After a post-recession slump, more couples are putting a ring on it. Or at least more educated couples are: 87 percent of the uptick is attributable to those with bachelor degrees.
Thanks, research, for reminding us that matrimony is way more nuanced than it's often depicted to be.
Indeed, this gray shading is also true of divorce, which—if everybody you’ve ever talk to is to be believed—affects half of all couples. Actually, not quite.
While there was a significant spike in divorces between 1960 and 1980, the rates have been steadily declining since; currently, between 40 and 50 percent of couples get separated.
Moreover, divorce rates (like marriage rates) vary dramatically depending on circumstances. Women with a college degree, for instance, get divorced at a rate of just 20 percent—half the rate for those sans degree.
There’s also the issue of when you get married. About 36 percent of women who get a divorce are between the ages of 20 and 24. That drops to 16.4 percent for those between 25 and 29, and 8.5 percent for those between 30 and 34.
Perhaps most interestingly, at least for those primed in an age of OkCupid and Match.com, new evidence suggests that online dating prompts higher rates of marriage satisfaction and less divorce. Hell, rates are even apparently affected by how many chick-flicks you watch with your partner (no, seriously).
In other words, don’t fret. Marriage and divorce rates are, like relationships themselves, totally complicated, and happily ever after (or whatever the real-life version of that is) may just be attainable yet.
Image: Flickr/Nick_Schweitzer
