Divorce Statistics

[iugurl]

Age at marriage for those who divorce in America
Women Men
Under 20 years old 27.6% 11.7%
20 to 24 years old 36.6% 38.8%
25 to 29 years old 16.4% 22.3%
30 to 34 years old 8.5% 11.6%
35 to 39 years old 5.1% 6.5%

I have noticed that some posters on LIW, emphasize that the divorce rate of those around 18-21 have the highest divorce rate, encouraging those between that age to wait. I searched online, and was only able to find the info above. I know that statistics are NOT the only/main reason that it is encouraged to marry older BUT, assuming this is correct, are you surprised?

http://www.divorcerate.org/
http://www.divorcepeers.com/stats38.htm

 

[suchende]

I am not too surprised because I would speculate a significant portion of the women married in their teens in this day and age are culturally discouraged from divorce (more convincingly than members of "mainstream" cultural groups).

 

[PrincessNatalie]

In all honesty I was going to marry my high school sweet hart (cancelled a month out) and I am ssooooo glad I didnt, you have NO IDEA what you need in a life partner at that age, I dont care what anyone says, you need to have life experience to know what you need in a life partner. You might get lucky and end up happy, but you might not either. I wouldn't have.

Also I would guess a lot of people who marry that young are very religious, which would also impact the divorce rate. I would be interested to find out the age of marriage vs relationship satisfaction ratio.

 

[StonieGrl]

I agree with HRH Natalie, plus at that very young age you most likely have not disenmeshed with your parents, which is a recipe for extreme marital unhappiness.

My first marriage took place at age 32 and I was divorced in 3 years. I had no idea what it took to create a healthy marriage, thought "love" was all that was required and since my ex-husband and I loved each other very much, figured we were in the clear. After that experience and therapy, I knew what it took to create a healthy and happy marriage and when I met the man who is my husband today, while we dated I enjoyed myself thoroughly but I also kept an eye out to see if he had what it took and if our wants and needs from marriage were the same.

 

[confusedaisy]

The numbers are somewhat shocking to me- I assumed the highest number would be in the 30-40 range for some reason. Most of all the numbers are encouraging for me. My bf and I have been together for just over 5 years and met when we were 21. We immediately fell in love and wanted to just get married within months of being together but decided it would be best to wait. The 5 years have been great but not perfect. We're continuosly growing and while I question whether we would be divorced by now, I don't question whether it would have been harder to immediately "be one together" as opposed to continue growing both as individuals and as a unit.

 

[amc80]

I am not too surprised because I would speculate a significant portion of the women married in their teens in this day and age are culturally discouraged from divorce (more convincingly than members of "mainstream" cultural groups).

I agree with this. Most of the people I know who got married early are Mormon, and divorce, while allowed, really isn't part of their culture.

 

[HaloBelle]

I just want to through out a word of caution when using statistics like this. You can bend statistics anyway you want and without knowing how they derived their numbers, they are useless. Yes, these kind of statistics are good for showing a general trend but please please please don't use the "50% divorce rate in america" or anything generalizing over decades like that.

That number by the way, the popular 50% (varies by new outlet) compares marriages THIS year to Divorces THIS year and in no way compares how the marriages work out over time. So, we are comparing older marriages to new marriages and somehow deciding it is relevant. The way it goes up and down every 5 years or so, fine the trend is what it is; but it cannot be said that half of all marriages end in divorce. For example, the divorces have been dropping recently because of the economy but marriages have dropped at a slower rate because people are simply spending less on them and some people are getting married for tax benefits earlier than they planned. By the way this number is calculated, it makes it appear as though more marriages are succeeding when really, divorce is just being postponed.

Thats all Not trying to be argumentative, just saying use caution with stats! I was shocked when my sociology teacher explained how that number is calculated a few years ago...gave me a whole new level of hope towards long term wedded bliss

That being said, I think it is wise to wait until at LEAST your through with college to marry. You grow a LOT as a person during those years and even if you are in a committed relationship, you don't want the responsibility of planning a wedding during that time or the family pressure to have babies!

 

[iugurl]

I am not really agreeing/disagreeing with these statistics. Nor am I really "using" these statistics for anything, other than this conversation. I know statistics are not always completely reliable. Not only because of human error/reliability of facts, but other things - staying married does not equal a happy marriage. But anyway, I mentioned just assume it is accurate , as I could not find any information contradicting it. I was merely using this as a topic to discuss...

However, I know SO many people who got married anywhere from 18 to 35 and still ended up divorced. Also some dated 6 months - 6 years. I really feel as though no one really has a better chance of making it (based solely on age/time dating) than anyone else. If I saw two 21 yr olds get married on the same day as two 28 yr olds, I really feel as though 10 years from now, both/either are just as likely to get divorced as the other.

 

[Jessie702]

I have to agree and disagree, i know many people who married young, are happy in the marriages, and so far, have not had any divorce talk, and they have had many issues, but have grown up as individuals, and as a couple. I think it depends on the couple, the history and the type of couple. Type, i mean, Religious..Mormon, Catholic, or Jewish, or Christian....BDSM Marriage, Same Sex Marriage....any kind of couple. Sometimes, the number lie.

 

[HaloBelle]

I was merely using this as a topic to discuss...

Same! And that's cool, I was mainly excited to explain how a lot of them are calculated. That one or two sociology classes on it seriously gave me new hope for a happy marriage.

 

[iugurl]

Yeah, I understand Thanks for explaining how they are calculated

 

[Autumnovember]

So I'll be one month away from turning 24 and fiance will be 38 when we get married......how do you make sense of those statistics then?

 

[Indylady]

I have to agree and disagree, i know many people who married young, are happy in the marriages, and so far, have not had any divorce talk, and they have had many issues, but have grown up as individuals, and as a couple. I think it depends on the couple, the history and the type of couple. Type, i mean, Religious..Mormon, Catholic, or Jewish, or Christian....BDSM Marriage, Same Sex Marriage....any kind of couple. Sometimes, the number lie.

What's a BDSM Marriage?

Are you talking about what I think you're talking about?

 

[vintagelover229]

I have to agree and disagree, i know many people who married young, are happy in the marriages, and so far, have not had any divorce talk, and they have had many issues, but have grown up as individuals, and as a couple. I think it depends on the couple, the history and the type of couple. Type, i mean, Religious..Mormon, Catholic, or Jewish, or Christian....BDSM Marriage, Same Sex Marriage....any kind of couple. Sometimes, the number lie.

What's a BDSM Marriage?

Are you talking about what I think you're talking about?

I had to look it up and yes, she's talking about what you think she's talking about. However from my readings it seems like it's done in a loving manner and willing done by both parties.

I didn't realize there was a name for it! I guess they have labels for everything now. I thought that was just being kinky! And as for that, to each their own!

 

[FrekeChild]

I just want to through out a word of caution when using statistics like this. You can bend statistics anyway you want and without knowing how they derived their numbers, they are useless. Yes, these kind of statistics are good for showing a general trend but please please please don't use the "50% divorce rate in america" or anything generalizing over decades like that.

That number by the way, the popular 50% (varies by new outlet) compares marriages THIS year to Divorces THIS year and in no way compares how the marriages work out over time. So, we are comparing older marriages to new marriages and somehow deciding it is relevant. The way it goes up and down every 5 years or so, fine the trend is what it is; but it cannot be said that half of all marriages end in divorce. For example, the divorces have been dropping recently because of the economy but marriages have dropped at a slower rate because people are simply spending less on them and some people are getting married for tax benefits earlier than they planned. By the way this number is calculated, it makes it appear as though more marriages are succeeding when really, divorce is just being postponed.

Thats all Not trying to be argumentative, just saying use caution with stats! I was shocked when my sociology teacher explained how that number is calculated a few years ago...gave me a whole new level of hope towards long term wedded bliss

That being said, I think it is wise to wait until at LEAST your through with college to marry. You grow a LOT as a person during those years and even if you are in a committed relationship, you don't want the responsibility of planning a wedding during that time or the family pressure to have babies!

Not to mention that these numbers are often taken from the Census and there are a lot of "repeat offenders" (people who get married and divorced multiple times)/outliers that make the averages/statistics go up. Plus there is no actual way to get the data for a real study about just the divorce average, so these, the 50% divorce rate and any other divorce statistics you may hear, are essentially made up.

Statistics can be manipulated to say whatever you want them to say, which is unfortunate but true. Especially when it's based on Census data, which can be notoriously unreliable...since they only poll people with addresses (homeless people are non-existent in the Census), people who are literate (can't fill out forms), etc.

I am the wife of a sociology PhD student who is the statistics and data go-to-guy in the department, as well as being the daughter of a divorce attorney (who estimates the actual divorce rate to be between 30% and 40%), so I've had to learn a lot from these two men...

So I agree whole-heartedly with the above post. Brava!