Marriage in “Middle America” is declining rapidly, a new report by a leading think tank has warned.

According to the study, entitled “The President’s Marriage Agenda for the Forgotten Sixty Percent”, 44 percent of children of ‘moderately educated’ women are now born outside of marriage, up sharply from 13 percent in the 1980s.

‘Moderately educated’ is defined as completing high schools but do not have a four-year college degree.

The study, published by Institute for American Values (IAV), says that nearly 60 percent of Americans aged 25 to 60 fall into this category.

It means that marriage in America is increasingly the preserve of the well educated.

The study also notes that among women under 30, more than half of births—53 percent—now occur outside of marriage.

Authors Elizabeth Marquardt, David Blankenhorn, Robert I. Lerman, Linda Malone-Colón, and W. Bradford Wilcox write: “In the early 1980s, only 31 percent of female adolescents from moderately educated homes were living in a non-intact family.

“Now, 43 percent of female adolescents from moderately educated homes live in a non-intact family—close to the 49 percent of female adolescents from the least educated homes.

“By contrast, over this period of time, family stability has remained high in college-educated homes, with only about 21 percent of female adolescents from college-educated homes living in a non-intact family.”

Researchers are now finding that the disappearance of marriage in Middle America is keeping track with the disappearance of the middle class in the same communities. For example, the Pew Research Center found that from 1971 to 2011, the proportion of middle-income households dropped from 61 percent to 51 7 percent. During the same period, the proportion of middle-income households headed by married couples dropped dramatically, from 74 to 55 percent.

Researchers such as David and Amber Lapp are documenting that Middle America’s couples express reservations about marriage but still want, and are having, children.

While many couples may be living together when their child is born, in the U.S. these unions are proving far more unstable than married ones. As sociologist Andrew Cherlin has noted, Americans are stepping “on and off the carousel of intimate relationships” increasingly rapidly.

Cohabiting couples who have a child together are about twice as likely as married couples to break up before their child turns twelve.

“The children of Middle America, already vulnerable to economic challenges in their communities, are exposed to even greater risks when their parents are unable to form and sustain a healthy marriage,” said report lead author Elizabeth Marquardt, director of the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values.

To reverse that prospect, the report’s recommendations include:

·         Eliminate marriage penalties and disincentives for the poor and for unwed mothers.

·         Triple the child tax credit.

·         Help young men to become more marriageable and better husbands and fathers with job apprenticeship programmes.

·         Enact legislation to prevent unnecessary divorce.

·         Provide marriage education for newly forming stepfamilies.

·         Invest in and evaluate marriage and relationship education programmes.

The report argues that even modest improvements in the health of marriage in America will reduce suffering and yield savings for taxpayers,.

One study calculated that reducing family fragmentation by just 1 percent would save $1.1 billion annually as fewer children repeat grades, are suspended from school, require counseling or attempt suicide.