Marriage builds wealth more than being single?	調查顯示：維系婚姻有助于積累財富
Marriage builds wealth. Staying married has its benefits, especially financial, as a new U.S.-wide study shows the wealth of a married person is almost double that of somebody who is single. Divorce among US baby boomers reduced personal wealth by about 77 percent compared to that of a single person, while the financial standing among those who remained married almost doubled, according to a nationwide study released this week. "If you really want to increase your wealth, get married and stay married. On the other hand, divorce can devastate your wealth," said Jay Zagorsky, author of the study and a research scientist at Ohio Sate University's Center for Human Resource Research. Married people will see an increase in wealth that is more than just adding the assets of two single people, according to the study that was published in the Journal of Sociology. Those who remained together saw a 93 percent gain in wealth compared to that of a single person, while individuals facing divorce saw their financial situation deteriorate long before the decree became final, according to Zagorsky. The study used data from surveys taken over a 15-year period involving 9,055 Americans who were between 21 and 28 years old in 1985. Those respondents who remained single had a steady, but slow growth in wealth, from less than $2,000 at the start of the surveys up to an average of about $11,000 after 15 years. However, those who married and stayed that way showed a sharp increase in wealth accumulation after marriage, growing to an average $43,000 by the 10th year of marriage or by about 16 percent a year. For people who married and then divorced, there was a slow build-up of wealth during the early years of marriage and then a steady decline about four years prior to divorce. "Many of these people may have separated before the divorce became official, which would help explain why wealth starts falling so early," Zagorsky said. "Divorce is often a long and messy process, and you can see this in the four-year decline in wealth." The study also cast doubt on a common assumption that divorce is much harder financially on women than on men. In fact, it showed that women suffered financially only slightly more than men. (Agencies)	全美范圍內的一項最新調查顯示，已婚人士的個人財產往往是單身漢的兩倍。看來，維持婚姻關系大有益處，尤其是在理財方面。 本周公布的全國調查數據顯示，與單身漢相比，離婚導致"嬰兒潮"時代出生者的財產減少近77％，而維持婚姻者的財產狀況幾乎比單身漢好一倍。 這項研究報告的作者，俄亥俄州立大學人力資源中心的研究員杰伊·扎戈爾斯基說："如果你真得想致富，就請結婚并維持你的婚姻。另一方面，離婚會毀掉你的財富。" 這份研究報告刊登在《美國社會學雜志》上，報告強調，已婚人士的財產會增加，而且比兩個單身漢的財產加起來還要多。 扎戈爾斯基說，與單身漢相比，那些維持婚姻的夫婦財富增加了93%，而面臨離婚的夫婦，其經濟狀況在正式判決離婚之前很久就已開始惡化。。 這項研究分析了15年內對 9055名美國人的調查數據，這些人在1985年時年齡在21歲至28歲之間。 對于15年間一直未婚的單身族，他們的財產增長平穩，但是速度緩慢。調查開始時，他們的財產不到2000美元，15年后達到1.1萬美元。 而已婚并維持婚姻關系的人士的財產增長比較顯著，在結婚10年后達到4.3萬美元，年收入增長16％。 對于那些遭遇婚姻變故的人而言，他們的財產在婚后最初幾年里有緩慢增長，然后在離婚前四年開始逐漸下降。 扎戈爾斯基說："許多人在正式離婚前就已分居了，這也許是他們的財產那么早就開始減少的原因，離婚是一個漫長而又復雜的過程，從財產在四年里的下降趨勢就可以看到這一點。" 人們普遍認為離婚對女性造成的經濟損失比男性要嚴重得多，但是這項研究使人對這種觀點產生懷疑。事實上，女性遭受的經濟損失只比男性多一點而已。 (中國日報網站編譯)