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These statistics are interesting, but they are useless for individuals looking for a stable marriage, or couples attempting to foster one. Put simply, the headl

These statistics are interesting, but they are useless for individuals looking for a stable marriage, or couples attempting to foster one. Put simply, the headline is wrong. It implies this is information you can use to make a stable marriage. But all it provides is a summary of traits of existing stable marriages. Knowing those facts is unlikely to contribute to a stable marriage. In fact, if anyone took them seriously as a guide to how to deal with their own marriage situation, they would find these facts only add stress and redirect blame in useless directions: * "We have to have a kid, otherwise the statistics say we'll get divorced!!" * "I guess I should have known better than to marry someone without a Master's degree." Do those attitudes seem like a recipe for success?

humanrebar 12y ago
[...] but they are useless for individuals looking for a stable marriage, or couples attempting to foster one. I agree, as does the author if you read the bottom of his post. That being said, I don't see these sorts of facts come up around here in discussions about sociology, childhood development, poverty rates, etc. These facts may not be useful to people in the middle of parenthood or marriage, but they are useful to: * young people that need some raw data to help them figure out what lifestyles might work best * people studying larger trends about society and how people are doing overall It's true that the data doesn't point to a recipe for success, but it's still important to be aware of the data because it's true. Figuring out how it's useful is the next step.