Personal Status
By Lugh69
@Lugh69 (149)
United States
December 5, 2006 10:45am CST
For certain forms (eg. employment applications, official documents) why do you think they want to know if you are single, married, divorced or widowed. I think there should be only two choices, single or married. What does it matter if you were once married. Is it beacuse you may have children or alimony? Or is it because being divorced or widowed has its own connotation. Are divorced people less stable? They usually ask you on a separate question if you have children and alot of single people have kids so I don't think this is a valid reason.
1 response
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
5 Dec 06
Apart from the financial issues relating to a loan or a mortgage, in which case your marital status would reflect a level of expenditure, there is little or no relevance in a person's marital status.
I suspect that it has simply become a standard question that is now included in most forms simply as a matter of habit. There was possibly a good reason for the practice to have started, but I cannot think of one.
1 person likes this
