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However, many stats about marriage and divorce are misleading because they are too simplistic. Divorce rates are supposedly declining but so are the rates of people who have married. For men, its declined from 90% in 1960 to less than 70% today. Women closely parallel this but their rate has not dropped as much.
With less married, its no wonder that the rate of divorce for the population as a whole has also declined. However, the real issue is the comparison of how do marriages, from various eras, succeed over time.
Also 50% of all marriages end in divorce sooner or later. 7.5 marriages per 1000 population. 3.5 divorces per 1000 population.
CDC has compiled a lot of research on marriage and divorce. If you read into it you'll see a common trend: people waiting longer to get married and less people getting married. These trends are heavily moved by the younger generation. As the young people get older you will see that trend continue and push out the old baby boom statistics on marriage and divorce. In the next decade I could see the average age of first marriage for a female to be in the range of 28-32. Right now it is 26 for a female and 27.7 for a male (2007 statistics). This leads me to believe that men, on average, date women two years younger than them. Many European countries (UK, sweden, denmark) already have the average age of first female marriage at 30+. Even Canada has it. I believe this to be a significant cultural change.
With less married, its no wonder that the rate of divorce for the population as a whole has also declined. However, the real issue is the comparison of how do marriages, from various eras, succeed over time.
Sorry, you would have to define what "success" in marriage means for you. I don't consider a marriage "successful" simply because it ends in death instead of a divorce.
Well, I've read that part of the reason divorces are declining is that people are getting married later in life.
However, we know a prominent divorce attorney in town (She's the attorney that nobody wants to have as opposing counsel). Her case load has dropped through the floor because nobody can afford to get divorced right now. After all, if you can't sell the house, how much marital assets are there to divide?
Maybe I should introduce her to our friend whose husband is such a rhymeswithFLICK. Help two people out at the same time.
Well, I've read that part of the reason divorces are declining is that people are getting married later in life.
Perhaps or this could be spin.
If 90 out of 100 of people (in 1960) get married and 45 then get divorced, divorce affects 45% of the population.
If 65 out of 100 of people get married (in 2000) and 40 then get divorced, divorce affects 40% of the population. Whew, an improvement!
However, in this scenario, for 1960 marriages, the rate of marriages ending in divorce is 45/90 or 50%. For 2000 the divorce rate is 40/65 or 61.53%.
Another complaint with the stats is that for the marriages of decades ago, we have the entire picture but the last two decades, we only have the preliminary returns. Societal changes can cause spikes or declines in say years 20 to 25 that didn't occur in the past.
The marriage and divorce industries have vested interests in minimizing the perceived risk.
To answer Redisca's question: What is a "successful" marriage? Well, for her, likely any where they require her services as a divorce lawyer.
BTW, I know that success is not determined solely by a lack of divorce. If 50% end in divorce, at least half of the remaining are likely unhappy. Many just cannot afford to split.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpg35223
However, we know a prominent divorce attorney in town (She's the attorney that nobody wants to have as opposing counsel). Her case load has dropped through the floor because nobody can afford to get divorced right now. After all, if you can't sell the house, how much marital assets are there to divide?
These times are very unusual. Expect profound changes as people, especially the parasite classes, need to adjust to the new economic realities.
NotARedneck: I am not a divorce lawyer. I do measure "success" of an undertaking, however, by how much it improves one's life, not by arbitrary criteria of status. States that enacted no-fault statutes saw a 20% drop in the rate of suicides among married women; as well as a nearly 25% drop in the number of murders of women by their husbands and boyfriends. I don't consider a marriage that ends in a murder or suicide a "success" -- clearly, a divorce is preferable. But, hey, I'm a broad and a lawyer, so it doesn't matter what I think.
Since you didn't answer my question, I take it you judge "success" in marriage by whether it ends in divorce. Never mind if there is abuse, neglect, infidelity, or abandonment -- as long as there's still a marriage on paper, it's a bloody success! [/end sarcasm]
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