TAKING THE HELICOPTER VIEW

I read an interesting article about the correlation between occupations and divorce rates. Dr Michael Aamodt carried out a study on the likelihood of success of a marriage based on the occupation of one of the partners. According to the results, those who have extrovert and stressful jobs and those in caring professions are more likely to divorce than other professionals. Dancers, choreographers and bartenders have a 40 % chance of divorcing. Caring professions such as nurses and psychologists have a likelihood of 29 % to get divorced. On the contrary, agricultural engineers, optometrists, dentists and clergyman have only a 2-7% chance of divorcing.

According to the article, the main reason for the varying divorce rates is the environment where you are working. If you are working in an extrovert environment such as bars and restaurants, you will have more chances to meet other people and develop relationships. On the other hand, opticians also meet lots of people in their work but they don’t have time to have long conversations with the customers. An interesting finding was the fact that those in caring professions have high divorce rates. This might be because they they care for other people at cost of their own happiness or because they are naturally sensitive and vulnerable people.

However, if you are dreaming of a long marriage you should avoid partners with these occupations (divorce rates in brackets):

1. Dancers and choreographers (43.05%)
2. Bartenders (38.43%)
3. Massage therapists (38.22%)
4. Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides (28.95%)
5. Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers (28.49%)
6. Baggage porters and concierges (28.43%)
7. Telemarketers (28.10%)
8. Waiters/waitresses (27.12%)
9. Roofers 26.85%, and maids and housekeeping cleaners (26.38%)
10. Chefs/head cooks (20.10%)

I will merry a senior data analyst soon and I would be very interested to know the likelihood of our success. Any info? Anyone? :-)