Marriage Misconception #1: People live too long now to expect couples to stay married for life.
"While adults today can expect to live a little longer than their grandparents, they also marry at a later age. The life span of a typical, divorce-free marriage, therefore, has not changed much in the past 50 years."
Source: David Popenoe. "Top 10 Marriage Myths." Health.discovery.com.
Marriage Misconception #2: Your spouse's poor credit will ruin your own credit rating.
"Your spouse’s past credit history has no impact on your credit profile. Only when you open a joint account will any information be shared on both of your credit reports. However, when you want to buy a home together, your spouse’s negative credit history could impact your mortgage rates."
Source: Marriage Myths." Credit.com.
Marriage Misconception #3: Statistics show that 50 percent of married couples will end up getting divorced.
"The truth about marriage is that divorce is getting less common. Divorce rates have dropped sharply since peaking in the late 1970s, for a variety of reasons. In many ways, the marital bond is stronger and better than it ever has been."
Source: Tara Parker-Pope. for better: The Science of a Good Marriage. 2010. pg. 9.
Marriage Misconception #4: Marriage is a dying institution.
"Critically, marriage, the basis of the family, is also far from a dying institution. Sociologist Andrew Cherlin notes that over 80% of Americans eventually get married, often after a period of cohabitation. Later marriages are also reflected in later childrearing."
Source: Joel Kotkin. "All in The Family." Forbes.com. 4/13/2010.
Marriage Misconception #5: Married couples have lost touch with their extended families and adult children.
"In fact, more Americans than ever before have grandparents alive, and there is good evidence that ties between grandparents and grandchildren have become stronger over the past fifty years ... Today 54 percent of adults see a parent, and 68 percent talk on the phone with a parent, at least once a week."
Source: Stephanie Coontz. The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. 2000. pg. 15.
Marriage Misconception #6: Men and women communicate differently.
"The idea that men and women differ fundamentally in the way they use language to communicate is a myth in the everyday sense: a widespread but false belief."
Source: Deborah Cameron. The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages? 2008. pg. 3.
