In the current climate, there is no surprise Americans hold more favorable views on premarital sex, premarital cohabitation and having children out of wedlock than they did just a decade earlier. But perhaps what’s most surprising is that fewer Americans agree with divorce now than they did 10 years ago.
According to a CDC and National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) report released today, only 38 percent of women and 39 percent of men agreed to the statement, “divorce is usually the best solution when a couple can’t seem to work out their marriage problems.” That’s almost a 10 percent decrease for women and a 5 percent decrease for men, whom were asked the same question in 2002.
If this study carries truth, then today’s divorce rates should reflect those feelings. However, despite the changing attitudes about marriage, the American Psychological Association still estimates roughly 40 to 50 percent of marriages will end in divorce.
So given these statistics, are American marriages better off today than years ago?
According to Eli J. Finkel, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University, the answer could be yes. Finkel, who wrote a story on the subject for the New York Times, came to the conclusion modern marriages are stronger in the sense that today’s spouses are finding more “satisfaction and personal well-being” in their marriages.
“Our central claim is that Americans today have elevated their expectations of marriage and can in fact achieve an unprecedentedly high level of marital quality — but only if they are able to invest a great deal of time and energy in their partnership,” Finkel stated in his Times article.
“If they are not able to do so, their marriage will likely fall short of these new expectations. Indeed, it will fall further short of people’s expectations than at any time in the past.”
BMWK, what should couples read into all this?