Why Marriage Matters: Reasons to Believe in Marriage in Postmodern Society

In this time of so many divorces this was a great book detailing the many benefits of marriage. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who falsely believes that marriage has no value and that single life is the best.

The results of over 100 years of scientific research are gathered together in one place, spanning studies from the 1890s to the present day. The data cover multiple cultures and deal with all stages and ages of life. Literally hundreds of individual studies are represented, many of which were done by researchers at some of the most "liberated" universities in Europe and America. Yet the results of all these studies uniformly support a consistent set of notions: that human beings fare best when they are reared in intact nuclear families; that they prosper best in adult life when joined, male and female, in lifelong monogamous relationships sanctioned and supported by the community; that both adults and children suffer enormously when divorce breaks up a family.The implications are clear. The post modern mantras that "children are resilient," and that "we're better off apart if we don't agree" are just plain wrong.The lessons to be learned are not just for those facing marital difficulties. I think the message is especially important for re-establishing in our children the expectation that marriage is forever, so choose well and work hard. This book may be a little dry for your teenager and addresses a difficult subject for many parents to discuss with their own children, so you might wnat to extract some nuggets for small group discussion at key places like church youth gatherings. In the process, you will probably discover some reasons of your own for "keeping at it."

My husband and I read this book at a critical point in our marriage, and found it a life-saver. Many of the author's points are based on research and statistics, but when he writes from the heart, it touches your heart. It truly was an eye-opener and beneficial to us.

This was a good reference for my daughter writing a school paper on marriage.

This book brought up some very interesting and little mentioned facts about the positive effects marriage in all aspects of your life. I found it enlightening that marriage has a positive effect one one's health!