07 February 2011

Patterns of Divorce

Most marriages that end up in divorce were horrible from day one, but some are good for a while before going bad according to a new study.

About one in three newlywed couples gets divorced within 10 years, but their paths to breaking up differ. . . . A majority of new husbands and wives who display negative personality traits, communicate poorly with each other and experience unrelenting stress in their lives split up in the next 10 years[.] Among couples whose marriages do well for several years . . . divorce occurs for nearly 20 percent, apparently because poor communication skills eventually undermine the union.


The study by Justin Lavner and Thomas Bradbury at UCLA interviewed and tracked 172 newlyweds for ten years.

The hopeful side of this news is that it suggests that most divorces may be preventable through better attention to the compatability of couples in the first place.

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