Researchers may have found a way to keep married couples together and, hence, lower the divorce rate: just watch more movies. Wait, what?
Yes, it appears that a group of researchers who asked a number of couples to watch romantic movies and then discuss what they saw has found that such a process reduced the likelihood of divorce by 50 percent. The experiment asked these couples to watch five such movies in a month-long span, and then to talk with each other about the movie after seeing it. They are hoping to expand on the study in the coming months. Though the number of participants of the first study were not made clear, it is likely that the sampling was small.
If romantic movies and a few minutes of conversation can keep people together, then that truly is great. However, that may not even be the most interesting aspect of this story. It may actually be the way divorce is portrayed. This story makes divorce out to be a major problem that is in need of fixing, as if it is a blight on society.
Divorce is not a problem — it literally is a solution to a problem, namely an unhappy marriage. When two people have reached the conclusion that their relationship is unsustainable for whatever reasons, a divorce helps those people close this chapter of their lives and move on to a happier chapter. Divorce is part of life now, as the divorce rate hovers around 50 percent.
Source: Detroit Free Press, “Study: Couples can avoid divorce by watching movies,” Donna De Palma, Feb. 18, 2014