Paper fortune teller relationship issue. (via Getty)
They say that when a woman frees herself of a bad relationship, she can conquer the world. There may be some truth to that sentiment if the results of a new study which suggest that divorced women are basically living their best lives are to be believed.
Divorce is certainly not an easy thing to go through, but it appears to benefit women much better than men, according to a new relationship study that details the emotional state of men and women who have ended their marriages. In a study conducted by Style magazine, more than half of divorced women, 53% to be exact, reported that they are ‘much happier’ post-divorce, in contrast to the 32% of men who said the same.
The in-depth details of the study are very interesting, highlighting the varying degrees of happiness that men and women feel when they are no longer in an unhappy marriage and enjoying being single again. The survey asked 1,060 divorced British men and women, with the average age being 54, over 30 questions about their lives and the reasons for their divorce.
After enduring a divorce, women used more positive words like ‘glad’, ‘celebration’ and ‘excitement’ whereas men were more likely to talk about ‘failure’ and ‘disappointment’, the survey found. Additionally, a higher percentage of women (61%) said they were happier to be single and not looking for a relationship in comparison to 47% of men who expressed the same sentiment.
Interestingly, men were also more likely to still have feelings for their former spouse (17% vs. 8% for women), but were much quicker to start dating again, with more than 30% likely to be in a new relationship following a divorce.
Other results uncovered that the decision to get a divorce was a short-term one for most of those surveyed, with over half making the decision in less than six months. Showing the natural emotional nature of women, the survey found that women spent more time thinking about the relationship as a whole before starting divorce proceedings. The time that a couple was married also factored into the time limit, with those who were married longer taking longer to decide, as those with children did the same.
The happiness that women feel these days about divorce is likely due to the stigma surrounding it being significantly less than in years/decades past. The study found that 86% agreed it’s not something to be ashamed of anymore.
To add an even more interesting tidbit to this survey, it comes on the heels of recent findings that divorce rates overall have been on the steady decline for the past 25 years, largely because less people are getting married now than in the past.
