An intriguing but inconclusive ABC News story details the impact of online dating during the last ten years and poses the major question of whether Internet marriages are more likely to end in divorce. While the story cites a Pew Internet and American Life Project statistic estimating that nearly 3 million Americans have found love online, it does not provide any concrete divorce statistics for people who met on the Internet. The story does assert that online affairs are rising and also illustrates how popular online dating Web sites are trying to ensure that online marriages last past the blissful honeymoon phase.

According to some lawyers quoted in the story, the rise of online dating services has led to a rise in online affairs. New Jersey divorce lawyer Eric Spevak said in the story that online-related divorces picked up for his practice about five years ago and then estimated that one of out of every four or five of his firm’s current divorce cases stem from online dating. Compatibility and online dating expert James Houran added in the story that while there is no statistical research showing that online marriages fail more than traditional matchmaking, he said that he has anecdotal evidence suggesting that there are probably more failures than successes.

Whether such assertions have any truth remains to be seen, but a variety of online dating Web sites have recently tried to focus on the longevity and quality of its relationships. As just one example, EHarmony.com now has a “relationship lab” that monitors certain couples for at least five years to see how their marriages are doing. Other sites commonly have compatibility and personality tests.

While saying that such tools provide a good start to promote long-term success in online relationships and marriages, Houran said in the story that these sites need to do more to encourage longevity. Spevak opinioned that it’s too early to tell whether the divorce rates of couples who meet online are higher than the national average. Proving to be an ultimate tease, this story poses an interesting question but does not provide a concrete answer at this point.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 26th, 2007 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Celebrity Divorce, General Divorce News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.