Thanks for sharing, Anthony!

The study you shared does indeed cover cohabiting parents — and also concludes that, all things being equal, children fare the same whether parents are legally married or not.

On the one hand, yes:

“Research suggests that children in cohabiting families are at higher risk of poor outcomes compared to children of married parents partly because cohabiting families have fewer socioeconomic resources and partly because of unstable living situations.”

However, it also cites that,

“Cohabitation is more common among couples with low levels of
education.”

And,

“African American and Hispanic cohabiting households are roughly twice as
likely as white cohabiting households to include children.”

Which begs the question of whether non-marital cohabitation may not be the cause of childhood problems but rather another effect of the actual core issues: low-income, underprivileged, or otherwise unstable environments.

And, in fact, this study suggests exactly this, stating:

“Evidence indicates that school achievement and behavioral problems are similar among children living with both biological parents — regardless of marital status.”

(“And,” it adds, “that children in both formal and informal step-families also fare similarly in these areas.”)

Because there’s a difference between correlation and causation, and just because A=B and A=C doesn’t mean B=C.

In other words: yes, emotionally and/or economically unstable people are more likely to have children out of wedlock, but not all unmarried parents are emotionally or economically unstable. And this research suggests that only one group of children suffers, because the issue isn’t the legal marriage, but rather the underlying home.