alt Hacker NewsI'm not religious but just looking around it's pretty obvious that many unmarried adults act quite immature (delayed adolescence). Which way the causality runs is harder to determine, but when you're responsible for and accountable to a spouse that forces you to grow up a bit.
> accountable to a spouse that forces you to grow up a bit
Having children forces you, and ~10% of married people don't have kids. In New Zealand, about 50% of kids are born to the unmarried.
As you say, correlation and causation are hard to pick given the selection biases of who chooses to be married, and who your peer group is if you are married.