Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the nation!

Massachusetts has the grand title of 'lowest divorce rate in the nation'

Sounds great!

until you see the quid pro quo that comes with it

Composite statistical ratios compiled from data collected at--

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/

and

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:fcj1zKFiRRQJ:www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/...

I'm in the process of entering the data into a spreadsheet for all states. I'm trying to see if MA (and so far this is the case) has the lowest marriage rate in the nation.

Here are the states I've done so far

Relative Marriages per capita
0.18-Alabama
0.18-Alaska
0.07-Massachusetts
0.22-Utah
0.12-California
0.22-Florida
0.16-Georgia
0.44-Hawaii (tourism skewing this)
0.19-Arizona
0.23-Idaho
0.11-New York

Divorce rates for the same states
0.12-Alabama
0.08-Alaska
0.06-Massachusetts (a mere 1pt less than it's marriage rate)
0.11-Utah
0.NA-California
0.12-Florida
0.09-Georgia
0.09-Hawaii
0.15-Arizona
0.15-Idaho
0.11-New York (virtually the same as it's marriage rate)

Ratio of Marriages to Divorces
3:2-Alabama
9:4-Alaska
7:6-Massachusetts
2:1-Utah
N/A-California
7:4-Florida
3:5-Georgia
11:2-Hawaii (tourism skewing this)
4:3-Arizona
11:7-Idaho
1:1-New York

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[BluesChanteuse]

"The higher marriage rates mean a lot to kids".

I think you'll find that a lot of those states with the higher marriage rates also have higher domestic violence and parent/child incest rates.

What does THAT mean to kids?

In those circumstances, divorce might mean a lot to kids.

[HiveRadical]

You're missing a few things.

First off the rate of increase should be looked at in terms of variance from the increase in marriage rates. If there are more domestic conditions where more than one person is in a household then of course you're going to see higher rates of domestic problems. In short it's like pointing out a higher rate of cancer in industrialized nations compared to third world nations.

[HiveRadical]

And you are not addressing the instances where problems emerge but there's no domestic contract, nor broken contract, to tie the numbers to. When a man beats his girlfriend and they don't live in the same place, or beats her children, or abuses them, is that all being counted?

[HiveRadical]

If the man or person doing the violence is not technically related, and doesn't live in the same house, then is it considered 'domestic violence'? Is it considered 'parent/child incest' when it's one in a long line of boyfriends to the mother?

[topaz61]

Utah looks to be about right in the middle of states with the divorce rate (26th). Utah has the highest prevalence of depression of any state, and is above average on suicide rate, but one of the lowest in the western region.

[HiveRadical]

You'll note that my compilation compares the ratio of marriages to divorces on a per capita basis.

Utah has a high rate of depression largely because we don't have a significant portion of our populace unwittingly self medicating themselves for the condition via chronic imbibing the depressant commonly known as 'alcohol'. Sans this haphazard self treatment we actually go to get medical help and proper treatment. It's funny, I know, but that's a big part of why our depression is so 'high'

[willybeama1]

Now that is spin. O'reilly has got some serious competition.

[prestda1]

Wow, that guy wasbent out of shape

[thanatos101b]

Your math is flawed. Divorce constitutes a percentage of marriages. Marriages formed from multiple years factor into the divorced for any given year. In order to make your math valid you must pick a given year (actually several to make a good sample) and then research the number of divorces from that year.

Or you can just look at the divorce rate in Mass. being an indicator that people in that state don't rashly get into marriage unlike Nevada with the highest rate.

[Hemaun]

I'd like to get that spreadsheet when you finish it!