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My parents separated when I was 8 but never officially divorced. They still get along well and hang out a few nights per week (weird, I know). DH's parents have the happiest, most stable marriage I've ever seen in a family; they've been married 44 years and are a wonderful example.

To DH and I, divorce is not really an option. We believe marriage takes work and there are going to be good times and times where we're not feeling massively fulfilled or happy. But when that happens, we need to recognise it and make a conscious effort to get our marriage back on track. I don't believe in walking out on a commitment you made because you don't feel happy or fulfilled unless there are solid reasons (I.e. abuse, violence, criminal behaviour, truly irreconcilable differences etc). I think if everyone abandoned their commitments when they went through a rough spot, the world would be a pretty sad place as anything worth having, is worth fighting for.

That's just my view though. I think the current divorce rates are pretty appalling and fueling this me, me, me generation. Our kids are growing up thinking that if something becomes too hard or doesn't make us happy, we just throw it away instead of working to fix it. I do not think this is a good thing, but then again, these are just my views and not a judgment of anyone else's choices.

Yes, my parents separated when I was 22, and divorced when I was 25, and it has made a HUGE impact on how I view my marriage. In addition to my parents, all of my aunts, as well as my grandparents, got divorced. I made it my mission to be the stickler

In all seriousness though, I saw how my parents marriage disintegrated over a period of a decade, I saw how my dad wouldn't go to counseling, how my mom acted nasty towards him and pushed him away, how he started to travel more to get away from her, etc.

Because of all this, I went into my marriage with an "I'll do or try anything to make this work" attitude, and so did DH. In HIS family, no one gets divorced, ever, even if they should, so that's given him some pretty strong views on how hard we should work at it as well!

Um, this got long, but YES, it has given me tremendous impetus to make my marriage work, because I've seen the fallout from divorce, and frankly, I can't imagine anyone else out there being as perfect for me and my life as DH is. There's no way I wouldn't fight like hell to keep him!

Both of our sets of parents are divorced and it has definitely made us resolve to consider divorce as a last resort option (only an answer for cheating & abuse). I think that also might be why we waited to get married until we were in our 30's because we knew that we needed to find the right person to marry. Personally, I was resolved not to get married unless I felt that I could be with my SO for life and I think DH felt the same way.

My parents are still married, though I certainly see the flaws in their relationship that I know I want to try very hard to avoid. DH's parents got divorced when he was in high school and it's definitely affected him. It was part of the reason we dated so long before getting married-- he wanted to be really, really, really sure and never wants to go through a divorce. We were 29 when we got married. His younger brothers aren't really that close to getting married yet-- the 30 year old might be getting closer though.

ETA: I agree a lot of the the way it affects the kids depends on the parents. DH's mom handled it really well, as far as I can tell, and DH and his brothers are still really close to her. Their dad.... not so much, in my opinion. He put his new wife ahead of his sons and it's negatively impacted their relationships, which sucks for them.

My DH's and my parents are divorced. It has definitely made us determined to never get divorced. I feel that we can work through most anything together.

My parents are divorced, but we had a weird dynamic. My dad is gay, so they divorced for obvious reasons. However, they are to this day best friends and raised us together (financially and otherwise). Christmas was still spent altogether, my dad and mom had "talks" with me together, my father and mother were a team. So I don't consider myself having come from a "broken home" because it was not broken, it was just different lol.

The secure family life I had that came from having 2 parents who worked together inspired me to make sure I can provide the same for my future children.

I was very careful about who I married and took all the steps to make sure I was ready. IMO, people get divorced at the drop of a hat these days. It would take a lot for me to divorce my husband.