Joe Pitts: “the truth is, marriage is one of the best mental health programs for children and adults. Children born or raised…”

“the truth is, marriage is one of the best mental health programs for children and adults. Children born or raised outside of marriage are more likely to suffer mental health problems, such as depression. Children whose parents are not married have lower school attendance, lower school performance. Teenagers whose parents are divorced are also more likely to have problems with substance abuse than children whose parents are married. Married adults are significantly less likely to suffer from the problems of alcoholism and depression than non-married adults. Mr. Speaker, I am not a mental health expert, but it seems to me that encouraging healthy marriages is a whole lot cheaper and more effective than picking up the pieces of broken marriages after it is too late.”