A divorced home is better than a broken home.

Staying together and making it work are two unrelated concepts.

Just my $.02.

hm

my parents stayed together for like 6 years after things really got bad.

they divorced when the last kid was 9, and my mother just got her license to practice medicine and could support herself much better.

I'm not sure what my thoughts on things were.

Agreed.

Depends on how you define "broken." I've read that if the parents are always fighting then it's better for the kids that they get divorced, but if the parents have a cold but civil relationship it's better for the kids if they stay married.

What does this show children about having healthy adult/spousal relationships?

That's not the point. In the end, they say a divorce is more damaging. I'll try to dig up an article about it.... tomorrow. Because it's almost 2 a.m. and I just don't have the energy to look now.

Well, that is my argument. A child who sees a dysfunctional and loveless marriage is certainly being damaged by it.

none of these studies took into account shidduch resumes and the impact of the divorce on the shidduch resume. Poor shidduch resume, no one cares enough about its feelings until its too late. "stay together for the shidduch resume" - people don't say that enough, and the shidduch resume suffers. It doesn't care as much if the parents are always fighting vs it being civil & cold.

Oh sure people do. There are those who divorce the moment the last child is married for that reason.

Agreed.

Where's the OP you're referring to?

I agree with the above.

No. Cold but civil is pretty frightening for children IMO. That's not a home, but two enemies/strangers living under one roof.

The thing is I know some relationships where the parents don't really seem to be emotionally connected. They are partners, but don't do all that much together for enjoyment. They strike me more as pleasant roommates than spouses who love one another (although I'm sure they do on some level). In one specific family that I am thinking of, both parents are of the non-emotional type and they really aren't showing their children healthy adult / spousal relationship that you are referring to. They're not cold to each other but not hot or even warm either. So far, 4 out of their 6 children are married and they seem to be doing just fine. And in general, the home seems to be a peaceful and content one even though Dad and Mom don't seem to have this passionate, loving relationship.

my parents were like that.

I can think of one family like that and although the daughter was determined to do things differently, it doesn't seem like she is doing such a good job of it (of course what do I know judging from the outside, but she often throws these creepy comments about how she can't be bothered for her husband and she doesn't care for him and other such).