Secret - not - a - secret to strongest families

[Isaac]

Study: Marry Young, Marry Your First, Stay Married | National Review

A new study supports the traditional model of marriage: marry young without living together first, and with the aim of a lifetime commitment.

www.nationalreview.com

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I tried to look this up but I can't determine easily what is the makeup of the National Marriage Project other than that it is non-sectarian. But it does NOT seem to be non-religious. Which potentially means that the researchers start with an inherent bias towards the conclusion they published. I am not saying they ARE biased - but that I can't tell from what they reveal about themselves whether they potentially are biased.

 

[Isaac]

I doubt you can find many studies done by people with no biases, if you dug deep and hard enough.

Regardless, religion doesn't make data wrong.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Regardless, religion doesn't make data wrong.

Sadly, I must disagree. Consider the way religion tries to counter evolution by presenting fanciful mystical explanations of things that evolution would simply and completely explain.

But more specifically, I have seen religious apologists trying to discredit the ground-breaking research in the 1990s in the UK that discovered the fact that the human brain has male and female configurations and that it is possible for someone who appears to be genitally male to be cerebrally female - and vice versa. By itself, this finding would prove that homosexuals are "born that way" <<Lady Gaga singing in background>> and incidentally would undercut a lot of the anti-gay issues brought about from various Biblical passages.

 

[Isaac]

Sadly, I must disagree. Consider the way religion tries to counter evolution by presenting fanciful mystical explanations of things that evolution would simply and completely explain.

But more specifically, I have seen religious apologists trying to discredit the ground-breaking research in the 1990s in the UK that discovered the fact that the human brain has male and female configurations and that it is possible for someone who appears to be genitally male to be cerebrally female - and vice versa. By itself, this finding would prove that homosexuals are "born that way" <<Lady Gaga singing in background>> and incidentally would undercut a lot of the anti-gay issues brought about from various Biblical passages.

Ever ask yourself what the personal position of the UK researchers was?

Do you see what I mean? You point out the issue of bias, but then immediately turn around and ignore the same possibility because your bias is so strong you subconsciously assume it can't possibly go the other direction. This isn't a dig, just a reality for all of us (human)

 

[Galaxiom]

I have no doubt the marriage study would have enormous potential for systematic bias.

The potential for sample selection bias is enormous. For example, were the religious married people selected by choosing subjects where strong religious values would be found after years of marriage, ignoring those who had those values when they were married but ultimately rejected them?

How was the success of the marriage measured. Simply by still being together regardless any other factor? What if they stayed married but are having affairs? Are they going to admit, particularly if they are Christians? What if they are miserable?

How much care was taking not to include bias in the assessment technique? Did the surveys completely separate the information about the nature of the religious beliefs and the outcome measurement? Is it even possible to do that.

Did the subjects have any idea at all what was being studied? It is rookie mistake if they did because knowing what is being studied is well known to introduce biases.

Religious people are more likely to stay together because staying together is directed by the same religious values as marrying without cohabiting first. It is also more likely to be a situation where the man is dominant and any advice given to a woman who is dissatisfied in the marriage is to obey her husband because that is God's will and divorce is a sin, hence a propensity to stay together.

What kind of peer review has been done?

Studies like this are notoriously subjective. A study of the comparative brain structures and activity can be objective.

 

[CJ_London]

ever read the book 'Lies Damned Lies and Statistics'? Some great examples there of bias in the way data is collected and interpreted.

One was about a US church that sent out a questionaire to all their parishioners asking if they believed in God - the conclusion was 95% of Americans believed in God.

Can't quite remember the detail but another was a a small country where a survey showed only 75% of the population were deemed healthy and the health minister was charged with improving that figure. His solution was to close the hospitals - once the unhealthy population died off, healthy people formed 85% of the reduced population.

 

[Galaxiom]

What is response bias?

Response bias can throw a real spanner in the works when it comes to getting data from your surveys. Read on as we break down how to avoid it.

paperform.co

 

[Galaxiom]

https://images.prismic.io/sketchplanations/f2fdb7cb-f126-4897-ad78-4fd11c743172_SP+723+-+Sampling+bias.png?auto=format&ixlib=react-9.0.3&h=1887.6833845104059&w=1600&q=75&dpr=1

 

[Isaac]

I agree that there is a possibility the study was imperfect.

From observation in life though, people in modern society have definitely become a bit too easy on divorces. The problem at root cause is often moral. Nowadays too many people approach a marriage with the attitude, "as long as you keep making me happy, I'll stay with you".
The better attitude is "I'm here in this relationship with a servant's heart - to love and serve YOU" - and both people equally should have this attitude.
The former attitude almost never works, and ends in divorce. The latter attitude isn't a magic bullet either - of course, it wouldn't work if one partner just completely and maliciously exploited that into abuse, etc - but it works well when combined with selecting an actual good partner to begin with.
Nothing is a guarantee of course, but if you take a starting point with 2 people of relatively good character and without any extreme baggage like a tendency toward violence or exploitation - if you start from that point, the best marriages are where both people wake up wondering "how can I love and serve others today?" - rather than "how can that other person please me today?" - not gendered, just equal.

The other mistake (I think) people make is putting their children first, and their spouse second. This is a modern construct that is mistaken. Ironically, if, by doing that, the marriage ends, guess what that does to the children? Ultimately IMO it is my spouse first, my children second (which still leaves plenty of room for them, it's not like they are being neglected, I just 'see' it that way in my heart) - thus saving the marriage, which is (although we love to deny this is true in modern times) what the children want and need anyway, and everyone wins.