Can You Rely On These Divorce Predictors?

If you’ve ever been in a marriage that ended, did you ever think that would be the result? Most people who have gone through a divorce or are even contemplating a divorce probably didn’t believe that would be how their marriage would end up, but for a large percentage of people that is the case.

If you’re currently married or thinking about getting married, there may be some indicators that can let you know how likely your relationship is to fare well. Researchers study the success rate of marriages and look at a myriad of factors that allow them to find patterns, and these are just a few of the predictors they offer:

For Rhode Island residents you may have a bit of luck on your side—people who live in red states are as much as 27 percent more likely than their blue state counterparts to get divorced.

The reason? While we might not know the definite reason, it’s often believed to have something to do with the age at which people in red states versus blue states get married. People who wait until they’re older to get married tend to have marriages that make it for the long haul. States in which we see the lowest median age when people get married include Utah, Arkansas and Kentucky.

Were your parents divorced? If so, you’re at least 40 percent more likely to have your marriage end in divorce. Research also shows something else interesting—if your parents remarried after a divorce there’s a 91 percent higher likelihood you’ll get divorced.

The reason for this startling statistic? Again, it may be impossible to completely know but trends lean toward the fact that if we start our lives seeing marriages as “disposable” we’re more likely to view our own in the same way. It can seem like it’s easy to move from one marriage to the next if you saw your own parents do just that.

Do daughters spell trouble for a marriage? Married couples who have a daughter are at a five percent higher risk for divorce than couples with a son.

This can be a statistic for any number of reasons—perhaps girls can be more challenging to parent or as some researchers point out, such as the director of research for the Council on Contemporary Families, is may be because fathers feel more involved with their family when they have a son.

These are just a few of the many predictors that can point to a divorce, although of course they don’t hold true for every couple. Continue reading the full list and accompanying research details at The Daily Beast.

If you need guidance for divorce-related issues or just want to learn more about your options, contact a professional Rhode Island firm specializing in family law who can help you understand and navigate the experience.