The Role Of Divorce Rates In The United States

Most people don’t ever think that they will get a divorce but the reality is that almost half of marriages will end in divorce. Divorce is not a decision that is made or taken lightly; its effects on families are damaging and not to mention long lasting. The Oxford Dictionary (2017), describes divorce as “a legal decree dissolving a marriage by a court or other competent body”. When a couple decides to separate numerous aspects of their lives are affected. Divorce affects family dynamics, physically and emotionally health, education, finances, job stability, income potential, drug use and crime. Divorce does not simply affect the lives of families; it affects America as a whole religiously, economically, and it immensely impacts the lives of the children involved.

There is a staggeringly large amount of divorces in the United States (US). In total, the US had a recorded total of 2,140,272 marriages in the year 2014 alone, and of those marriages, 813,862 ended up in divorce or annulment (Center for Disease Control). This means that as recently as 2014, there was a divorce rate of approximately 40%. This supports the statistics that the divorce rate for the US has stayed within 40-50% since the 1970’s (Austin Institute, 2014). While the numbers themselves are important, it is also important that the causes for the high divorce rate be explored, so that it can be known what pitfalls to avoid when participating in such an important union as marriage. There are many causes of divorce in the US such as conflicting gender roles, socioeconomic status, religious conflicts, physical abuse, emotional abuse, alcohol addictions, and many more (Amato & Previti, 2003). This paper will look at many of these reasons, but it will also focus on the differing reasons reported by men and women.

in divorce. There is a lot of stress on all the people involved. The man has

It’s for those very reasons that America needs to fight the rising divorce rates. There is more than one way to achieve the goal of lowering divorce rates. One obvious way would be to not make divorce easy to get and enforcing a waiting period. Marriage counseling should have to be taken before receiving a divorce. Lastly all states should allow covenant marriages and support them more than a regular marriage.

The most recent studies show that 42% of Marriages now end in Divorce and that they are on the increase, although recent statistics contradict this fact, as they show that Divorce Rates are decreasing each year. In 2011, there were 117,588 divorces, compared to 121,779 in 2008, and a staggering 153,176 in 2003, a decrease of 30% in 8 years (ONS, 2008-2011)

Sociologically speaking divorce from structural functionalism point of view is seen as a failure of society as compared to individual faults. The view has a macroscopic lens that sees that society should provide adequate education and guidelines to couples making their marriages suc-cessful. This can be done by effectively communicating with each other, creating harmony and consistency among partners. Symbolic/social interactionism view divorce as an individual deci-sion by two people influenced by their social habits and environment. The view is of microscopic nature because all it comes down to is choices made by an individual deriving from their interac-tions in the society. In most societies divorce is an expensive procedure as it involves

Long before 1970, divorce was relatively uncommon. Getting a divorce was very tedious. At that time, you could only get a divorce under grounds of adultery, abandonment, cruelty, intoxication or any other serious reason to no longer be together. What has changed and why has the divorce rate raised to 50% of all marriages? Divorce rates has raised to 50% because of society changes, view of monogamy, and young marriages.

Throughout time, practices that were once never used, become more common. In the 1600s divorce was a forbidden practice or a last resort. Since then, laws have changed, and so hasn’t the stigma related with divorce. The guilt and fault that divorce once carried has vanished. According to the book Should I Keep Trying to Work it out, “In the United States, researchers estimate that 40%–50% of all first marriages will end in divorce or permanent separation. The risk of divorce is even higher for second marriages, about 60%.” (Hawkins 42). As it became more common for couples in America to separate, divorce gradually became a normal part of so many lives. Why are so many couples separating now? Through research on EBSCO, and other findings, I will attempt to explain this question that so many people ask in today’s world. The divorce rate in America is drastically increasing over time due to new laws, certain generations, and relationship issues.

Starting from the beginning of the nineteen-sixties is when the evolution of divorces began to rise. More so from the 60s through the 80s the divorce rate began to double. As divorece began to rise it began to be over- determined. According to the online article of “National affairs under the evolution of divorce” connects to the percentage of couples divorcing around this time and what the effects were. “less than 20% of couples who married in 1950 ended up divorced, about 50% of couples who married in 1970 did”. This led to “Approximately half of the children born to married parents in

The rapid epidemic of divorce in the United States within the last 20 years has affected more than one half of the families in the United States. In the past, we have viewed divorce as a short term crisis and not as a longitudinal view of the effects divorce might bring. Divorce does affect children. However, it is not the divorce that is the problem; it is the ongoing conflict between the parents and the child’s coping mechanisms in their own stages of development. Counseling, family therapy, and also having a divorce mediation are all successful ways of coping with the family.

There are, undoubtedly, a number of causes for divorce. Divorce used to be considered scandalous and immoral. This contributed to many marriages surviving despite strains. However, as divorce becomes more common, the more natural and expectable it seems. The number of divorces per year per1000 people in the U.S. has been declining since hitting our highest point in1981. (“divorce_ rate”) The United States has one of the highest divorce rates in the world. As a, couple’s relationship, marriages are more

As human civilization advances, the more tolerant society has become to behaviors that used to be regarded as appalling and immoral. One of these behaviors is becoming divorced. According to a recent guidebook for couples who are in the midst of a divorce or considering divorce, 70% of Americans believe that divorce is a morally acceptable choice (Hawkins, 2009). This new understanding of divorce has played a significant role in the choice that many Americans have made to separate from their spouse. According to researchers in the United States 40%-50% of first marriages and 60% of second marriages will end in separation (Hawkins, 2009). Married couples in the United States are finding it difficult to remain committed to their spouses and it 's resulting in many failed relationships. Unless American citizens have a major epiphany about the foundation of marriage, the high divorce rate in the United States will continue and could escalate even higher in the next few decades for a variety of reasons including religion, finances, and adultery.

The topic of divorce, for many decades, has been a topic that fell into the domain of taboo. In more recent years, society within the united states has brought the topic into the limelight by desensitizing the term. Thus, the divorce rates in the US have went up. However, a divorce has both positive and negative implications. Also, there have been backlashes against divorce, but there has also been a positive feedback system employed to aid in the process that surround divorce. The partitioning between the political parties can be further exemplified in topic of divorce.

In the last 25 years, divorce has become a major issue in American society. Since the turn of the century, the divorce rate has held steady between 4.0-3.2 divorces per 1000 people per year (National Vital Statistics System, 2015). With this rising divorce rate, more children are living between parents, or in single family homes, and many of these children have been exposed to altercations between parents, as well as rough custody battles and divorce settlements. Traumatic experiences like these are highly likely to stick with children of divorce throughout their life, especially if the child is older at the time of the divorce.

Building on research conducted in prior decades, family scholars have continued to document the major risk factors for divorce. These factors include marrying as a teenager, being poor, experiencing unemployment, having a low level of education, living with one's future spouse or another partner prior to marriage, having a premarital birth, bringing children from a previous union into a new marriage (especially among mothers), marrying someone of a different race, being in a second- or higher order marriage, and growing up in a household without two continuously married parents (Amato & DeBoer, 2001; Bramlett & Mosher, 2002; Bratter & King, 2008; Sweeney & Phillips, 2004; Teachman, 2002).