3 ms·

Why does it have to be one or the other? Some relationships absolutely cause less destruction by ending. Some provide sufficiently despite great flaws.

• rayiner 6y ago
  It doesn’t have to be one or the other at an individual level, but the social and legal norms we create have aggregate effects, not just individual effects, and we should be able to talk about those as a distinct issue. From 1960 to 2010, in the US, the percentage of kids living apart from their fathers has tripled, and the percentage of kids living apart from their mothers has doubled. My culture (and that of like 3/4 of the world’s population) says that’s a bad thing for kids and society as a whole. I used to think westerners were enlightened and had the right idea on allowing and encouraging individual freedom in this area, but now I think they’ve got it wrong. And it’s hard to really know without focusing on what’s been the aggregate effect.
  • stickfigure 6y ago
    Those statistics don't seem particularly meaningful. I know a lot of people with divorced parents who remarried/repartnered and the kids now have two sets of parents. They're... fine? Hell, as long as the parent-groups can get along, 4 parents sound better than 2... But if they can't get along, I'm sure it's terrible. Just like if the parents stay together?
    • rayiner 6y ago
      Do those people have college degrees? Just curious about what population you’re sampling.