New Study Shows Why Black Marriages Last

Stable, long-lasting Black couples most often attend chruch, found ways to deal with their differences, stood as examples to others in their communities and often are the folks people go to for emotional and economic support.

Those are the findings of a new study that shows why Black marriages work and their value to African-American communities.

“This all started about five years ago, when two of my students came up to me after class to ask me a question I couldn’t answer,” said Loren Marks, assistant professor of human ecology at Louisiana State University and author of the study called “Together, We Are Strong: A Qualitative Study of Happy, Enduring African American Marriages." “They asked me why there wasn’t any research done on strong, marriage-based black families like the ones they came from.”

Marks, along with several LSU colleagues, published “Together, We Are Strong: A Qualitative Study of Happy, Enduring African American Marriages" in the April issue of the Family Relations journal.

According to the researchers, scholars tend to view African-American families through what is known as a “deficit perspective,” a manner that emphasizes problems and negatives. The "Together" study, one of the only studies to look at positive, long-lasting African-American marriages, found that those relelationships are invaluable to Black communities.

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