Georgia spouses who consider their marriage to be a stable one might want to be careful if they have friends who divorce. A recent scientific study came to the conclusion that divorce might be contagious.
University researchers have found that someone who is married and has a friend who divorces is 75 percent more likely to see his or her own marriage end in divorce. A researcher at the Kinsey Institute says that one reason for this could be that the divorce of friends can make married couples look at their own marriage and consider the possibilities. The state of being newly divorced may seem appealing to married people, another expert says. Even someone who is happily married may be envious of the excitement they see a divorced friend having with dating and new relationships.
The experience of one woman suggests that many people may be aware of the effect another’s divorce can have on them. The woman, a divorce coach, found her married friends shying away from her when she got divorced. She says that some friends physically avoided her; with others, the tension lasted for years. She believes that her friends who were having marital problems were frightened by her divorce because it alerted them to the possibility that it could happen to them.
However, experts say that couples can use their friends’ divorces to strengthen their marriages by talking about it to each other rather than to friends. A couple could identify problems in the friends’ marriage and try to prevent it from happening to their own.
Every marriage is difference, and every divorce is also different. An individual who is getting divorced might benefit from being represented by an attorney, who may assess the client’s situation and develop a customized solution for his or her needs.