Divorce Myths Debunked

Are you terrified by statistics that ominously indicate that the divorce rate is rising, half of all marriages end in divorce, and America has the highest divorce rate in the world? Are you a police officer who believes that divorce is imminent because of your job, or a parent of an autistic child who thinks there is no chance for marital bliss? Think again. These often misquoted statistics are wrong--overused, undercited, and lacking adequate research. Click through for the top nine divorce myths.

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Half of All Marriages End in Divorce

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This oft-quoted statistic is wrong. As blogger and professor Robert Hughes pointed out, there are many ways to calculate the national divorce rate, all of which yield different results. In her guide to marriage, For Better, Tara Parker-Pope writes that since the 1970s, "marital stability appears to be improving each decade.” Many factors hinge on marital longevity, including age, education, and income level. According to research at the University of Pennsylvania, age is one of the clearest predictions of divorce. 81% of college graduates who got married in the 1980s at age 26 or older were still married 20 years later, compared with 65% of college grads who got hitched before their 26th birthdays.

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This oft-quoted statistic is wrong. As blogger and professor Robert Hughes pointed out, there are many ways to calculate the national divorce rate, all of which yield different results. In her guide to marriage, For Better, Tara Parker-Pope writes that since the 1970s, "marital stability appears to be improving each decade.” Many factors hinge on marital longevity, including age, education, and income level. According to research at the University of Pennsylvania, age is one of the clearest predictions of divorce. 81% of college graduates who got married in the 1980s at age 26 or older were still married 20 years later, compared with 65% of college grads who got hitched before their 26th birthdays.

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Comments

[Morgantheaxe]

01:55 AM on 01/13/2011

Census says 50 percent.

[RedRat]

04:10 PM on 01/11/2011

Well goes to show that there are lies, damn lies, and then statistics. Of course one can pick and choose and manipulate your cohort for statistics. I am glad to see that 20 years marriage do well. However, my guess is that if you pick a cohort comprised of those married only 1 year, 2 years, or 5 years, you would also find a very low divorce rate, perhaps 5-10%, maybe lower. Again, it is all dependent on how you pick and choose the cohort.

[swift goat pet for truth]

01:19 AM on 01/13/2011

That is for college grads.

And only about 35% of men graduate college.

[StarDagger]

02:32 PM on 01/09/2011

Marriage is a form of social control that confers no benefits.

Just say no to monogamous hetero legally enforceable financial contracts!

[DaPiGu]

05:03 AM on 01/09/2011

What is this "Women suffer most in divorce ." nonsense ?
Who invariably gets stuck paying alimony for years ? (which makes no sense at all in this day and age) Women initiate divorces %70 of the time so obviously they're not too scared to go it alone .
If there are kids , women get them in %90-95 of CONTESTED custody cases . Then the judge hands down a support judgment that is never reflective of whatever financial situation he may be in . It's supposed to be but if something changes (like he gets laid off for whatever reason) he still has to chalk up the same amount of cash for the next six months (unless he's unlucky in which case it'll be even longer) She'll usually get the house , the car , the kids , at least half of the other assets , and he'll probably be lucky to keep his clothes . Men get taken to the cleaners in divorce cases ... they lose everything including access to their kids should she decide she doesn't want him to see them .
The pre-nups get thrown out the window if it looks like he'll get to keep his things. The real mystery is that any sane man gets married at all these days considering there's quite literally nothing but risk for him . If anybody "suffers" in the average divorce , it certainly isn't going to be her most of the time .

[Greenjar]

09:38 AM on 01/08/2011

This is lame. I don't need a stack of wide-ranging studies to tell me divorce rate is > 50%. Even more important, a much higher percentage are simply unhappy.

[PartyofLogic]

09:34 AM on 01/08/2011

I'd love to know what uber conservative think tank bent on defending the "sanctity" of (hetero) marriage is really behind this research. All I know is what I know. I am of 4 girls, three of whom are divorced. One twice. Of my friends, I would say roughly 50% are still married. And most married in their late 20s, early 30s. So for me, the oft quoted statistics are not mythical at all.

[ArchieBunkerTypicalRepub]

10:10 AM on 01/08/2011

It probably the diamond association or association of wedding planners etc.

Remember "every kiss begins with Kay" (as the diamond retailer Kay repeats in their ads)

[Jake Tsinzov]

09:32 AM on 01/09/2011

so because you dont believe it, it must be wrong? change your username it's a lie.

[PartyofLogic]

04:53 PM on 01/10/2011

I merely said, it is inconsistent with my own experience. by definition, I have come to a logical, experientially based conclusion. which is not a lie.

[elopez]

04:59 PM on 01/12/2011

No, no--it's anecdotal evidence...you know...the strongest kind of evidence

[rjmtx]

08:31 AM on 01/08/2011

John Waters was right about people looking in the wrong place to save marriage...

[advocatusdiaboli]

08:09 AM on 01/08/2011

All I know is more than half of my daughters friends live in single-parent homes. I know that's anecdotal, but I'd say the 50% figure is accurate + or - 15% and that is still appalling when we know that family instability affects most children negatively to varying degrees.

[mruffolo]

08:03 AM on 01/08/2011

America is a world divorce leader. Also without doubt is the guy automatically loses his children, eighteen years of his income, and over half his stuff.

If he chooses to fight the standard divorce arrangement, he is slapped with an order of protection and/or tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills (GAL, his lawyer, her lawyer, "expert" evaluations, fees) and 100+ court visits to maybe change little of it.

[Rita R]

06:52 AM on 01/09/2011

No clue in the world where you came up with your assertions.

[mruffolo]

07:47 AM on 01/08/2011

The divorce statistics are confusing in the United States, intentional or not. It does not hide the fact that, when comparing apples to apples statistically, out of about 200 countries in the world, the United States has one of the highest divorce rates.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_div_rat-people-divorce-rate

http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsWorld.shtml

[Morgantheaxe]

01:06 AM on 01/08/2011

Wow it was midnight and I was very tired when I wrote that last post. Please over look the typos. You get what I meant Im sure.

[Morgantheaxe]

01:05 AM on 01/08/2011

Wow garbage. There was so much flawed with this it was painful to read. The only 100% accurate statement I saw was that there are so many different ways to calculated divorce rates you can pretty much make the number say what you want. Two quick examples are the financial statistics of divorces men vs. women. Those numbers are INCREDIBLY skewed by the uber wealthy. Take out the top 10% and you find men actually suffer considerably after a divorce....especially if you quite counting the money he is gauranteed to lose to child/spousal support as his......which every single survey still shamefully does. The second is the dispute they made about rising divorce rates. Did you catch the slight of hand there? They threw out the "affluent couples are actually divorcing less" garbage. GREAT, except affluent couple make up a small fraction of the population and that middle class the so quietly under their breath told you had a rising divorce rate.......well makes up the lions share of the population.

Again, this was garbage. This is such a serious problem in this country you would think someone somewhere would be interested in generating some accurate data for people to look at.

[alex98]

12:29 AM on 01/08/2011

Sounds like talking points form a Christian family values group .... And the data cited is weak.

[Sibil]

11:12 PM on 01/07/2011

Yeah, its much HIGHER then that...... Still, in this day and age, there is NO reason for a man to get married w/o a PRENUP!!!!

Equal custody rights/expenses if chiildren enter the picture. NO to "no fault" divorce, (whoever cheats first looses 25% of their divorce split.), RECEIPTS for all expenses claimed by the ex for the lil carbon copies from such a lovely couple, eliminate "lifestyle that I am accustomed too" excuse for vaginamony, any schooling after High School to be EQUALLY SPLIT among both parents, & last but not least, mandatory DNA testing for all "miracles".

Did I forget anything boyz??

No, Im not bitter, never been married or have any mistakes ready to surprise me in 18 years.... just seen to many of my friends get screwed in divorce court.

After all, arent Men and Women EQUALS??

[ydrittmann]

12:43 AM on 01/08/2011

Loses not looses.

[pagansmom]

06:23 AM on 01/08/2011

A liar, a misogynist and a bad speller all rolled into one. I'm just guessing here, but I don't think you will ever need to worry about getting a prenup.

[advocatusdiaboli]

08:13 AM on 01/08/2011

Name calling like calling him a misogynist tells us more about your ignorance and bias than any he has. He's not a misogynist for criticizing the mechanics of US divorce and it's unfairness. He's a divorce hater maybe at worst. Go look up misogynist and get schooled.

[lone wolf]

11:02 PM on 01/07/2011

The system encourages divorce especially when it is between those unequal in earnings or wealth. The division of all assets between unequal contributors to the kitty, invites divorce when the lesser contributor wants to cash out of her "investment"

[Morgantheaxe]

01:19 AM on 01/08/2011

Yep

[advocatusdiaboli]

08:19 AM on 01/08/2011

Correct. Most of our legislators are lawyers and lawyers draft laws in order to create markets for their services, Clever b@st@rds.