Letter to the Editor
What the figures tell
Dear Sir,
Recently I came across some intriguing statisticswhich I would like to share with your readers.
The Church has been accused of not being involved enough in solvingsocial problems, but the reality is that statistics such as theseindicate that if anyone is NOT actively involved in the life andcommitment of the Church, he is much more likely to become oneof the statistics himself. For instance:-
- Boys raised outside of an intact nuclear family are more thantwice as likely as other boys to end up in prison, even controllingfor a range of social and economic factors (Harper and McLanahan1998).
- Children raised in a single-parent family are twice as likelyto drop out of high school, and girls raised in such a familyare more than twice as likely to have a child out-of-wedlock asa teenager, compared to children who grow up with their biologicalparents (McLanahan and Sandefur 1994).
- Children who grew up in a single parent home are twice as likelyto get divorced than children who grew up in a two-parent biologicalfamily (Bumpass and Sweet 1995).
- "[Young] people from single-parent families or step-familieswere two to three times more likely to have had emotional or behavioralproblems than those who had both of their biological parents presentin the home." (Zill and Schoenborn 1990: p. 9).
- The chances of a daughter being sexually abused by her stepfatherare at least seven times greater than by her biological father(Popenoe 1996).
- "[P]reschoolers in Hamilton [Ontario] living with one naturalparent and one
step-parent in 1993 were 40 times as likely to become child abusestatistics as like-aged children living with two natural parents"(Wilson and Daly 1987: p. 228).
- A child is between 10 and 100 times more likely to be assaultedor killed if he or she lives in a household that includes an unrelatedmale (Konner 1999).
- Marriage socializes men. Once married, men earn more, work more,and attend church more often. They also frequent bars/tavernsless (Nock 1998).
- Individuals who cohabit before they marry face a significantlyhigher chance of getting divorced than those who do not cohabit.Married couples, where both spouses have cohabited, are between33% (Cherlin 1992) and 50% (Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, and Michaels1994) more likely to divorce than married couples, where neitherspouse has cohabited.
- "Cohabiting couples are less satisfied than married spouseswith their partnerships; are not as close to their parents, areless committed to each other; and, if they eventually marry, havehigher chances of divorce" (Nock 1998: 4).
- Women in cohabiting relationships are more likely to sufferphysical and sexual abuse (Stets 1991).
- Men and women who marry as virgins are significantly less likelyto divorce. Men who marry as virgins are 37% less likely to divorceand women who marry as virgins are 24% less likely to divorce(Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, and Michaels 1994).
- Teenage girls tend to seek relationship commitment and teenageboys tend to be more interested in sexual conquest. For instance,one study of teenagers found that eight percent of girls wantedsexual intercourse when they were "going steady," but45 percent of boys wanted sex at this stage of intimacy. Thus,teenage sexual activity tends to favor the interests of boys butnot girls (Maccoby 1998).
- "[R]espondents who, in 1982, did not attend religious services,were also 2.5 times more likely to have been divorced than respondentswho attended religious services regularly." (Clydesdale 1997:625)
- Couples who share the same denomination are 42% more likelyto be very happy than couples who do not. Moreover, higher ratesof attendance and theological conservatism are also associatedwith greater marital happiness -- especially when spouses havesimilar beliefs and attendance patterns (Heaton and Pratt 1990).
- Men who attend church once a week or more are significantlyless likely to physically abuse their wives. "The odds ofcommitting partner violence are lower by more than half amongmen who attend services regularly -- at least once a week -- thanamong those who attend once a year or less" (Ellison, Bartkowski,and Anderson 1999:98).
I hope all readers will take a long and thorough look at theseclaims that have been statistically verified. Let them ask themselveswho it is that has been consistently proclaiming that marriageis most important and intended to be permanent. Who is it thathas been proclaiming that it is important to remain celibate (ordesert all sexual activity) before marriage? Then let them sitdown and write out any good reason why, if they are concernedabout domestic abuse, child abuse, and marital happiness and stability,they do not involve themselves with the Body of Christ with itsproven track-record in these matters. It is futile to desert whatis proven to work for what has no statistics to prove its effectiveness.
I promise you all that we will continue by the grace of the Lordto be truth-tellers in an age of spin.
I am also providing to the Editor the documenting for these statistics,to verify their authenticity.
(The Reverend)
Nicholas J. G. Sykes
Beach Bay