Study breaks down divorce rates by occupation: Engineers one of lowest

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/16/AR2010091607509.html

by cwan • 16 years ago

20 28 16 years ago

Elite• 16 years ago

Well you can't get divorced if you can't find a wife! I kid. I kid.

But engineers strike a good balance of time at home and financial compensation. If you're making much more than a decent engineer, you're probably a senior exec, lawyer, or business owner with not enough time for the wife. Don't have any data to back this up, but just my suspicion.

If you're making much less than an engineer, you may run into money problems which is a leading cause of divorce.

ardit33• 16 years ago

1. Sweet, I went to Radford :)

2. "Why are bartenders this way and engineers that way? Unfortunately we just don't know," - eh, if you are a bartender your probably are meeting good looking people daily. The temptation might be just too great to resist. As an engineer, you are much more less likely to meet good look people during your work, or even just people of the other sex, period.

mahmud3• 16 years ago

Or maybe you can't support a family with tips and minimum wage.

digitallogic2• 16 years ago

Also, bartending isn't a nine to five job. Late nights and weird schedules can be tough on a relationship. I have a few friends that are bartenders, and they can go days maybe weeks without seeing their significant others if their schedules line up that way.

nerfhammer3• 16 years ago

Note the specific types of engineers: agricultural, sales and nuclear

julius_geezer• 16 years ago

"as an engineer, you are much more less likely to meet good look people during your work". Well, yes, if the bartender is in a college town. The drinking life does tend to wear on those who stay with it too long.

The bartender might also be likely to be drinking too much, which could be hard on a marriage.

icegreentea• 16 years ago

The easy jokes are all there. Engineering school gender ratios can really do some funny things to your head. It really does make you value whatever relationships you build with the other gender a lot more.

And I'm saying that from the perspective of an engineering student just waiting to finish. Partly cause school is insane, and partly so I can rejoin the real world where women actually out number men.

kqr2• 16 years ago

...so I can rejoin the real world where women actually out number men.

With regards to the real world, it depends on where you live. From: http://www.siliconvalleybachelor.com/2009/02/man-jose-its-of...

The Census Bureau recently released it's numbers showing that there are 117 men for every 100 women in San Jose amongst the ages of 20 to 44 years old.

myth_drannon• 16 years ago

I think they were politically correct in calling Strippers as Dancers. That would explain the highest divorce rate....

digitallogic2• 16 years ago

The study was derived from census data where occupation is self reported which makes me think you may have a point.

msluyter3• 16 years ago

What I find odd about this is the ranking of mathematician. I would have thought they'd be on par with engineers. Anyone have an explanation why they'd rank so high?

mahmud3• 16 years ago

Where in the article did it say anything about mathematicians?

msluyter3• 16 years ago

I looked at the complete list (linked to from Robin Hanson's blog: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/09/low-divorce-jobs.html).

Mathematicians are #9.

muhfuhkuh• 16 years ago

I like how our eye doctors (4%) adhere to the sanctity of marriage better than our religious leaders (5.6%).

phamilton• 16 years ago

Could it also have something to do with problem solving? Engineers can be stubborn, but also stubborn in the sense that they don't like throwing the towel in.

Or that engineers are logical? As my father-in-law once said (when he was a guest family lawyer on a reality TV show.) "If you are wondering how much it costs to get divorced, just ask me if I'm still married." (Note: that was in jest, but his wife still gave him a hard time about it.) Divorce sucks all around. Figuring out the problem and trying to fix it is a much better solution that divorce.

fleitz• 16 years ago

It seems to me that the occupational study results correlate well to income and income stability. It's well known that financial problems are a major cause of divorce.

aidenn0• 16 years ago

Indeed, I'd like to see the study adjusted for income.

gte910h• 16 years ago

I'd love to see the whole table....

artmageddon• 16 years ago

msluyter linked it below: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/09/low-divorce-jobs.html

There's an Excel file halfway into the article. I'd copy the exact figures on here but it's getting Websense'd :(

rwhitman• 16 years ago

I'd say there's a pretty obvious reason why bartenders have a higher divorce rate than engineers - access to alternatives.

A bartender spends a good chunk of their time socializing with alternatives to their spouse. They're bound to meet someone else eventually.

An engineer is typically cooped up in an office with a bunch of other engineers. Not much in the way of alternate lovers...

aresant• 16 years ago

I dislike articles that are expansions of lists, when lists will do, so in handy list form:

HIGH:

- Dancers and choreographers (43.1 percent)

- bartenders (38.4 percent)

- massage therapists (38.2 percent)

- Also in the top 10 were casino workers, telephone operators, nurses and home health aides.

LOW:

- optometrists (4 percent)

- clergy (5.6 percent)

- podiatrists (6.8 percent)

- Three types of engineers -- agricultural, sales and nuclear engineers -- were represented among the 10 occupations with the lowest divorce rates

msluyter3• 16 years ago

Also in the top 10 were casino workers, telephone operators, nurses and home health aides.

And Mathematicians (#9).

Complete list is here: http://hanson.gmu.edu/temp/DivorcebyJob.xls

pohl2• 16 years ago

Alas, neither Numbers nor Google Spreadsheet seems happy with this file.

credo• 16 years ago

Unless my interpretation is wrong, I'd say that almost all the comments in this thread are based on a misinterpretation of the article (or based on assumptions that are not supported by any data in the article)

Notice these key sentences in the article. "If a person had divorced and remarried by the time of the Census, they would be counted as married. So it could be the case that people in some occupations are just quicker to jump into the next marriage than others. "

The numbers don't suggest that engineers divorce at a lower rate than others. They suggest that engineers are less likely to be in a divorced state (but this could either be due to less engineers divorcing or more engineers remarrying quickly).

nerfhammer3• 16 years ago

Why massage therapists?

pohl2• 16 years ago

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that daily access to physical contact with clients might give rise to both temptation and jealousy.

nerfhammer3• 16 years ago

consistent with nurses and home health aides, but not podiatrists

Study breaks down divorce rates by occupation: Engineers one of lowest

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