Worry!

I'm feeling slightly worried about the future today. It is a widely known fact that around 50% of Australian marriages end in divorce, but here are two new fun facts for you: firstly, an American study has shown that one in three marriages in the States end within the first three years, and secondly, a Swinburne University study has proven that half of all Internet relationships begin when one of the participants is still in a relationship. Thus internet affairs are being cited as a major cause of the skyrocketing divorce rate in Australia.

What does any of this have to do with me, you ask? It's true, I am not married, nor am I expecting to get married within the foreseeable future, but here's the thing: another major reason for divorce in the first few years, as cited in the American study, is partners heading into a marriage with high expectations of their significant other. So the great relationships of our parents generation, on which we base our own relationships, are now unattainable when we fail to be good wives, and particularly when we become mothers- the first two years after the first child is born is the most likely time for divorce (apart from the first three years of marriage, as mentioned above).

So what will happen by the time I get married? Will we all be single mothers with only one or two children, so the birth rate will drop, so the population will decrease, so our workforce will be smaller when supporting a larger pension-age population, so the economy will suffer... where will it end?!? Are the days of perfect, fairy-tale marriages now one in a million, or more?

Let me know your thoughts...