(AgapePress) - A pro-family advocate says she's not surprised with the results of a new study which shows America's traditional family is weakening.

The Rutgers University study shows divorce is declining -- but so is marriage. Meanwhile, co-habiting couples are on the rise; and the U.S. has the highest incidence of single parents.

None of these findings comes as a surprise to Dr. Janice Crouse of the Beverly LaHaye Institute. Crouse says couples who co-habit before marriage think they are strengthening their relationship. But she shares that "actually, living together before marriage or instead of marriage is a sure-fire recipe for divorce -- and the study from Rutgers shows that."

According to Crouse, co-habiting couples seldom produce secure relationships -- and that creates victims. "We have so many problems that children and women are experiencing because of the lack of family stability and all of the problems that go with co-habiting households," she states. "[They] are the ones who bear the brunt of these trends."

Dr. Crouse has been sounding this alarm for years. "We have the weakest families in the whole Western world," she says, "and we have the highest divorce rates." She adds that anti-family government policies are not helping at all.