Feds tout benefits of getting hitched

I want you to get married
$5 MIL. CAMPAIGN | Feds tout benefits of getting hitched


February 24, 2009

BY SHARON JAYSON
Marriage has turned into quite a quandary for many young adults.

Should they or shouldn't they? Can they escape divorce? Will moving in together forestall a breakup?

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Marriage? Most believe in it
The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center commissioned the Chicago youth-research firm TRU to get inside the heads of 18- to 30-year-olds. Through online surveys of 3,672 men and women over the summer, its researchers identified five groups:
• • 14 percent who express strong sentiments against marriage.

• • 22 percent who aren't ready but say they eventually plan to wed.

• • 23 percent who have a practical view of marital unions and often live together first.

• • 19 percent who are enmeshed in the magic of love.

• • 22 percent who have a strong belief in the institution of marriage.

The average age at first marriage is almost 26 for women and 28 for men. A growing percentage of Americans aren't marrying. Federal statistics report 7.1 marriages per 1,000 people in 2008, down from 10 per 1,000 in 1986.

Faced with such numbers, the federal government is funding a $5 million national media campaign, launching this month, that extols the virtues of marriage for 18- to 30-year-olds. The campaign includes ads on Facebook and MySpace, videos on YouTube, spots on radio talk shows, ads in magazines and public transit and a new Web site, TwoOfUs.org.

"We're not telling people, 'Get married,' but, 'Don't underestimate the benefits of marriage,' " said Paul Amato, a Pennsylvania State University sociologist and adviser to the federally funded National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, which is spearheading the campaign.

Research suggests benefits for those who marry: better health, greater wealth, more happiness and improved well-being for kids.

Peter Picard of TRU, a Chicago youth-research firm helping shape the campaign, said his staff's surveys turned up a shocker. "One of the surprising things, given the divorce rates and the culture, was that the motivation for marriage is quite high," Picard said.

Some say the government has no business using tax dollars to promote marriage.

"There is a real and justified suspicion about the role that government can play in this discussion," said William Galston of the Brookings Institution, who was a domestic policy adviser in the Clinton administration.
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