This has been a subject i have been tossing around in my head for awhile and I'm going to try the best to substantiate my claim.

I've lived in multiple different places and also visited countries all over the world. This year, I've got Germany and Brazil stacked on my lineup and really am looking forward to those trips with several others including some of the Pacific islands I hope to visit some day.

Temporarily forgetting about world culture differences, even in places like the U.S.A., there's massive differences just across cities, towns, and states.

I've come to the belief that in a western civilization of gender battles due to socio political changes and attitudes, marriages tend to work better in more rural and impoverished areas and that's for a very basic but complex reason.

Let's look at your average American citizen today. Most likely, they live in a major city or just outside of it in a suburb. They have a short commute to work. Some may walk on the city sidewalks, take a bike, or even public transit. In some cases where safety or comfort is of priority, a short car ride can easily happen. Even if they don't own a car, they can take Uber or Lyft. As long as they make enough money, they can eat out for all 3 meals every day and cooking at home is just a comfort and dietary preference. If something breaks, they take it to a mechanic or they call their apartment they pay rent to and a maintenance team comes to fix it. If there's a medical emergency, there's 5 medical clinics and probably 2 hospitals in a 5 mile radius. And not to denote stress. A lot of people in cities live stressful lives but their quality of life tends to be far greater.

This is all to say simply that there is no need to have a romantic partner in modern times in modern living areas. It's a preferential choice if you want to have someone to spend quality time with on a daily basis and have sexual relations with. Even if you want kids, you can have a romantic partner to conceive a child the natural way but you can also adopt children. And when there are multiple childcare and after school centers, a single parent can "reasonably" raise a child on their own without a 2nd parent.

This underlining tone of not having a need for a partner inherently sets a baseline of lower respect for a romantic partner compared to another situation.

In rural areas, these creature comforts offered by the city aren't the same. There is no daycare center. Maybe, you're lucky and your small town church has a couple pre school classes per week. A hospital isn't a 5 minute drive. Sometimes, you may have a baby on the way and it could be too late and have to deliver a child at home without a medical professional. Food is also more scarce. You could be fortunate and get to go to a grocery store that's a weekend excursion but sometimes, it's more economical to step outside and hunt your own food when there is no DoorDash or Instacart. Even sometimes growing it too. And even getting groceries, you spend more time prepping your food.

When you are living under impoverished conditions, your concerns are no longer of the vapid and becomes mostly based on surviving well. You're not saving money for the newest line of clothes and watches. Your biggest need is auto parts to keep your older vehicle running or building material to keep your home in good working order.

And typically, in rural areas, incomes are not always strong. It's not uncommon in some rural counties that the highest paid employee is a welder or a county police officer. Some of these jobs to achieve such income require long hours. I grew up in Southern Texas where many opted for the oil fields. The hours were long, 80 hours plus but the pay is very good.

But that leaves a gap at home and certainly if there are children involved in a marriage.

Considering the difficulties of rural life and certainly in poverty, a marriage and a loyal partner becomes FAR more valuable because you now are a team that can help each other in these challenges.

While there still can be personality conflicts and divorce, the penalty for a divorce is a little different because suddenly, you've lost an individual in your life who (under amicable situations) was impactful in making your quality of life better.

Ultimately, i say this all as a probably but not for certainty because you still can't forget that personality conflicts can exist in a relationship and marriage that can drive two people apart.