"Marriage Go-Round"

I haven't read "Marriage-Go-Round" and doubt that I will but the interview is certainly interesting.

From Random House...

Q: One of the main trends THE MARRIAGE-GO-ROUND discusses is that Americans have more long-term partners than the rest of the western world. Why do you think this is?

A: I think the reason is the nature of American culture, which is unlike the culture of any other country when it comes to marriage and personal life. Americans believe in two contradictory ideals. The first is the importance of marriage: we are more marriage-oriented than most other Western countries. The second is the importance of living a personally fulfilling life that allows us to grow and develop as individuals—call it individualism. Now, you can find other countries that place a high value on marriage, such as Italy where most children are born to married couples and there are fewer cohabiting relationships. And you can find countries that place a high value on individualism, such as Sweden. But only in the United States do you find both.

and this...

We know that children living with remarried parents do not have a higher level of well-being than do children in single-parent families, despite the presence of a second adult. And children residing with a parent who is just cohabiting with a partner may have the lowest well-being of all.