The malaise surrounding a divorce can spread like a disease, according to a new Brown University study that tracked 12,000 New England residents. The researchers found that couples whose immediate friends had split were 75 percent more likely to get divorced themselves, a trend the study's authors call "divorce clustering." Can your friends' unhappiness really doom your marriage? (Watch a CBS report about the divorce study.)
Of course it can: This study "only proves the obvious," says Jen Doll at The Village Voice. Peer pressure influences us from the time we're kids. Besides, "the more people who get divorces around you," the less likely it is that you'll benefit from reasoned judgment should you contemplate a split yourself.
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