The 50% Marriage Failure Rate Myth
When topics of marriage and commitment come up in conversation, a common phrase that often flows into the discussion is the comment that "half of all marriages end in divorce." While I have heard this phrase hundreds of times, I was never sure of its accuracy or whether or not there was research to support it. However, until taking this course, I had not sat down and addressed these concerns. So, when the topic came up during our first day of assigned readings for Family Relations, I immediately knew what I wanted to talk about in my post this week. And as I studied and learned more about this topic, I realized how complicated it was and just how oversimplified the "half of all marriages" argument is, and I would like to share with you what I learned: First, it is challenging to calculate a marriage failure rate. When calculating a figure from year to year, researchers have several groups they can feature in their data, including newly married and divorced cou...