Summarized from “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work” by John Gottman:
- The chance of a first marriage ending in divorce over a 40 year period is 67%.
- Half of all divorces happen in the first 7 years.
- Some studies say that the divorce rate for second marriages is 10% higher than first marriages.
Yikes. With this in mind, I tend to agree with Gottman when he says,
“The chance of getting divorced remains so high that it makes sense for all married people – including those who are currently satisfied with their relationship – to put extra effort into their marriages to keep them strong” (Gottman, p. 4).
People who are happily married live longer, healthier lives than either divorced people or those who are unhappily married.
I’m sure that these statistics are not new to you, and yet…I would argue that our marriages tend to be what we neglect more than anything else. What do you think?
stay tuned for my next post on why most marriage therapy fails!
lauren dack 
