 2010 show a change in the trend, and the couples who were part of the study and who opted for get married after becoming parents they did not have a greater risk of divorce as it happened years ago, regardless of whether they lived together or not before having children.
This sociological study contrasts, however, with the one he published a few years ago Lincoln University and the Marriage Foundation. On that occasion, the data studied revealed that only 24% of couples who married before becoming parents separated, compared with 56% of ruptures that had couples who married after having children.
Babies born before marriage are increasingly
What does seem clear, one study or another is analyzed, is that The social stigma of yesteryear of conceiving before getting married has greatly diminished, and marriage is no longer the necessary starting point to start a family.
In the last 25 years, maternity figures before marriage have doubled, from 17% in the decade from 1985 to 1995, to 35% in the period between 1997 and 2010.- From 1985 to 1995: 17% had children before marriage
According to the Council on Contemporary Families, from 1985 to 1995, of the percentage of couples who chose to be parents before marriage, 21% married in the first year of paternity, and 59% did so in the following five years.
- From 1997 to 2010: 35% had children before marriage
On the other hand, of the percentage of couples who were previously unmarried parents between 1997 and 2010, only 15% married in the first year and 48% did so in the following five years.
However, according to the study yet there is a percentage of couples who decide to be parents but never marry. And according to statistics, of this percentage 30% ends up separating in a period of five years, a rupture rate twice as high as that found among the married.
The Lincoln University study came to the same conclusion, which stated that 69% of couples who had children while living together and they never took the step of getting married, they ended up breaking.
Building a home requires true commitment, and the arrival of the children can sometimes wobble the relationship. Therefore, we choose the family model that is chosen, the important thing is to know that children should always be the priority, regardless of the decisions their parents make.
Via USA Today, The Telegraph
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