Marriage holds the key to keeping families together

New research reveals that just 3% of unmarried couples with children stay together

If you want to keep your family together than all you need to do is get married, says new research.

The latest study on marriage reveals that just 3% of unmarried couples with children stay together until their child is 16.

Results show that marriage is more important than all other factors in family stability, which is a key factor in child development.

According to the census, one in three unmarried couples separate before their child's fifth birthday, which is four times the rate of married parents.

Differences in income and education brackets did not alter the research findings, with unmarried cohabiting parents remaining at least twice as likely to split up than married couples across every category.

Harry Benson, from the Bristol Community Family Trust said, ‘Based on data of 15,000 new mothers, marriage is the single biggest predictor, above and beyond the effects of income, education, age, ethnic group, benefit receipt and birth order.

‘In a new analysis using census data, I found that 60 % of families remain intact until their children are 15. Of these, 97% are married.'

Education secretary Ed Balls admitted that the evidence suggests that marriage does help ‘children do better'.

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