For years there have been many programs focused on promoting and enhancing marriages. Many policymakers anticipate that the marriage promotion initiatives would benefit children most by allowing them to continue to live with their biological parents instead of alternative family structures such as single parent families.
The effort to promote marriage is linked to the well-being of children because public opinion and research findings have suggests that children who live with their married parents fare better than those in other types of family structures do. Various research findings suggest that living in an alternative family arrangement, particularly in single-mother households, can reduce the monetary resources, parental time and material resources that are available to children, thus placing them at a disadvantage.
On the other hand, there is the opposing argument that questions whether the same positive outcomes would apply to children who live with parents whose marriages are unstable. Some research findings have indicated that even prior to actual divorce or separation, the wellbeing of the children involved is negatively affected due to them living in an unstable and stressful environment.
Divorce reform policies have become a major political and social agenda based on the belief that decrease in the divorce rate will promote the well-being of families in general, and result in positive political and social outcomes. This bottom line however is that laws are limited in restricting marital behavior, and therefore cannot depict how married couples interact behind closed doors. Therefore, the lingering question is…Are All Marriages Worth Saving????
