A recent report called The State of Our Unions discusses the health of marriages in America. The joint study was conducted by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and New York’s Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values.
According to the report, the chance of divorce varies based on your personal and social circumstances, including financial circumstances. You can improve your odds of staying married by having a college degree, coming from an intact home and waiting to have kids until after you are legally married.
Another recent publication, “Alone Together: How Marriage in America is Changing”, has a different interpretation of those findings. The author’s theory is that if you are educated, in your first marriage and have no children you are bringing into your marriage, you don’t have as many stressors in the first place. She further posits that perhaps marriages are successful not because of these factors but because of the couples’ attitude on marriage itself. The author, Stacy J. Rogers, says, “”We put a lot of emphasis on the marriage to make us happy, and fulfill our lives. We’re victims of unrealistic expectations.”
The editors of the study and director of the National Marriage Project warn that their findings “don’t necessarily furnish the recipe for a good marriage, though they can act as preventative measures.”
When children are involved in a marriage, there is no doubt that stress levels rise. A divorce mediator can help both sides reach an agreement about property, support and most importantly, parenting.
Source: The Huffington Post, “The State of Our Unions: New Study Report Keys For Solid Marriages“, Amy Lee, 7 Dec 2010
