Study Shows Divorce Won't Make You Happier

STUDY SHOWS DIVORCE WON’T MAKE YOU HAPPIER

One research team studied the responses of over 5,000 married adults who were first interviewed in the 1980s. Five years later, the survey re-contacted those people. Even though the study really wasn’t centered on divorce, they found that some of the original group had gotten divorced or separated during that time...and their responses on their state of happiness took the experts by surprise. What they found was that the divorce RARELY made anyone’s life happier.

According to Dr. Linda Waite, sociology professor at the University of Chicago and lead author of the study, "Staying married is not just for the children’s sake... results like these suggest the benefits of divorce have been OVERSOLD."

Dr. Scott Stanley, co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver, explained the unexpected findings this way: "The conventional belief is that when a marriage is down, it is done... But what we are seeing with these data is that there are couples who are basically down, but the relationship bounces back."

(Source: Family News from James Dobson 9/02, commenting on a study done by The Institute for American Values. From a sermon by Jeff Strite, "Til Death Do Us Part" 2/15/2009.)