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07/31/2007: "Divorce solves no problems, but creates new problems"

Findings from the first scholarly study of unhappy marriages challenges conventional wisdom. Conducted by a team of leading family scholars headed by University of Chicago sociologist Linda Waite, the study found no evidence that unhappily married adults who divorced were typically any happier than unhappily married people who stayed married.

Even more dramatically, the researchers also found that two-thirds of unhappily married spouses who stayed married reported that their marriages were happy five years later. In addition, the most unhappy marriages reported the most dramatic turnarounds: among those who rated their marriages as very unhappy, almost eight out of 10 who avoided divorce were happily married five years later.

[ Arranged marriages are often happier than marriages of choice. What does this tell us? We grow up as we age, and we need to meet the other person halfway. Find a compatible partner, but the rest is work! However, it is a challenge that in victory brings happiness, where divorce is in most cases running away. Obviously, abusive spouses are another story, but they're the minority. ]

http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/edi/edi_03divorcemarriage.html