Marriage is tricky. Staying together for decades is not an easy task. Even if you are madly in love at first, compatibility issues can sneak up on you over time. Sometimes couples develop issues such as substance abuse, physical abuse, financial issues, and infidelity.
Many things can lead to divorce. For some couples, it may seem as though the divorce happens overnight. For others, it is clear that problems have been developing for quite some time.
Divorce can be surprising in some cases. Sometimes there is no clear-cut reason for why it happens. However, there are some factors in your life that could cause the end of a marriage over time. Here are some surprising issues that are linked to a higher divorce rate.
You Have a Long Commute
Having to drive a long way to get to work can be stressful in many ways. You have to leave your house earlier. You miss out on family time. You have to deal with traffic. Another issue? A study shows that when your commute to work is 45 minutes or longer each way, you are more likely to divorce. Millions of people were tracked over a 10-year period. The results were that 14% of the couples in which at least one partner had a long commute divorced. This was compared to 10% of the couples who worked near their home. So, while the results were not significant, this may be a good reason to get a shorter commute or work from home.
Peer Pressure
For some people, peer pressure continues on long after high school. When your friends are getting married, you may want to, too. When they start having babies, you may feel the urge as well. If your friends are getting divorced, that may rub off on you as well. The closer you are to the person in question, the higher the chance of divorce. For example, according to the study, people were 75% more likely to divorce if a close friend or family member divorced. But if the person was a friend of a friend or an acquaintance, they were 33% more likely to divorce.
The Woman Gets Seriously Ill
Women are commonly known as the caretakers, so when they get sick, marriages tend to go downhill. A study surveyed close to 3,000 marriages involving people over the age of 50. It found that when the woman suffered a stroke, cancer, or heart or lung disease, the marriage was 6% more likely to end in divorce when compared to the man getting sick or neither party getting sick at all. This is likely due to the fact that men may struggle to take care of their spouse in old age.
You are a Female Doctor
It is often said that doctors have high divorce rates. This is only half true. Female doctors who work more than 40 hours a week have a higher rate of divorce. However, the opposite is true for male doctors. If they work more than 40 hours a week, they actually have a lower rate of divorce. In fact, physicians overall have a lower rate of divorce than nurses, dentists, and lawyers. It is interesting how gender plays a role, but it is likely because female doctors are overworked and then often have to come home and do most of the household work, as well.
Your First Child is a Girl
Gender makes a difference in the divorce rate once again. Baby boys tend to be favored over girls, even in Western cultures, it seems. 60 years of data from the census in the United States shows that having a girl first is more likely to lead to divorce when compared to having a baby boy born first. Also interesting is that an unmarried couple is 42% more likely to marry if they have a boy first. This could mean that fathers are more important to boys or that boys are more important to fathers. In any case, it is an interesting statistic to consider.
You are at a Healthy Weight
This is another interesting and maybe even surprising fact. You would think that healthier, thinner people would be more attractive to each other and cause the marriage to last, but this is not the case, apparently. If you are at a healthy weight, you are more likely to divorce. Of more than 2,700 divorce filings, 76% of them occurred when both parties weighed under 200 pounds. Those who weighed in at more than 250 pounds had the lowest divorce rate. So, maybe if you want to save your marriage, you should have that extra helping of dessert.
You Share the Housework 50/50
This is another surprising statistic, considering that women always seem to complain that they want the men to help out more around the house. But a study showed that when couples split the housework down the middle, they actually had a higher rate of divorce. The possible reasoning for this may be that these couples have created an unhappy, business-like partnership rather than a happy relationship filled with intimacy and spontaneity.
Seek Legal Help
Divorce is not just caused by financial and communication issues. Sometimes there are other factors in your life that can make divorce more likely to occur.
If you are ending your marriage, discuss your case with Broward County divorce attorney Scott J. Stadler. We will help you meet your goals so you can be happy again. Schedule a consultation today by calling (954) 346-6464 or filling out the online form.