Thanks for sharing, Sarah!

Not sure if you noticed, but the study you shared actually supported the fact that both married and unmarried couples can offer equally-stable environments in which to raise children.

“The greater stability of married parents compared to cohabiting parents likely results from a wide range of differences… all of which may certainly improve the likelihood of marriage, be expressed through marriage, and even assisted by marriage — but which have little to do with marital status itself.”

And,

“If family stability is the end, getting cohabiting couples to marry is not the right means. Instead, we should foster the ingredients of stability — especially better family planning, more education, and higher incomes.”

Because while “unmarried cohabiting” couples may statistically have more unplanned pregnancies, less education and lower income, it’s those three factors —not the cohabitation — that causes instability. (Correlation is not causation.)

In other words, by this study’s own account: if two cohabiting and otherwise committed people have degrees, earn high income, and deliberately have a baby together, that household is every bit as stable as if they were married.