Though Rooney is an extreme example, averaging ordinary divorces is what really fouls the stats.
Think of it like classroom test grades in which students can only get A’s or F’s. But if they get F’s, they can take the test over to try and get an A.
Only on the first try if half the students get A’s and half get F’s, does the class get 50%, a C average. This is how most people imagine the statistic, as just what happens in a discreet year.
But every time thereafter, anyone who makes an F in a retake lowers the class average against a *different student* who made an A.
So instead of thinking Mickey Rooney, with 8 marriages and 6 divorces, think of the vast number of people out there who have had 2 marriages and 2 divorces. In their case, the total of three people with two divorces makes the divorce rate 50% for 7 people.
The divorce stats do NOT consider remarriage to the same person. So if a couple marries and divorces and then remarries to each other, that counts as two marriages and one divorce as if all done by stangers rather that one married couple still together.
I think it is something like 15% of all marriages are to a previous husband/wife.
Oh I hear what you’re saying loud and clear. It doesn’t change the fact that divorce is far too common. I agree that the 50% statistic isn’t very realistic, but I disagree with any notion that a more valid interpretation of comparing divorces in any given year to the number of marriages say anything positive.