Who Said Marriage Should Be Work? (Opinion)

Bruce Sallan

Salem-News.com

I recently learned some statistics that surprised me, but upon reflection they really made sense. What do you think the rate of divorce is between first, second, and third marriages? Think about it. I didn’t and came to the wrong conclusion. It’s pretty much agreed by most experts that first marriages end in divorce about 40-50% of the time. What surprised me is that the divorce rate increases with second marriages to something like 60% and more, while third marriages end in divorce at least 70% of the time.

My first gut reaction was that we would have learned from prior mistakes, we’d be wiser with the experience of living through a marriage and divorce, and maybe, just maybe, we may have learned something about our contributions to the break-up. And, therefore, we’d not repeat destructive behaviors. When I reflected on the challenges in my own house and applied some common sense, those statistics became more logical. The reality is that the older we get, the more we’ve experienced, the more we’re likely to be set in our ways, and the more stress that is likely to come our direction. By this I mean that with age often comes increased problems.

Source: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/october062009/working_marriage_bs_10-6-09.php#