Thoughts on Marriage and Divorce

“The decision to divorce or remain together to work things out is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. It is crucial for those considering divorce to anticipate what lies ahead in order to make informed decisions. Too often the fallout from divorce is far more devastating than many people realize when contemplating the move.”- Michele Weiner-Davis ( Divorce Busting: A Revolutionary and Rapid Program for Staying Together (1992), 25.)

Researchers have asked this question:

“How many unhappy couples turn their marriages around? The truth is shocking: 86 percent of unhappily married people who stick it out find that, five years later, their marriages are happier, according to an analysis of the National Survey of Families and Households. … Most say they’ve become very happy indeed. In fact, nearly three-fifths of those who said their marriage was unhappy in the late ’80s and who stayed married rated this same marriage as either ‘very happy’ or ‘quite happy’ when interviewed again in the early 1990s.”

The same researchers concluded:

“Permanent marital unhappiness is surprisingly rare among couples who stick it out. Five years later, just 15 percent of those who initially said they were very unhappily married (and who stayed married) ranked their marriage as not [happy] at all.”