Marriage as it relates to poverty

So came across this interesting poverty reduction article which basically talks about how broken families significantly increases the risk of a child growing up and staying in poverty.

Here are some of the interesting facts:

- A large majority—92%—of children whose families make more than $75,000 a year live with two parents (including step-parents). At the bottom of the income scale—families earning less than $15,000—only 20% of children live with two parents.

- Those who marry “till death do us part” end up, on average, four times richer than those who never marry.

- A study by Adam Thomas and Isabel Sawhill concluded that if the black family had not collapsed between 1960 and 1998, the black child-poverty rate would have been 28.4% rather than 45.6%. And if white families had stayed like they were in 1960, the white child poverty rate would have been 11.4% rather than 15.4%.

- If she does find and wed the man of her dreams, Miss Ballard will encounter a problem. She has never seen her own father. Having never observed a stable marriage close-up, she will have to guess how to make one work. By contrast, Ashley, the criminology student at the nearby university, has never seen a divorce in her family. This makes it much more likely that, when the time is right, she will get married and stay that way. And that, in turn, makes it more likely that her children will follow her to college. (dang, changing a persons culture, experience, worldview)

-A survey of teenagers by the University of Michigan found that 64% of boys and 57% of girls agreed that “it is usually a good idea for a couple to live together before getting married in order to find out whether they really get along.” Research suggests otherwise. Two-thirds of American children born to co-habiting parents who later marry will see their parents split up by the time they are ten. Those born within wedlock face only half that risk.

Americans expect a lot from marriage. Whereas most Italians say the main purpose of marriage is to have children, 70% of Americans think it is something else. They want their spouse to make them happy. (wait, isn't it that we're suppose to love like Christ loved the church, give you life for that person, love in a pure way...selflessly, unconditionally, for the purpose of building the other person up)

**I thought this was cool, want a poverty reduction strategy, build healthy marriages.