U.S. divorce rate lowest..like since the 70's- AP

Quite frankly Victoria, I find the submissions in your post somewhat conflicting. Is it that no-fault laws have removed the financial incentive for pursuing divorce or that the presence of education and prosperity in the married family unit disables this tendency by itself?

"In Michigan and a handful of other states, legislators are
trying to make it harder for couples to divorce. The proposed laws would repeal blanket
"no-fault" laws in the hopes that additional hurdles would prevent some
divorces, particularly when one spouse objects or the couple has minor children. Under the
proposed reforms, grounds for the divorce would have to be proved if one spouse does not
consent to the split.

Returning to fault-based divorces could, depending on one's position:
save marriages or create even uglier divorces; give women leverage to demand more child
support or financially drain them through endless court battles; and protect children from
the scars of divorce or exacerbate the scarring through increased acrimony between
divorcing parents." - American Association for Marriage and Family Theraphy

You could call that the definition of a forced marriage or the need to show reasonable cause. Which ever way we look at it, it cuts both ways. 

"One of the researchers whose studies detected the "divorce divide" is
University of Maryland sociologist Steve Martin. Comparing marriages
from early 1970s to those of the early '90s, Martin found that the rate
of breakups within 10 years of marriage dropped by one-third among
college-educated women while remaining stable among less-educated women." Now, what factors could possibly be responsible for break-ups among less-educated women remaining stable instead of surging over a ten-year period?

"College-educated wives are more likely to work than less-educated
wives, and a recent study found that unlike the past, a wife's work now
tends to stabilize marriage,". Why is this? Is it because she earns money to put into the family coffer or that she stays outside her home for the greater part of the day, that would account for a reduction of tension in her home and vice-versa for the less-educated wife?

"The word is getting out that marriage doesn't have to be a crap shoot
— it's not the luck of the draw," Coffin said. "It's how you deal with
the inevitable conflict and anger in marriage." But of course it is, you're either lucky at it or you're not. Stephanie Coontz, who teaches history and family studies at Evergreen
State College in Olympia, Wash., says divorces are dropping in the
college-educated sector because many spouses "are learning how to
negotiate marriages based on less rigid gender roles than in the past." Negotiate marriages? Now, if that wouldn't be blackmail, what is? I do not see the sense in managing ill-luck that places me next to a woman I'd rather not live with. Yes, there ought to be some consideration for the kids but really does one have to live in misery for the rest of his life and considering we all have one life to live as it were?

I think marriage is a lot more complicated than a weighty purse and educational exposure. What became of good old compatibility and a conducive atmosphere in all this? It doesn't make sense to tell me the price I'd have to pay for the mistake of picking the wrong partner is to endure in that relationship "till death do us part" ... hell No!

I found it pretty interesting that researchers to this subject were all people with some kind of vested interest in it. They all stand to profit from the projection that an educational approach to marital upheavals would remedy the condition of rampant divorces. It's what they all do for a living; teach it or matters that relate to it. The truth be told, I am of the fervent view that the pursuit for good business powers and influences the outcome to these kinds of researches. Thank you for throwing this open to the public, I can assure you it's about as intellectually arresting as things can possibly be. Good stuff.