What is the Key to a Good Marriage … Are You Kidding … Sharing House Work???

The PEW Research Center has done a survey on what factors that people associate with a successful marriage. You will be surprised what “trivial” factor actually came in first. Sharing house work? Are you joking? That is correct, respondents chose, Do dishes, not diapers. The percentage of Americans that ranked “children” very important to a successful marriage has dropped considerably since 1990. Could someone please explain to me how the top factors provided for a successful marriage did not include ahead of Sharing house work the following: communication, faithfulness, children, intimacy, and heaven forbid a religious faith. WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE THAT IS A MAJOR FACTOR TO A GOOD MARRIAGE … LET’S HEAR YOUR ANSWERS.

Chore-sharing was cited as very important by 62 percent of respondents, up from 47 percent in 1990.

The survey also found that, by a margin of nearly 3-to-1, Americans say the main purpose of marriage is the “mutual happiness and fulfillment” of adults rather than the “bearing and raising of children.”

The Pew Research Center survey on marriage and parenting found that children had fallen to eighth out of nine on a list of factors that people associate with successful marriages _ well behind “sharing household chores,” “good housing,” “adequate income,” a “happy sexual relationship” and “faithfulness.” (The Washington Post)

The Pew survey was conducted by telephone from mid-February through mid-March among a random, nationwide sample of 2,020 adults. Its margin of error is 3 percentage points.

Have people really become that selfish and petty?

Kidding yourself if you think children make a marriage

What a sad commentary of marriage and individuals that would be so selfish that in todays environment, “Marriage today, like the rest of our lives, is about personal satisfaction.”

In a study that shows how separately marriage and children are viewed, Americans expressed great passion for their sons and daughters but clearly did not see them as the glue of their adult relationships.

“Marriage today, like the rest of our lives, is about personal satisfaction,” said Andrew Cherlin, who teaches sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, noting that there were mixed consequences for the changing views of marriage. (Sidney Morning Herald)