First, people were asked the reason for resolving to get married. The top answer was “No particular reason”, at 24.2%; next was worrying about getting left on the shelf and other age-related concerns at 23.4%. 14.1% said because they’d been going out for so long, and 12.5% was for some other reason. Where the other 25.8% went is not noted, but in the “other reason” category, answers like “Because I like… partner or the concept of marriage, I don’t know – Japanese is sometimes vague!” and “I want to live together with my partner” and other forward-looking statements were in the majority. Looking at individual age groups, 30.3% of those in their twenties had their hands forced by the necessity of a shotgun wedding! Note that in Japan, children born out of wedlock is still less than 10% of the total births.
Now on to divorce: the raw figures are as follows.
Q: Have you ever thought about divorcing your current partner?
| Never |
63.2% |
| Thought about it before |
31.1% |
| Currently thinking about it |
5.7% |
Looking at the figures in detail, considering those who are currently and have previously thought about divorce as one, only 29.4% of men have, whilst 43.1% of women have. Looking at those currently thinking about divorce by age group for each sex, the peaks are for early thirties men, at 10.3% and late forties women at 9.2%.
Q: For those who have thought about divorce, for how long have you thought about divorcing your current partner?
| |
All (N=626) |
Male (N=232) |
Female (N=394) |
| Up to six months |
8.9% |
3.9% |
11.9% |
| Six months to one year |
11.7% |
9.5% |
12.9% |
| One to three years |
17.3% |
15.9% |
18.0% |
| Three to five years |
12.3% |
13.8% |
11.4% |
| Five to eight years |
10.7% |
12.9% |
9.4% |
| Eight to ten years |
8.5% |
11.2% |
6.9% |
| 10 to 15 years |
12.9% |
13.8% |
12.4% |
| 15 to 20 years |
7.5% |
8.6% |
6.9% |
| 20 to 25 years |
5.4% |
6.0% |
5.1% |
| 25 to 30 years |
4.2% |
3.4% |
4.6% |
| Over 30 years |
0.6% |
0.9% |
0.5% |
The above table seems to show that women have thought about divorce for a shorter time on average than for men, but the exact reason for this is not hinted at within the article.
As can be seen from the table below, the biggest reason for thinking about divorce is a personality clash, at 45.0%, followed by problems with parents or relatives at 22.0%, and living together causing mental problems at 21.1%. Amongst those aged 40 and over, the personality clash issue is especially large.
Q: For what reasons did you think about divorce? (Multiple answer)
| Personality clash |
45.0% |
| Problem with parents or relatives |
22.0% |
| Living together causing mental problems |
21.1% |
| Disagreements about money sense |
19.3% |
| Disagreements about lifestyle |
19.2% |
| Disagreements about sex |
18.2% |
| Wanting to be alone |
14.2% |
| Disagreements about interests |
12.9% |
| Problem regarding children |
12.0% |
| It was a mistake getting married |
11.8% |
| Loans or wasteful habits |
8.9% |
| Partner’s personality changed |
8.8% |
| Partner’s unfaithfulness |
8.6% |
| Domestic violence |
6.5% |
| Others |
6.5% |
| Changed jobs |
5.8% |
| Cannot go out freely |
5.4% |
| Drinking problem |
5.3% |
| Get away from children |
3.8% |
| Gambling |
3.5% |
| Religion or ideology problem |
3.0% |
| Redundancy |
3.0% |
| Met someone else |
2.2% |
| Didn’t receive any spending money |
2.1% |
| Illness |
2.1% |
| Don’t want to return home |
1.6% |
Looking at why people don’t get divorced, one reason that splits the sexes is the concern of the effect on a child having just a single parent. 48.3% of men versus 38.3% of women felt this to be a concern, perhaps reflecting the usual outcome of custody issues, namely that children tend to end up with the mother (my personal opinion, not mentioned in the survey analysis). Similarly, 23.3% of men would hate to be separated from their kids versus 15,5% of women.
Q: For what reasons did you suppress your desire for divorce? (Multiple answer)
| |
All |
Male |
Female |
| Couldn’t survive financially |
22.7% |
5.6% |
32.7% |
| Living alone is lonely |
8.5% |
9.1% |
8.1% |
| Pitiful for a child to have a single parent |
42.0% |
48.3% |
38.3% |
| Parents or others opposed to divorce |
6.4% |
6.0% |
6.6% |
| Other people think we should be together |
2.1% |
2.2% |
2.0% |
| Must keep up appearances |
17.4% |
20.3% |
15.7% |
| Partner couldn’t live without me |
9.4% |
8.6% |
9.9% |
| Partner couldn’t live alone |
12.9% |
16.8% |
10.7% |
| Would hate to be separated from children |
18.4% |
23.3% |
15.5% |
| Others |
15.8% |
10.8% |
18.8% |
Thinking about how long it will be until they are divorced, 50.2% thought within a year, and 22.3% within half a year (so 27.9% are between six to twelve months). It’s not clear if the sample size are just those currently thinking of divorce, but that may be correct.
Questioning the whole sample of 1,852 people regarding bringing up the subject of divorce, 80.5% thought women should bring it up, but only 51.9% thought men should. In addition, 69.0% thought they should bring up the topic themselves, whereas 17.8% said it was their partner, and 13.2% of the time both sides brought up the topic round about the same time. This last sentence is unclear – it might refer to in cases of those who are divorced or thinking about divorce, but the question uses the present tense.
Q: For those of you divorced, what did you do with your wedding ring?
| Just kept it |
27.9% |
| Threw it away |
24.9% |
| Others |
22.3% |
| Returned it to partner |
15.7% |
| Sold it |
5.1% |
| Gave it to someone else |
2.0% |
| Had it remade into other jewelry |
2.0% |
Ginza HS Clinic recently released a bit of curious survey that tried to establish a link between going bald and SNS. Some of you might remember a similarly dodgy survey from them (and headline from me!) from a couple of months back.
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