There is an apparent inverse relationship between education and divorce rate. To explain, the higher the education level, the lower the divorce rate (Crooks & Baur, 2008). Age at marriage has shown to be another variable tied to divorce, so the probability of a couple divorcing is reduced with every year older the couple is when they marry. Those who wed as teens are twice as likely to divorce as those who wed in their 20s, and that correlation continues with the increase in age (Crooks & Baur, 2008). Reasons people state for divorce include lack of communication, personality clashed, growing apart, abuse, infidelity, substance abuse and more (Crooks & Baur, 2008). Divorced couples in high socioeconomic status tend to blame their divorce to lack of love, communication, and incompatibility, while divorced couples in low socioeconomic usually blame abuse, financial problems, and substance abuse (Crooks & Baur, 2008). Gottman is an optimistic of making marriages work. Gottman, awarded with the National Institute of Health Research Science Award for 20 years, has published over 120 articles and 37 books on how to sustain a relationship. Gottman attests that if every couple went through the Love Lab and corrected even a single problem in their marriage, it would be much happier and successful. He maintains that a couple need to spend time and effort on making a marriage …show more content…
A successful marriage consists of the accumulation all three, an experience referred to as consummate love. Missing even one of the components changes the entire relationship because the different potential combinations of the three main kinds of love yield a total of eight types of love. In a successful marriage, there must be romance, physical attraction, and craving for sexual interaction, which is the passion component (Crooks & Baur, 2008). The presence of feelings of emotional closeness and openness to share private thoughts and feelings with the significant other, the intimacy component, is a necessity. Finally, the conscious decision to love and maintain a relationship regardless of the difficulties that may arise, commitment, is vital. Passion develops rapidly in the early stages of love, but declines with time; however, intimacy and commitment increase (Crooks & Baur, 2008). If intimacy does not prosper or the couple decides to no longer commit themselves to each other, the relationship struggles. Commitment however, can sustain a relationship during times of