having children can wreck your marriage

Take note: "Children seem to be a growing impediment for the happiness of marriages."

So says the 2004 Annual Report of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, as quoted in the Dec. 16, 2004 Wall Street Journal article "And Baby Makes Stress: Why Kids Are A Growing Obstacle to Marital Bliss."

It's been known that marital satisfaction takes a dip after babies start coming. But the latest research shows combining marriage and baby is getting even harder. Marital satisfaction after the baby’s birth is actually 42% lower among the latest generation of parents, mainly Gen-Xers, than previous generations, says Jean Twenge of San Diego State University, based on a survey of 90 studies of 31,000 married people. Other research -- including studies by marriage and family researchers at the University of California, Berkeley -- shows one-third to one-half of new parents have as much marital distress as couples already in marriage counseling.

Via Aaron