Marriage Break-Up Rates Similar for Gay, Straight Couples: Study
Marriage Break-Up Rates Similar for Gay, Straight Couples: Study
Research tracked U.S. national data on marriage and 'marriage-like' unions from 2009-12
MONDAY, Oct. 6, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- When gays and lesbians have access to government-sanctioned marriage, or engage in highly committed "marriage-like" unions, their rates of break-up are the same as those of heterosexuals, a new study finds.
The study was released Monday, coinciding with an announcement from the U.S. Supreme Court that it would refuse to hear cases from five states seeking to maintain bans on same-sex marriage. Experts believe that this decision raises the odds that same-sex marriages will be recognized in those states.
The data used in the study covers 2009 through 2012, before the Supreme Court decision overturning the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). That decision helped encourage many more states to support same-sex marriage.
However, even the earlier data used in the current study suggests that "same-sex couples and heterosexual couples have statistically indistinguishable rates of [marriage] breakup," according to the study's author, Michael Rosenfeld, associate professor of sociology at Stanford University.
The study appears in the October issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family.
Rosenfeld noted that prior research suggested that same-sex relationships might not be as stable over the long term as straight couples. However, none of those studies had access to the nationally representative data of his new report.
In the new study, information was collected through successive surveys about How Couples Meet and Stay Together. Beginning in 2009, these polls tracked the relationships of about 3,000 American couples and followed them year by year through 2012.
Nearly 500 of the pairings in the surveys were same-sex couples.
Of course, between 2009 and 2012 many states did not sanction same-sex marriages. For that reason, Rosenfeld also included "marriage-like" unions such as domestic partnerships, civil unions, and other arrangements "that include a strong interpersonal commitment" from each partner, he said.
He found that -- for couples in either a marriage or a marriage-like union -- the annual break-up rate for either straight or gay couples was below 3 percent. Additionally, there wasn't a significant difference in the annual break-up rate for gay male couples or lesbian couples.
Break-Up Rates Similar for Gay, Straight Couples
Research tracked U.S. national data on marriage and 'marriage-like' unions from 2009-12
MONDAY, Oct. 6, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- When gays and lesbians have access to government-sanctioned marriage, or engage in highly committed "marriage-like" unions, their rates of break-up are the same as those of heterosexuals, a new study finds.
The study was released Monday, coinciding with an announcement from the U.S. Supreme Court that it would refuse to hear cases from five states seeking to maintain bans on same-sex marriage. Experts believe that this decision raises the odds that same-sex marriages will be recognized in those states.
The data used in the study covers 2009 through 2012, before the Supreme Court decision overturning the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). That decision helped encourage many more states to support same-sex marriage.
However, even the earlier data used in the current study suggests that "same-sex couples and heterosexual couples have statistically indistinguishable rates of [marriage] breakup," according to the study's author, Michael Rosenfeld, associate professor of sociology at Stanford University.
The study appears in the October issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family.
Rosenfeld noted that prior research suggested that same-sex relationships might not be as stable over the long term as straight couples. However, none of those studies had access to the nationally representative data of his new report.
In the new study, information was collected through successive surveys about How Couples Meet and Stay Together. Beginning in 2009, these polls tracked the relationships of about 3,000 American couples and followed them year by year through 2012.
Nearly 500 of the pairings in the surveys were same-sex couples.
Of course, between 2009 and 2012 many states did not sanction same-sex marriages. For that reason, Rosenfeld also included "marriage-like" unions such as domestic partnerships, civil unions, and other arrangements "that include a strong interpersonal commitment" from each partner, he said.
He found that -- for couples in either a marriage or a marriage-like union -- the annual break-up rate for either straight or gay couples was below 3 percent. Additionally, there wasn't a significant difference in the annual break-up rate for gay male couples or lesbian couples.
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