Marital Happiness
2003-02-04 16:12:25+00 by Dan Lyke 5 comments
2003-02-04 16:12:25+00 by Dan Lyke 5 comments
[ related topics: Sociology Current Events ]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment made: 2003-02-04 17:11:35+00 by: TC
Well Duh.
#Comment made: 2003-02-06 19:46:33+00 by: whump [edit history]
Before we go off on dismissing professionals/intellectuals/people-wearing-glasses, note this from the article:
"Professionals may have scored lower on gauging marital happiness because they are accustomed to seeing mostly distressed couples and not accustomed to basing conclusions on such short exposure, Ebling said."
"The findings don't mean couples seeking advice should dump their therapists or stop reading marriage books, only that consulting with experienced nonprofessionals also is a good idea, Ebling said."
Also, note that the study was only on the ability to predict if a marriage was going to fail. Not on the ability of lay-people (in which I include clerics) as counselors.
As Dan pointed out, this wasn't on predicting failure, but determining if a marriage is "happy".
Of course, if you're unhappy, you don't need a therapist to tell you that, you want someone to help you given that you're in an unhappy marriage.
#Comment made: 2003-02-06 19:57:23+00 by: Dan Lyke
Actually, it wasn't about if the marriage was going to fail:
In the ability to predict how long the marriage would last, the results were more mixed and less significant because the scores were closer together. "Neither professional training nor personal experience was associated with the ability to predict divorce," the study said.
It sounds like it was based on a self-assessment of a happy marriage, not about impending divorce.
#Comment made: 2003-02-06 20:12:21+00 by: whump
Ack, I misread that. My bad.
#Comment made: 2003-02-06 21:00:11+00 by: Dan Lyke
Yep. If I was feeling charitable I'd say that this isn't a skill counselors need to have; if you have a couple show up in your office you already know they're unhappy. Of course this doesn't excuse the researchers.