Is a longlasting, successful marriage a thing of the past?

According to Divorce Magazine up until 1997, 2.5 million people got divorced each year. In 2000, 43 percent of all marriages were likely to end within the first 15 years of marriage. 54 percent of those divorcees remarried within five years, and 60 percent of those remarriages ended in divorce as well.

With the average first marriage lasting only seven years, and with the incriminating divorce statistics, one has to ask, is a successful marriage at thing of the past? After all, when marriage began it had very little to do with love and a lot to do with economic status. Within the arranged marriage, adultery ran wild and was accepted to a point. After all, when marriage wasn't based on any kind of love, you couldn't blame those who seek affection elsewhere.

Marriages seemed to have the most success at least in terms of staying power from the early 1900s until the late 1950s with the stereotypical "Leave it to Beaver" household. Not that the majority of these unions were happy -- in the 1950s unhappy marriages were common, although divorce wasn't. A lot of this has to do with the role of women at the time. When most women stayed home and raised kids, they didn't have much choice but to stay with their husband, because they would be unable to support themselves without him.

However, since the feminist movement in the late 1960s thru 1970s, people have stopped pretending and unhappy marriages have been exposed through the divorce process. With the woman stepping out of the household and into the job market, tensions between the sexes have risen due to competition of income, child care, and other household issues. Unlike the pre-feminist generations, women in today's time aren't afraid to leave their husbands because they are able to stand up on their own financially.

Even though divorce rates have risen, marriage rates haven't declined. It seems to be ingrained in our culture that a marriage with kids is a necessary part of adult life, and that one can not be complete without it. This may have been true in the mid-20th century, but not anymore. With the life expectancy rising, are people really meant to stay with one person for 50 to 60 years? Marriage was most successful when the age expectancy was half of what it is now, and even then, adultery was common. So what are the implications of this? Because women now have more control over their lives and the relationship, does that mean couples are less likely to try to overcome bad spells just because the option of leaving is there? And because the option is there, are couples less likely to enter a marriage seriously?

Typically, people are less likely to take things seriously when they know they can get out of it if they so wish to. People don't have to be decisive when having the option of changing their minds. This theory applies to marriage as well as everyday life. Because divorce has become such an accepted practice, "till death do us part," has become more to mean "till I get tired of trying."