There is an extensive literature suggesting that marriage confers benefits to both men and women in the form of increased earnings, better health and a longer life. Yet, where the focus is on health, most of this work has centered on one or two measures of health outcomes or on certain health...

Reducing non-marital childbearing and making nonresidential fathers take greater responsibility for their children were identified as goals of numerous policy changes since the 1980s. Child-support award rates for children born to unmarried parents have been quite low historically, leading...