Do audiophiles have a high divorce rate?

Well, the US divorce rate is high, period, with estimates ranging from over 40% to over 60%. Split the difference, and you've got the oft quoted 50%. Interestingly, the modal (most typical) prediction of likelihood of divorce for both marrieds and singles seems to be around 0%, and the same for the once divorced! We're hopefully beasts, thankfully! (see Fowers, B. J., Lyons, E., Montel, K. H., and Shaked, N. 2001. “Positive Illusions About Marriage Among Married and Single Individuals.” Journal of Family Psychology 15: 95-109)

My guess is that we know very little about risk factors, save some pretty obvious ones, like extreme youth in a couple. In the particular case of audiophiles, obsessing on a (n often non-decor friendly) hobby might cause marital strain. On the other hand, audiophiles as a group may be more secure than average financially, which may in some instances be helpful. On the idea that there is an "audiophile personality," I'm a bit skeptical: seems a pretty diverse group on this site anyway, though I'd expect there are some trends having to do with age, gender, income, and race. In the end, I'm skeptical about the notion that "personality traits" have as much to do with the course of ourlives as people seem to think (I've gone on at length about this elsewhere: http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521608902

So all you guys can taske satisfaction in both your marriages and your hobby, without a shred of guilt! Congratulations on your successful unions!

jmd

yes Jeff, of course, I was very, very young ;-]

Perhaps audiophiles, with their neuroses towards acheiving perfection, are less likely to get divorced?!!! Perhaps the audio hobby "drains" that internal dynamic that (near) continuously challenges the attainment of satisfaction, the "never-completely-satisfied" mechanism. By dealing with that trait in the audio hobby, it may just spare the spouse! After all, we all need to come to terms with the impossibility of perfection (even in audio), and the impact of that realization could well cause a feller to seek solidity with their spouse. Just a theory...

Listener57: I loved your post! Made me laugh out load and had to share it with my spouse. Chiming in as another lucky audio nut who's been with the same listening partner for over 32 years. And she's going with me this afternoon to a friend's house to listen to his recently updated system.
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My wife made some interesting points (married 6 years and she doesn't connect with the audio thing at all). There is a profound difference between your relationship with a static object, and a dynamic relationship with a human being. Those who are most likely to get divorced may also include many who treat the partner more like an object than a human being.

I would add that there is a difference between those who pursue this hobby to actually enjoy their music on a regular basis, and those who pursue it as an extension of their johnson.

Perhaps another interesting question might be: To those like Albert and BDGregory...to what do you attribute the success and longevity of your relationships and how does the audio obsession play into that dynamic? And to those who actually have faced a divorce or breakup because of audio; how do you see the relationship between the two?

Marco