Recently, our daughter (17 in June) told my wife and me that she has started dating not 1, but 2 guys. No introductions needed since we already know them; they’ve been close friends of hers for quite some time now. Daughter put it as: why do I have to choose if I like them both and they don’t mind sharing?
I just don’t like it.
How would you define “success”? 50% of marriages end, there are less people getting married and they are doing so later in life. I can’t remember the numbers but it wouldn’t surprise me if the majority of people who did marry had at least one partner beforehand. Did the end of the previous relationships mean they were “unsuccessful” at relationships?
Also, would how the relationship ended be taken into account? A relationship ending because “you cheated on me you bitch” with an ensuing shouting match is probably very different a mutual breakup due to distance, time, or other factors.
Additionally, it would require defining “relationship”. There are people who serially monogamous and have many short-lived flings are those “relationships”?
And happiness is important too. There are people who are in the same relationship for decades but deeply unhappy with their partner but can’t leave.
I fear for how any such would be misrepresented in the media. “Study with one-dimensional definition of success says monogamy better than polyamory”. “Study with 1000 couples in a university of which 10 were poly says polyamory is a failure”.
The problem with the statistic you cited is that it counts second, third, etc marriages as well. Second marriages are more likely to fail as it is clear people who have already had a divorce are just bad at being married. Which is proof in itself that changing partners isn’t good.
By that logic, a spousal abuse victim is much better off staying with the abuser because “changing partners isn’t good”.