Transcription
All right, welcome back. Uh, I'm back. I don't know that I would say I'm better than ever, but I am at least able to talk without wanting to die, so this is progress. Uh, we're getting there.
When we last left off, we were discussing specific trends and patterns with respect to divorce, and we're going to just sort of continue on with things. So, all of this discussion of trends and patterns begs the question: what actually is Canada's current divorce rate?
Well, here's the thing. Um, and I mentioned it in the last short lecture, but we don't actually know because for decades, Stats Can did gather detailed marriage and divorce information as part of their Vital Statistics program. But in July of 2011, the agency announced that they would no longer be collecting these data points because of newly imposed budgetary constraints.
They also said that, um, since diverse groups and a growing proportion of Canadians have opted to form common law unions as an alternative to marriage, the data on divorce have lost some of their interpretive clarity. So, divorce rates don't tell us as much as they might have in the past because so many unions are happening outside of the sort of traditional sphere or realm of marriage.
The most consistent time series with marriage and divorce rates ended in 2008. Uh, Rachel Margolis et al., she's a prof at Main Campus in sociology, uh, she and her colleagues or co-workers have estimated the divorce rate in Canada through the use of administrative data that are available from the federal government.
What might that data be? Well, uh, they can use like sort of one-off surveys, but she bases a lot of her analysis on tax returns. So, people either file their tax returns singly or jointly, and if they're filing them jointly one year and then filing them singly the next year, that heavily implies that they got divorced.
From that, they can estimate, uh, that the divorce—sorry, the evidence indicates from that that the divorce rate, which is calculated as divorces per thousand women, uh, continues to be lower in Canada than the United States. The most recent Stats Can estimate on the likelihood of Canadian marriage ending in divorce again came from data in 2008, which indicated that about 4 in 10, or 41%, of marriages ultimately ended in divorce.
The best guess, however, would be that the likelihood of divorce in Canada has fallen below 4 in 10. Uh, Margolis et al. have produced different sets of estimates. Their research shows a decline from roughly 10 divorces per thousand married women in the early 2000s to about 7 divorces per thousand married women in 2015.
Um, and of course, taking into account like married women, uh, you would skip gay men and you would sort of double lesbian women, but I think the data—the number of same-sex marriages, uh, are I guess small enough that it's still not really going to be like really pushing the needle one way or the other.
Um, the research also highlights a decline in divorce rates amongst adults in their 20s and 30s. Uh, it's estimated to have fallen roughly by 30% over the same period, and the decline in first marriages is more pronounced amongst women with less education and those who have had premarital pregnancies.
These are two subgroups with historically higher divorce rates, um, so that might also be contributing to the decline. So again, when people who are more likely to get divorced statistically are not getting married as much, like you would expect to see a decline in sort of overall divorce rates.
Um, so while fewer young people marry or delay the process, those who ultimately do end up marrying appear to have higher quality or at least relatively more stable marriages on average.
And as the divorce rate amongst younger adults has declined, the rate amongst older Canadians has simultaneously increased. The number of separated and divorced adults under 50 declined, but their older counterparts have increased.
The upturn in divorce amongst older Canadians has not entirely mirrored the United States, which, uh, has been characterized as experiencing a great divorce revolution. Um, so it's happening a lot more in the States, but it is still happening somewhat in Canada.
Right, so what we've seen how divorce rates have shifted across age groups, it's important to consider the underlying factors that help explain these trends.
So sociological theories like early socialization and the life course perspective can offer some valuable insights into how beliefs and behaviors around marriage and divorce have shaped over time, starting from childhood.
Uh, so with respect to early socialization and the life course perspectives, um, beliefs and behaviors toward family life are transmitted from parents to their children through socialization. This is sort of how the argument goes. Through socialization, most young people have deeply ingrained attitudes and beliefs about marriage and divorce.
So research has shown that people's childhood experiences of family stability and or instability directly affect their attitudes and prospects of entering into marriage in the first place, um, not to mention the likelihood of their unions ending.
The 21st century has seen the diversification of family structures, uh, which have had important ramifications regarding separation and divorce.
The socialization processes occur throughout one's lifetime in conjunction with a range of critical events that affect individuals' attitudes and behaviors, including, um, critically, the propensity to remain together or divorce.
Um, that though begs the question of what are the risk factors for divorce? So we talk about, you know, people who are less likely to get divorced getting married and people who are more likely to get divorced or less likely to get married. What are some of these risk factors?
Um, so first we'll have a look at things that happen at sort of the mesosociological level, which is most of the factors. Um, so first of all, age is a really critical factor in mate selection.
So it's interesting to examine the impact of age of marriage on the probability of divorce. Uh, age is actually the strongest predictor of divorce in the first five years of marriage. Um, specifically, I think your book mentions that risk is particularly high for those who marry as teenagers, and for women, the risk of divorce is much higher for those who marry young, so before the age of 20.
It declines with age at marriage until about 25, and from there it remains fairly constant. This means that after the age of 25, age at marriage isn't really a factor in predicting divorce.
So it is when you're young, but not when you're older. Uh, and for men too, early marriage is related to a higher probability of divorce, and the risk of divorce doesn't decline until about age 30, and then it starts to remain fairly constant.
So for women, it's 25, and for men, it's about 30. With increases in age at marriage in Canada, now very young marriages are rare. Those who do marry early, though, again face a higher risk of divorce, and they do so in part because they're still in the process of maturation.
Um, you know, even just think of yourself, like how you were in high school, like as a teenager, as a late teenager versus how you are now. Even just, you know, a couple years later, I'm guessing you're kind of a different person.
You know, maybe not completely different, but you've changed a lot. You've grown a lot. Uh, and when we get married this young, we can find that, you know, the person we married has also changed a lot, and they may change for the better, but they may also change for the worse, and they may not be the person that you married.
Uh, so, you know, late teens and early 20s are a time of our life cycle when people's values and expectations do start to change dramatically, uh, and this can place additional stress on marriage and make adjustment to marriage more difficult.
Uh, also, people who get married quite young are more likely to have other attributes associated with a higher risk of divorce. So, for example, low level of education, lower incomes, and fewer communication skills.
In societies where a lower age at marriage is the norm, uh, so for example, in certain countries in South America and Islamic-heavy countries, there are fewer divorces. Um, and this is due to the fact that other features in these societies tend to keep divorce rates low.
Uh, generally speaking, these societies tend to have high rates of childbearing, so they're more family-oriented, um, and extended families are closer and more important there as well.
These societies have or tend to have more strongly institutionalized religions that either strongly frown upon divorce or ban it entirely. Uh, these societies can sometimes have really restrictive divorce laws as well.
Um, so the, you know, young age increasing one's likelihood of divorce is not universally true across the board. Um, it's something that your book doesn't mention, but that has been shown to be correlated with a higher risk of divorce is an age gap.
Uh, the norm in Canada is about a 2 to 3-year gap between spouses, with husbands typically being older in heterosexual relationships. Couples who fall significantly outside of this range, so having more than a 5-year age gap, also experience a higher probability of divorce.
Other studies have shown that couples who have lived together before marriage actually have a higher likelihood of divorcing. Uh, and interpreting this finding is difficult because we would think it would be the opposite.
Like, you know, you live together with someone, so you know that you get along with them, so you get married, versus if you're marrying someone you've never lived with, it's a bit more of a crapshoot. You know, they could be good together, but they could be, um, you know, it could be that you're just not compatible.
Uh, so how do we actually interpret this finding? Uh, well, in recent years, the proportion of the population living in common law relationships has increased sharply, and they are often seen as sort of trial marriages that will give opportunities for couples to see how they get along.
And again, if they are compatible, perhaps those who accept the idea of living together before marriage may see marriage as of less consequence or that it's less consequential. So they may view the dissolution of marriage as being less serious, and so maybe they're more likely to divorce for that reason.
Um, and simultaneously, people who don't live together before marriage tend to be a bit more religious, um, and tend to have stronger, more negative views on divorcing, so that might also be playing a role in things.
Uh, and the difference in divorce rate also depends on the length of cohabitation prior to marriage. Uh, the likelihood of divorce is higher for couples who live together longer prior to marriage.
Uh, only living together for several months actually doesn't increase the likelihood of divorce. Uh, the increased risk of divorce may be a result of couples experiencing difficulties and thinking that, okay, well, I don't know, like maybe getting married will help us.
Like maybe we'll feel more secure in our relationship. Um, but in actual fact, there is little difference in day-to-day activities before and after marriage, so it doesn't really help.
Second marriages are 10% more likely to fail and tend to be shorter in duration, and the risk of divorce is even higher in subsequent marriages, and this is especially true if children are involved.
So basically, the more you get married, the higher your likelihood of divorce each time. Uh, and in remarriages, you know, there are more people involved, like ex-partners, ex-in-laws, children of one or both partners, etc.
And this can increase a couple's circle of support, but it can also increase the difficulties in a marriage. Uh, children, for example, may resent the new partner and may make the success of marriage more difficult.
Difficulties can also arise from differences in how each partner thinks that family is sort of done. Uh, so for example, holiday traditions may be very different in the former marriages, so this can cause issues in a remarriage.
Um, and crucially, if, you know, if the behaviors that led to, um, to the first divorce continue, uh, you know, there's likely to be another divorce.
So for example, if excessive drinking or extramarital affairs is what led you to get divorced in the first place and you don't take the time to like put in the work to address that, you're likely to keep drinking, you're likely to keep having affairs, and so, you know, having another marriage isn't going to fix that.
Um, so again, there's a greater likelihood of another divorce, especially if like those same problems don't get addressed. Got to work on yourself.
Uh, if the parents of married couples have been divorced, it's also more likely that the couple will divorce. Um, and there are two explanations for this: one pessimistic and one optimistic.
But first of all, I just want to preface it by saying that, you know, having parents who divorce is not like it's not a guarantee by any means that you'll get divorced, and having parents who are together is also not a guarantee that you won't get divorced.
Um, but we do know that if your parents are divorced, you have a higher likelihood. And again, two explanations for this: one of them nicer, one of them less nice.
Uh, first of all, an individual whose parents have divorced may have the attitude, you know, based on their experiences of coming from a divorced home, that marriages won't last, and so they enter into the marriage somewhat pessimistic, um, and you know, expecting that it will end in divorce.
Um, and on the other hand, though, the sort of optimistic view is that those who watch their parents divorce and like have successful relationships and lives post-divorce may see divorce as a solution to an unhappy relationship.
Uh, they would be aware of options available following divorce, um, and as you know, children from divorced families, they survived intact, so they're less likely to fear the consequences of a family breakup.
So, uh, you know, in some cases, it's kind of obvious that the couple needs to divorce, but if someone holds a view that, you know, divorce is completely wrong and it can't be done, and like, oh my gosh, you know, I'm going to be shamed, I'm going to be shunned, I'm going to, you know, people are going to think really negatively of me, I can't do it, I can't do this to myself, like I can't get divorced, and like that's not necessarily a good thing, especially if there are real issues in the relationship.
Whereas again, somebody who has parents who have divorced might think, okay, my parents got divorced, it wasn't the end of the world, they both like are better as a result.
Maybe, you know, I'm in this really bad situation, but maybe divorce is an option. So that's the sort of optimistic take.
Uh, another risk factor for divorce is premarital fertility. Um, so whether or not a couple has children has an impact on the likelihood of divorce.
Uh, so-called shotgun weddings, uh, where they happen because a woman is pregnant and, you know, the woman's dad is sort of holding a shotgun to the father of the child saying, like, you better marry my daughter or else, um, that's why they're called that.
So shotgun weddings are at a higher risk of divorce because the motivation for marriage isn't necessarily a healthy one.
Uh, having children produces marital stability in the short run, but marital satisfaction declines with the presence of children, uh, which then reduces the likelihood—sorry, increases the likelihood of getting divorced.
Uh, and the breaking hypothesis suggests that while children don't eliminate the chances of divorce, they succeed in slowing movement towards divorce.
Um, so divorce amongst those with children are thus less likely to occur later than among similar couples who haven't had children.
And having kids, you know, increases the stresses and it increases the need for cooperation between partners, which, um, might be a good thing, it might bring them closer together, but it might also be problematic if the partners are already having, um, like differing views of parenting and they're already having like difficulties in general.
Uh, it may be that childless couples may put an emphasis on marital satisfaction and end the marriage if they're not happy, or the couples who are not happy and stable may delay or forgo having children due to problems, and they may divorce before children arrive.
More controversially, recent research has also found that couples with boys are less likely to divorce, and this is true for all races, all socioeconomic status groups, and the ages of children.
In addition, the likelihood of couples staying together increases with the number of boys they have. So, for example, those with one son face a probability of divorce that's 9% lower than those with no sons.
Um, so not a huge difference, but still a difference nonetheless. Uh, while the rate for those with two sons is 18% lower, and for those with three sons, it's 27% lower.
Uh, and the explanation for this finding is related to sex role socialization. Researchers argue that fathers who have sons are more involved in their upbringing as compared to daughters, and this is thought to keep them more involved in the family.
Uh, it may also be that fathers will likely be the non-custodial parent following divorce, um, and have less impact on their sons, so they're less likely to leave the family.
So, you know, like, well, if I leave, I know that I won't get custody and won't get to raise my son, so I can't do that.
Uh, it's controversial because it sort of implies like a heavy amount of sexism, uh, but the data do show that nonetheless.
Uh, divorce rates increase as one moves down the socioeconomic ladder, um, which we've sort of mentioned or alluded to. All studies show this inverse correlation, whatever index of socioeconomic status is used.
So this means as income, education, or occupational status goes down, the risk of divorce goes up. We may also call this a negative correlation, um, which doesn't speak to any like qualities or values.
A negative correlation just means as one value increases, another decreases. A positive correlation shows that as one thing increases, so does another.
So in this case, income and divorce are negatively correlated. As income goes up, divorce rates go down. As income goes down, divorce rates go up.
Uh, and due to higher levels of financial insecurity facing those from lower socioeconomic statuses, they may be experiencing more marital stresses.
Like, it's really stressful not having money, uh, and having a lot of money means you can afford a lot more nice things and feel more comfortable in life, so it makes sense.
Uh, those who have fewer resources and assets also have less to lose from divorce and less to gain by staying married.
Uh, typically, having a lower material investment in marriage means that a divorce costs them less, um, both literally and sort of metaphorically.
Um, so if a couple has few possessions, they can divorce and, you know, accumulate a few more possessions. However, a wealthy couple will have to divide up assets, you know, like houses, vacation homes, savings, etc., and one partner may be responsible for paying a lot of spousal support.
Canadian data on the influence of education and divorce are also limited. Uh, it has been shown that there is less stability in marriages of couples with less education and a weaker attachment to the workforce.
There is a clear relationship between level of education and risk of divorce for men. As education goes up, the risk of divorce goes down.
But the relationship for women is a bit more complicated. Uh, it appears from the data that we have that the risk of divorce is lowest amongst women with moderate levels of education.
Uh, for women with little education, the risk is higher, and interestingly, there's also an increased risk of divorce amongst women at the highest education levels.
Um, so professional women, those with five or more years of college or university education, have an increased risk of divorce.
Uh, they're also more likely to remain single, more likely to divorce if they are married, and less likely to remarry following divorce.
Uh, and in figuring out the reasons for this, it may be because women with high levels of education are less likely to be financially dependent on men, so they have more alternatives to marriage.
Uh, women have more opportunity to leave unsatisfactory marriages, to support themselves, and to find fulfillment in their work.
Uh, heterosexual women may have higher educational credentials than their husbands, which could produce tension within the marriage, particularly if, um, one or both of the spouses have a sort of traditional belief in traditional gender roles.
Um, and this is especially true for the husband. Uh, an additional explanation could be that the strain from juggling family and marriage could have an impact on professional women, uh, and a disproportionate impact on professional women, which then contributes to marital conflict or divorce.
So, you know, you've got, uh, a lot of education, you're a working professional, and you, you know, if your spouse isn't carrying his weight, that may be cause for concern.
Like, I've put in all the work, um, and now I'm expected to take care of everything at home. That doesn't feel fair, so maybe there's tensions in that regard.
One final mesosociological thing I want to mention that your book doesn't is that there is a greater risk of divorce in couples who differ considerably on significant social characteristics like, uh, age, which we talked about, education level, race, religion, etc.
Um, you know, there's a saying, birds of a feather flock together. Um, there's also a saying that opposites attract.
Uh, but the thing is for like sort of key characteristics, um, like again, uh, religion or race or socioeconomic status, uh, having more similarities is better.
Um, and the findings suggest that spouses who differ in these key areas may encounter more problems, uh, either between themselves or as a result of greater social pressure from, uh, family, friends, and society.
Uh, so looking at race, for example, even though mixed-race marriages have long been legal and are becoming more and more common over the years, couples in these marriages will still likely face more issues that could lead to difficulties than those in marriages with someone of the same race or cultural background.
Uh, they may face discriminatory behavior from strangers on the streets or disapproval by family members. Uh, if they have children, they'll have additional issues to overcome that other couples, um, or that other couples don't have to face.
Macrosociological factors also impact the likelihood of divorce. Um, so by macrosociological, we're meaning like higher-level things.
So, you know, changes in the institution of family itself that have made divorce more accessible in recent decades. Um, so think about how, you know, in the 1950s, divorce was virtually unattainable.
Uh, now again, divorce rates in Canada are estimated to be about 40%, maybe a little lower. Economic cycles impact divorce rates as well. Couples are less likely to divorce during recessions.
Um, it may be that there are fewer options available for individuals to support themselves in times of economic downturns, so they stay together and work to get through difficult times.
Um, but this appears to be only temporary. So again, once times are better, divorce rates pick up again.
Uh, gender role expectations may be temporarily contributing to divorce as couples, uh, try to navigate the new ways of sort of doing marriages and families and dealing with sort of changing sets of gender roles and expectations.
Um, as cultural values change, so does the likelihood of divorce. Uh, again, there's a lot less stigma now for getting divorced, and there are a lot more options available, especially for women, on how they choose to live their lives.
So, for example, women can now choose to have children outside of marriage, um, and marriage might be seen as less of an investment.
Switching gears now to talk about, okay, so we know the risk factors, but what are some of the consequences?
Um, first of all, we know that, you know, changes to one's daily routine and living arrangements are frequently consequences, whether children are present or not.
Um, and men actually tend to suffer adverse psychosocial effects in the immediate aftermath of intimate partnerships dissolving, um, that women don't.
Uh, and this is in part because men tend to be a bit more socially isolated. Uh, women as a whole tend to have larger and more supportive friend groups, whereas men rely more heavily on their opposite-sex partner for, um, for those social connections and for that sort of intimacy, if you will.
Um, and so divorce in this context can lead to economic adjustment and hardship. Um, but the economic effects also differ for men and women depending, um, in part on the nature of their relationships.
And the economic impacts of divorce on younger mothers have been shown to be particularly severe for kids.
There are a whole bunch of effects and consequences as well. Um, for one thing, there's a lot of stress and uncertainty, and the degree of familial conflict to which youngsters are exposed to has both direct and indirect effects on their well-being.
Um, regardless of living arrangements, certainly less conflict is better. Uh, children from low-conflict divorce homes show better functioning and overall well-being than children from high—sorry, from intact high-conflict families.
So it's better to be, uh, divorced with parents who don't fight, uh, or better to have parents who are divorced but don't fight than to have parents who are not divorced but are fighting.
Um, and children from low-conflict divorce homes showed again better functioning and overall well-being than children from intact high-conflict families.
Children from high-conflict families are more likely to display higher levels of anxiety, depression, anger, and aggression.
Um, anger and aggression, delinquency, as well as lower self-esteem, academic declines, deteriorating parent-child relationships, and sort of overall maladjustment.
Um, and prolonged litigation and conflicts associated with child-related disagreements also have really strong deleterious effects on the children and parent-child relationships.
Uh, and the experience of divorce, along with multiple risk factors, may provide the most fertile grounds for sowing long-term discontentment and maladjustment for children.
Um, and one thing we know for sure is that, uh, even if it's done with sort of, I guess, the best of intentions—although I don't know what that would look like—uh, trash-talking your partner to your kids is pretty much always going to have a damaging effect.
Um, and you know, part of the reason for this is even like, let's say your spouse did, you know, they cheated on another person, they're obviously sort of in the wrong, like the divorce is their fault, quote unquote.
Um, but your kid still is like half of that person, and so when you say, oh, you know, your father, he's just a bad man, what they're hearing is I'm a bad kid because I'm half of my father.
Um, even if you're not genetically related, they're still like the person who raised you, and kids still internalize that message.
So even if, you know, even if your spouse did horrible things, for the sake of, um, for your children's, I guess, sort of well-being, it's really, really strongly encouraged that you don't say negative things about them in front of them.
Um, I know that it can be, you know, it can be tempting for parents to want to like get kids on their side or to understand like, you know, this isn't my fault, it's the other parent's fault.
But if the other spouse is indeed like a bad person, the kids will see that sooner or later.
Um, and like trash-talking them, like I said, it just, it really harms kids. Some parents end up sort of treating their child as their sort of therapist, like, oh, you know, your mother was this, this, and that, and like woe is me, and kids can get put in a really awkward and uncomfortable position for that reason too.
Um, additionally, though, we see more children living in lone parent or stepfamily arrangements.
Uh, family configurations and children's living situations have changed dramatically over recent decades.
Um, amongst 0 to 14-year-olds, uh, less than 7 in 10 Canadian children are living with both biological parents.
So still a majority, but also a significant amount that aren't. About 2 in 10 are living with a lone parent, and 1 in 10 are living either with a stepfamily arrangement or not living with a parent at all.
Um, and so again, know like the trends and patterns. You don't have to know the specifics, but both lone parent and stepfamily arrangements, like I said, have grown noticeably in recent years.
Again, such that 3 in 10 kids live in these types of families. Millions of Canadians have also experienced episodes of living as children in a lone parent family, and the creation of recombined families in the form of stepfamilies or blended families has assumed a much greater significance over time.
Uh, but this can, you know, having these sort of reconstituted families can lead to complications.
Um, the couple has to have ongoing relationships with parents who are sometimes like absent or absentee. Uh, when a couple in a stepfamily have children, there can, uh, you know, there has to be ongoing relationships with the ex-partner, and people have to share in child-rearing, and all parents parent differently.
So it can be really hard for families to combine and form new unions and like have sort of new rules in place.
Uh, stepparents often compare themselves to the biological parents and, you know, compare their biological children to their stepchildren, and they may experience self-doubts about their ability to parent in this new family.
Uh, children also have to establish new relationships, and children too sort of compare their parents and stepparents, and sometimes they'll attempt to play one against the other.
Um, and in some cases, they won't allow the stepparents to parent them, and siblings in stepfamilies share a biological parent and have no genetic link with one another.
These children would be potential marriage partners if their parents hadn't married. Don't listen to what porn says, like hooking up with your stepsibling, it's really not common.
Um, but it can create sort of awkward situations, and then when half-siblings arrive, it gets even more sort of confusing and complicated.
Uh, when two families come together to form a stepfamily, there may also be considerable gaps in the socioeconomic statuses of the couple, um, and it might make it difficult to adapt to for the family members, especially for children.
But it can also expand their horizons. So, for example, if children come with a partner of a lower socioeconomic status into a family unit of a higher socioeconomic status, they may develop more social capital and they may have more opportunities available to them.
Um, similarly, kids coming from a parent with like a high economic background into something or into a family with a lower socioeconomic background may also have new experiences and have their horizons expanded as well.
Members of stepfamilies will be separated from some family members during the holidays, and separated parents have to share their children, which can again make things difficult.
You know, families have different traditions in the former families. Uh, so for example, when Christmas comes, maybe one family thinks that like white lights go on the tree, uh, but the other family thinks that color lights are needed, and you know, this can turn into like a whole thing.
Uh, Easter comes around and stepmom buys a ham, but the stepkids are expecting turkey.
Um, you know, even just like these, like I said, these little changes in routine, let alone sort of more substantial ones, uh, these can lead to sort of greater conflicts, especially if, you know, one feels like the other side always sort of gets their way with things.
That all being said, stepfamilies are beneficial for children who are coming from divorced families because they benefit from having multiple sets of parents, um, especially if the parents get along.
Uh, the same factors that typically help first marriages survive are the factors that help the second marriages last.
So good communication, realistic expectations, honesty, and a shared sense of humor. Uh, it's especially important for people in second marriages to develop a new marital relationship and establish new loyalties to each other.
Uh, you know, the first marriage shouldn't be forgotten, but spouses have to recognize that the second marriage will be different.
And also, it is important to learn lessons from the previous failed marriage and to not repeat the same behaviors that led to the prior divorce, like we talked about.
So, um, in short, uh, for your participation marks, rather than, um, one second, okay, I had to double-check where it is on OWL, and I also had to note that I added common law as a category.
So it's under, oh my gosh, um, assessments. So you, on OWL, you click assessments and then survey, and the survey is there, and it's asking like what they are in relation to each other.
So maybe your parents have both married other people, but they were never married to each other to begin with, so you would put single.
Um, and it should be anonymous to your classmates, um, and if it's not, I will do my best to edit that ASAP. Let me know.
Um, but again, that's what you need to do for your participation marks. You have until, I guess technically, we'll make it until the end of the year.
Um, that's what I've got for today. Happy holidays! Enjoy your break, enjoy not having a December midterm.
Um, yeah, I will keep you posted about your autobiographies, and as always, let me know what questions you might have.