Stable marital homes have better behaved kids

The UK Telegraph reports on the obvious:

Children raised in stable marital homes are better behaved than classmates brought up by unmarried parents, according to a major government-backed study.

An analysis of 3,000 children from the early years to the age of 16 has shown those with married parents are more confident, kind and responsible while showing lower levels of anti-social attitudes and hyperactivity.

The study, led by academics from Oxford and the University of London, said there was a “significant tendency” for poorer behaviour management among children from single-parent families and those brought up by unmarried mothers and fathers.

Researchers said it suggested married parents were able to provide a more stable domestic environment to nurture children’s social attitudes.

It also emerged that pupils from large families – three or more siblings – were worse behaved than only children.

The leftist-feminist-LGBTQIA lobby try to deny this stuff, but all the studies show it.

But researchers said “family influences” and financial income were the “strongest predicators of exam success” at all key stages of children’s education – from five to the age of 16.

Pupils whose parents had university degrees earned 141 total GCSE points more than students whose parents had no qualifications at all – almost three times the effect of pre-school education.

The study – part of the Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education project – also found that “family factors influenced behaviour and dispositions as well as attainment”.

Yes, family factors determine a lot. (I think they mean "predictor", not predicator.)

In terms of “self-regulation”, researchers said that being raised by unskilled parents had the biggest effect (-0.61) compared with those with professional parents.

How do they compare "unskilled parents" to "professional parents"? Do they mean parents doing unskilled labor, and parent employed doing professional services?

The Coalition said the findings reinforced policies designed to encourage more parents to enrol their children in some form of childcare. Currently, all three and four-year-olds can receive 15 hours a week free early education, while the entitlement is extended to the poorest two-year-olds.

Sam Gyimah, the Childcare Minister, said: “Before they have even worn their school uniform for the first time, a child’s life chances are being decided. Early education not only sets a child off on the right foot at school but, as this extensive research shows, has effects that last right into the workplace.

“No child should start school behind their peers.”

Sure, that is the socialist do-gooder message. But the reality is that some children start school behind, for "family factors" reasons that are determined 9 months before birth. That early education is a lot less significant, and maybe of no significance.

In other obvious research:

When it comes to a happy marriage, a new Rutgers study finds that the more content the wife is with the long-term union, the happier the husband is with his life no matter how he feels about their nuptials.

Yes, if the wife is unhappy, she will usually find a way to destroy the marriage. If the husband is unhappy, he is more likely to think that is his own problem. That is why marriage counselors are more likely to try to make the husband change in order to make the wife happy.