Second Marriages on the Decline

A new study on marriage reports that the rate of remarriage among divorced American women is on the decline, among other findings.

The study, released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, looks at “the entire life cycle of relationships” between the sexes.

Fifty years ago, three out of four women who divorced got remarried within five years.

The new study found that remarriage after divorce is no longer the norm. Even with the increasing population of divorced men, only about half of divorced American women today will remarry within five years. The study notes that statistically speaking, the large number of divorcees means that there are many more chances for remarriage than ever before, but fewer people are taking those chances.

The lead author of the report, Matt Bramlett, suggests that Americans today are reluctant to remarry after bad experiences in previous marriages.

But the founder of the Coalition for Marriage, Diane Sollee makes light of the findings. She says that the drop in second marriages “is a good sign … that we're all sobering up. People are realizing that there are reduced odds of success in a second marriage, especially if there are stepchildren, and it's very daunting to do it all over again.”

Other Findings

The CDC study also confirms that couples that lived together before marriage are more likely to become divorced if they do marry than those who wait until after they are married to move in together.

The CDC uncovered another trend: many more people are getting separated without bothering to go through the formalities of a legal divorce in a timely manner.

Illegitimacy and poverty are tough on marriages, the study confirms. All poor women are less likely to marry a first time, and very unlikely to remarry.

The presence of a baby before marriage is also taxing to relationships, the study reports. It found that having a baby out of wedlock increases the chances of a divorce within 10 years twofold compared with couples who don't have a baby until they are married.

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