Recent research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies has found that children of married couples have higher levels of learning and social and emotional development than children of cohabiting parents or single mothers.

However, according to the authors, the differences in children's development were explained by the family's financial circumstances, mother's educational level and parenting approaches rather than the marital status of their parents.

According to researcher Ruth Weston, the study found that 31% of married mothers had a university degree or higher level of education compared to 15% of single and cohabiting mothers. Married mothers were also more likely to be employed and married couple families were less likely to experience financial hardships.

Cohabiting parent families were slightly worse off financially than married parent families but slightly better off than families headed by single mothers. However, of particular concern was the fact that the gaps between the children of single mothers and those living with married parents appeared to widen over time.

Ms Weston said the study also compared parents' reports on their approaches to parenting across the three types of families, and found there were differences between the groups regarding the extent to which they adopted a consistent approach to parenting. Married parents reported greater consistency in parenting than cohabiting couples or single mothers.