Bad Economy Good For Marriages?
The economic downturn seems to have an unexpected correlation on divorce; as the economy dips, divorces and infidelity decrease.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a recent study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention show divorce at its lowest point since the early 1970s. In 1980, the divorce rate per 1,000 married women was 22.6, which dropped to 16.9 in 2008, and in 2009 fell even further to 16.4.
Director of the National Marriage Project, Professor Bradford Wilcox, says that this trend “runs counter to the image people [get]… from the media that divorce is prevalent but the reality is we’re not experiencing divorce that way.”
Divorce statistics have been a highly contention area of statistical research. Some researchers use projections, trying to draw conclusions about people marrying in the present. Others use statistics from marriages which began years prior.
However, most statisticians are now in agreement that the overall rate of divorce has been declining since the “divorce revolution” of the 1970s.
There is some speculation that the financial expense of divorce are a factor in determining both the success and fidelity of a marriage.
Professor Wilcox speculates that, “if your husband has a secure job, or your wife has a great health care plan, or your in-laws are helping out with the kid’s tuition… you are probably a lot more willing to put up with your spouse’s faults and failings now than you might have been five years ago.”
The article cites interesting correlation between people’s views of cheating while in a marriage. For example, the number of women who believe that infidelity was “always wrong” went up 11% (to 84% total) in the 2000s, up from 73% in the 1970s.
However, when encountering studies like this, it is important to keep in mind the difference in correlation and causation. There is merely a correlation in the increase in fidelity and the poor economic performance.
There are many factors that would also correlate to the decrease in divorces over the past several decades. One could just as easily say that as our use of computers has increased, so has the stability of marriages.
Just because we use computers much more now than in the 1970s, or that the economy is worse now, doesn’t necessarily mean that the two are related.
It doesn’t preclude the economy being a cause for relationship stability either. What the study does show is that marriages are lasting longer, and it does match up with the performance in the economy.
The theory that the economic conditions will have a significant impact on the stability of marriages is an interesting one.
he likelihood of it being accurate is difficult to gauge, but it’s something to keep in the back of your mind when the economy does turn around.
