rickair7777

The 50% divorce rate is slightly implausible, and the higher the rate gets, the more implausible it becomes.

Due to the downsides of divorce (and of marriage in the first place), people will naturally tend to wise up and be less eager to jump into it lightly as it is common knowledge how bad the odds are. I think younger people are approaching it more cautiously (good thing).

Also I'm sure the divorce rate is skewed by repeat offenders...successful marriages only get counted once, but failures often continue to put numbers up on the board.

blastoff

Very true. The estimate of first time marriages ending in divorce is around 30% and the overall rate closer to 40%, obviously the repeat offenders are skewing the data. The interesting info from the article is how dramatically the rate drops with age and education to below 20%.

jsfBoat

never mind

Iron Maiden

Don't get married, I'm married and my wife is a pain, I'd be better of single. You'll save your sanity, youth, and your wallet will thank you. As the husband you have no rights in the relationship, everything will be your fault, you don't do anything right, and you're not allowed to express your opinions nor the things that upset you.

NotPart91

How do you handle a wife's menopause???

And don't say, keep taking an extra slot on the sked....

Panzon

When I think of my married peers I'm not certain I can find any with marriages that have been mutually satisfying and fulfilling over the long haul. In every case, my married peers started out with apparently good, strong marriages but now experience varying degrees of dissatisfaction and unhappiness all the time. Several are caught between a rock and a hard place: they have no remaining emotional attachment to their spouse, but cannot divorce due to their faith, social stigma, personal finances, or some other constraint.

My advice to my children: don't get married. Why? Because the odds of finding the one "right person" today are small, and because we all change over time, the odds of that "right person" remaining in sync with them are very, very low.

Instead, I encourage my children to concentrate on enjoying being with the person they are with right now, to understand that one day their goals, satisfiers, values, etc will change, that the change does not make either party "bad," and that it may be appropriate to split up. It is possible to part ways with someone without experiencing an emotional or financial catastrophe.

I encourage my children to form strong and meaningful relationships, but I discourage them from marriage.

Panzon

Menopause can be absolutely brutal, for both parties. Suffice it to say that the gal you knew going into menopause will not be the same gal during or after menopause. If you still want to be with her afterwards, count your blessings, but be prepared to say "Hon, we are different people now, and we both have 25 - 35 years of our lives to live. Better that we should spend those years with people we want to be around rather than hoping that we somehow fall in love with one another again. So long."

Ewfflyer

Strong and meaningful relationships mean that you are willing to compromise with that person, regardless of if it's you or them "changing."

It's the attitude that people have changed from "it can be fixed" to "just junk it, it can be replaced". I think this starts early in a relationship, and merely builds over time.

Yes my marriage can be challenging at times, and I am not 121 or even flying full time, but I do work a lot of hours, and can be away from home. I would like to really find the "perfect" one and call BS.

I went into this knowing that it takes work, there are many great things, and a few not so great, but what are you going to focus on? Yourself? Your Partner? I would be willing to put money down in these failed relationships, that it has been awhile since one or the other hasn't done something nice, and meaningful for the other, rather just keeping to their own personal interests and leaving the other person out of it.

Just my .02

FlyBoyd

Marriage isn't 50/50. It is 100/100. The question is whose 100 is it that day and can you put up with it not being your 100 several days/weeks in a row?

deftone

Keeping a marriage together is always difficult when you work a non-traditional schedule...just ask cops, active duty military etc

I work in the oil industry, 28x28 schedule. I married my high school sweetheart almost right out of school, a few years of working this schedule and we got divorced. Got married again in late 20s, only for that one to last 5 years.

Right now Im with a girl who I work with, so we work the same schedule....makes it MUCH easier!