The Marriage Foundation has published some research today which has been written about in the Daily Mail. They have quoted some statistics showing that divorce rates are going down and that fewer women than in the past apply for a divorce especially in the first three years of marriage. The assumption they make based on these results is that men are more committed than they used to be and therefore are giving less reasons for their wives to issue divorce proceedings. That may be the case, but I think that what is odd is the quantum leap from the research statistics to their hypothesis. It is hardly scientific, and has no link, as far as I can see with the Marriage Foundation’s assumptions. How do we know it is not because people can’t afford to divorce now, or because women know how tough it is out there for them if they divorce. How do we know that this study has a significant enough research base for it to provide any meaning. No-one would disagree that commitment is better than no commitment, that fidelity is better than infidelity, but please, if we are going to have some research, let’s make the leap from the statistics to the conclusion meaningful not random.
