Divorce: UK women recover faster.

A mortgage lender in the United Kingdom (UK) sponsored a recent study about divorce that was widely reported in the international press. The lender was able to draw some savvy marketing conclusions from the report and, in fact, designed a product specifically directed at recently divorced individuals. The product is called a "Fresh Start" mortgage.

For other marketers who may be able to draw similar creative input from a social trend that in the UK sees over 150,000 couples divorce every year, and where two out of three marriages fail - herewith a quick review of the study's findings.

The finding that drew the most headlines was that after divorce, men feel unhappier than women. In fact, men were twice as likely as women to feel suicidal after a divorce. And men were more unhappy than women were about the failure of their marriage - 56 percent to 45 percent.

The findings held up even years after a couple was divorced. Of the long-time divorced males interviewed, 25 percent said they still felt betrayed, whereas 80 percent of women said they didn't feel that way.

Overall, according to The Independent (London), which carried a synopsis of the study, women were "far more likely than men to come out of a divorce feeling liberated, relieved and happy."

According to The Telegraph (Calcutta), which also covered the story, the reason women were able to appear stronger after divorce was that they engaged in more positive behaviors than did their male counterparts. Women spent more time with friends - 51 percent to 38 percent. Women also visited with family more - 37 percent to 30 percent. Also 16 percent of women sought therapy or some other form of counseling as opposed to 14 percent of men.

Men indulged in more potentially destructive behavior than women did. Men drank more than women did, 33 percent to 23 percent, and men were more interested in casual sex than women by 23 percent to 12 percent. The men interviewed for the study also said more often that their divorce negatively affected their work. By contrast, women found throwing themselves into their work beneficial.

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