Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Massachusetts
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 09-08-2009, 04:42 PM
 
Location: Beautiful New England
2,412 posts, read 7,177,234 times
Reputation: 3073

Advertisements

The data are in: of the 50 states, Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/Di...nd%2099-07.pdf
The Mass. divorce rate is now what the U.S. divorce rate was in 1940.

Pretty good, especially when one considers that gay marriage foes said that marriage was going to be "destroyed" in MA. Years after the Supreme Judicial Court acted to protect the right of gays and lesbians, marriage remains very much alive and well in Massachusetts. Hurrah for the Bay State!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-08-2009, 05:31 PM
 
639 posts, read 3,528,060 times
Reputation: 539
I have three siblings living in Mass and they've all been married now 25 years and up to their respective spouses. I'm the single one in our family and my mother and I root for them all the time, they've all done extremely well and we couldn't imagine them without who they're married to. If it ever DID happen that one of them split up OR two of them? It would probably be harder on us more than them, our family is that closely knit together!

Two of my cousins, who are divorced for years now, will visit my elderly mother and ALWAYS ALWAYS want to know which one of 'em's divorced! They'll say to us, "Come on, you can tell us, which couple split up, they MUST have by now after all these years!" They're totally amazed that we smile and tell them "Yup, they're still all together!" These two relatives can not stand the fact that my mother's kids are still married, kills them to no end! It's actually a hoot to me every time they ask about it. They're expecting another one "down" like dominos or something!

I'll have to show my siblings this latest data out that you have here, they'll get a kick out of this when I show it to them!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-08-2009, 06:42 PM
 
136 posts, read 462,692 times
Reputation: 50
CityGirl - if anyone does decide to divorce, please request that the move out of state first, lol!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-08-2009, 06:48 PM
 
639 posts, read 3,528,060 times
Reputation: 539
Ya, I'll have to make sure they get out of "Dodge" quick, LOL!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-08-2009, 08:43 PM
 
3,076 posts, read 5,650,035 times
Reputation: 2698
I'm not surprised mass ranked high in that. I figured they would at least be in the top 5. I wonder how much of MA being mostly Catholic has an influence on those stats. It would also be interesting to know which stats have a large % of people living together but not married.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-08-2009, 09:03 PM
 
Location: mass
2,905 posts, read 7,349,450 times
Reputation: 5011
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeavingMA View Post
I'm not surprised mass ranked high in that. I figured they would at least be in the top 5. I wonder how much of MA being mostly Catholic has an influence on those stats. It would also be interesting to know which stats have a large % of people living together but not married.

I wonder what percentage of our population in Massachusetts is actually married vs. living together and not married.

I am not sure about the Catholic thing. Is Massachusetts really "mostly Catholic?"
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-08-2009, 09:37 PM
 
Location: Some place very cold
5,501 posts, read 22,448,141 times
Reputation: 4353
yes, lots of Irish in Mass.

I'm not surprised the divorce rate is so low. I know many people who have been married forever. They do not divorce.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-08-2009, 09:48 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
289 posts, read 1,271,289 times
Reputation: 343
I doubt it has to do with Massachusetts primarily being a Catholic state...statistically atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rates. (please note I'm NOT trying to bash on religion or anything)

I also wonder why divorce rates are particularly low in MA. Maybe it has to do with education? Or age at marriage?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-09-2009, 09:52 AM
 
18,725 posts, read 33,390,141 times
Reputation: 37296
Age is generally older in Mass. than many other places, and education levels are overall higher, so maybe they are factors, yes.
Maybe no one can afford to divorce because of housing costs, like New York City!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-09-2009, 10:02 AM
 
Location: Newton, Mass.
2,954 posts, read 12,303,804 times
Reputation: 1511
I think there are plenty of factors, including the Catholic and highly-edcuated-population issues, but I wonder how much the Commonwealth's alimony laws come into this. I'm not sure people would stay married rather than face that system, but it appears some couples who would be prime candidates for divorce just don't get married in Massachusetts to begin with since they don't want exposure to the alimony laws.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Massachusetts

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:33 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top