Can The Recession Save Marriage?

The recession has brought a new dimension of stress to most everybody's life. We feel it at work and at home. If your marriage is typical, you probably find yourself arguing about money and debt and savings more than every before.

But while none of us enjoys tightening the family budget or the stress of an unstable economy, some studies are showing that the recession is actually strengthening the marriage bond. Bradford Wilcox of the Institute for American Values writes in a Wall Street Journal editorial piecethat the divorce rate has actually dropped during the recession. It makes for a thought-provoking read.

Perhaps his most notable theory is that we are moving away from an overly-romanticized view of marriage ("you're my soul-mate") to a more practical one. While we all appreciate the passion and emotion that comes from an intimate marriage, we must realized that the strength of our homes must not be based solely upon it. Instead, we must see it as a byproduct of a strong commitment to do life together and face whatever the world throws our way. To use a Biblical reference, the "leave and cleave" commitment comes before the fun part of "becoming one flesh."

Please give me some feedback on this one. 

What have you seen in your friends and family that reflects this trend? Are the marriages around you getting stronger or weaker during the recession? How have job losses affected the marriages you see? Is the trend of living more frugally improving or hurting relationships? Talk amongst yourselves...