Are you an unmarried couple that’s living together? Your kids hate you.

WHY MARRIAGE MATTERS: THIRTY CONCLUSIONS FROM THE SOCIAL SCIENCES from the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values and the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia was recently released.

And if you are a couple with children that happen to be unmarried (“living in sin” is what our parents called it, back when “sin” was a bit more inflammatory than it is today), then you have set your children up on an unhealthy spiral as they grow older.

Some of the results from the study include:

• 24% of kids born to married parents will be involved with their parents’ divorce by the time they are 12 years old.
• Children who are raised by unmarried parents are 170% more likely to see their parental couple separate by the time they are 12 years old
• Children raised in that Living In Sin lifestyle are three times more likely to be physically, sexually, or emotionally abused.  They are also more likely to delve into drug use or poor schooling.