Why Get Married?

"Why get married?" you ask.  Aren't more couples than ever cohabiting and and fewer adults getting married with each passing decade?  Yes, both of those are true, but marriage is still wildly popular for many reasons.  In fact, some people would be surprised to find out that college grads are actually significantly more likely to marry than those with a high school diploma or less, 64% versus 48%, respectively.

Furthermore, the median household income of married versus single is now 48% higher. 46% of the married consider marriage obsolete but only 27% of the college educated. [1] Marriage has actually become the institution of choice among the educated and well-to-do. It is difficult to argue that marriage is out-of-date relic of the past when the "leaders" of society give it such across-the-board support.

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So why are so many people (in America at least) taking the vows willingly?  Well, there are many reasons and it's not just to have kids.  In fact, kids is actually the fourth most important reason for getting married with "love" coming in at #1, "making a lifelong commitment" at #2 and "companionship" in third place. [2]  (Financial stability was #5.)

However let me list another surprising reason to get married that might surprise many:  more sex.  Couples in committed relationships have significantly more sex than singles.  Sure, there are the Wilt Chamberlains and Warren Beattys of the singles world, but the stats clearly show that long term relationships means more whoppie and sack time for the man on the streets.

One set of researchers put it like this:  ""all forms of long-term, committed partnership—married or cohabiting, heterosexual or homosexual—are associated with greater sexual frequency than is singlehood." [3]  Studies have shown, for example that married couples have more sex than unmarried. [6]   

NOTE:  Some research does show, though, that cohabiting couples tend to have a little higher rate of sex than married couples on average according the Durex Sexual Wellbeing Survey of 2001:  146 versus 100 versus 86 time per year for cohabiting, married and single couples, respectively.  [4] 

REFERENCES:

1) Time, Nov 29 2010, p. 49.

2) Time, Nov 29 2010, p. 53.

3) http://family.jrank.org/pages/1102/Marital-Sex-Sexual-Frequency.html

4) http://www.durex.com/en-JP/SexualWellbeingSurvey/ Documents/2001_Global_report_phase_1.pdf

5) Center for Population Dynamics, Arizona State University, "Sexual Frequency and the Stability of Marital and Cohabiting Unions"