Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

A recent post on Next Door asked this question,

What's one thing you did for your children that you would wholeheartedly recommend to other parents?

Well, my policy is almost to never post on social media, but I was tempted to reply,

get married, and if at all possible, stay married.

Of course, the decision to stay married is one that has to be made by both parties in a marriage,

so in many situations a mom or dad will find themselves divorced against their will.

Still, the normalization of divorce was driven by an oft-repeated myth in

Western culture, especially America, the kids will be fine, and that kids need happy parents

more than they need married ones. Statistically, however, children of divorce are not fine,

and we now have even more evidence to prove it. A new study published at the National Bureau of Economic Research

is the largest ever of its kind,

tracking over a million children of divorce for over 50 years.

And the results are staggering.

According to researchers, Andrew Johnson, Maggie Jones, and Nolan Pope,

the average household income immediately after divorce

is less than half that of married parents, and it never fully recovers. Even as adults,

those who are subjected to an early childhood divorce, will make less money, on average,

about 13% less by their late 20s. And according to the authors, this loss is comparable to losing a

year of education or growing up in a lower income neighborhood. Children of divorce also have a

60% higher risk of teen pregnancy and a sharp and persistent increased risk of childhood mortality.

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