For any young couple considering the future, marriage may enter their mind, but that often leads to negative thoughts. Why even seek marriage in the first place? There is more fun in numbers, or so they say. We have heard that at least half of all marriages will end in divorce. Married people do not have sex anymore. However, the truth is that marriage is more lasting than people think, only a few marriages are sexless and marriage provides certain additional benefits.

While the statistic that 50 percent of today's marriages will end in divorce cited by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2002 is often referred to, this data does not consider individual circumstances. A well-educated person (some college) who marries over the age of 25, has a child after marriage, has a religious affiliation, whose own parents are still married and who has an income of over $50,000 has a much lower chance of divorce during the first 10 years of marriage than people who do not fall under these categories, according to a Rutgers University study. Considering age alone, an article in USA Today states that the divorce rate for those marrying over age 25 is about 25 percent. The statistics lead to the positive, common-sense conclusion that if you get married when you are ready and sure, your marriage is far more likely to last.

One key to a lasting relationship that experts often cite is communication. Dr. Susan Sprecher of Illinois State University stated that her studies have shown that love is more likely to grow rather than die over time, but couples break up because they are dissatisfied with aspects of the relationship. If love is present in a relationship, surely it can be saved. A 2003 University of Minnesota-Brigham Young University study that analyzed 23 marital studies found that simply communicating with one's partner can raise the success of marriage by 30 percent.

Newsweek states that only 15 to 20 percent of couples have sex only 10 times a year or less, defined as a sexless marriage by experts. Newsweek also states that over half of couples have sex more than once a week. While the male virility is celebrated in the media, research suggests that the death of sex in a marriage has as much to do with men as with women. The medical term for loss of sex drive is hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSD). Twenty to 30 percent of men and 30 to 50 percent of women say they have little or no sex drive, according to USA Today. As a remedy for hypoactive sexual desire disorder, psychologist Michele Weiner-Davis recommends in Psychology Today, "Just do it." Since the problem could be hormonal or disease-related, it would also be wise to seek a physician's advice.

There are additional benefits to a healthy marriage besides regular sex, one of which is increased health. At a meeting of the American Heart Association, researchers stated that a healthy relationship decreases blood pressure that has increased from job strain. Married people also suffer less from long-term illnesses, according to Dr. Todd Linaman, citing a 1997 study. Dr. Linaman also states that married people are happier than singles and make more money over time, citing other studies. In addition, there are about 1,000 federal legal benefits to married couples and about 400 for each state in the United States.

We need to keep in mind that marital benefits are not just for couples, but also for children. If the goal for a couple is to have children, separation is a poor choice for children. Most single-parent families headed by a mother are in poverty, regardless of her job, according to an article by David Wood in Pediatrics. A 2000 report by Todd Michael Franke synthesizing the result of 23 studies indicates that children from single-parent households are almost two times more likely to have pulled a knife or gun on another person in the past year. In "Criminal Justice and Behavior," Knight and Prentky conclude that a majority of violent rapists in their study came from a single-parent household. Researchers from Ohio State University, cited in USA Today in 2002, determined that children of divorce perform more poorly than the children of married couples, even after the emotional upheaval of separation has subsided.

We live in a society that places an emphasis on material goods and short-term satisfaction, but as the statistics show, marriage is not impossible for the children of baby-boomers and it brings long-term benefits to health, sex life, legal status, financial prosperity and the welfare of our children. In addition, marriage appears to be safer than believed by our popular culture. This is not to say that maintaining a marriage is easy or that marriage is not endangered, but rather to say that marriage is worthwhile and attainable.

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