Factors Promoting Higher Divorce Rates

Divorce is one of life’s most stressful experiences. Everyone involved has a unique experience with divorce. I interviewed a sixty year old female, Sandra, who has been divorced from Randy for almost five years. They were married for thirty-six years and have two children, Mandy and Mark. Mandy is married to my uncle, so I was not interviewing a complete stranger. Sandra was very willing to talk to me about her divorce. While they did not go to premarital counseling, have a premarital pregnancy, or cohabitate, there were risk factors. After dating just three months, they married when she was nineteen and he was twenty-two. Early marriage is noted to be “the most adverse demographic risk for marital instability” (Hetherington, 2003, p.328). I will discuss the interview and my thoughts on her divorce based on Bohannan’s six stages of divorce.

Despite the steady increase in cohabitation across the last several decades, research on its impact on marital outcome is mixed. Some research has suggested that people who cohabitate long-term and do not plan to marry have lower relationship quality and less stable relationships. However, other research has indicated that these couples do not have lower quality relationships (Jose, O'Leary, & Moyer, 2010, p. 105).

First, in cases where couples live together before marriage, it has been discovered that there is a greater level of unhappiness as well as domestic violence in a relationship (Focus on the Family). In addition to an increase of dissatisfaction, many people miss the truth that half a commitment is no commitment at all (Focus on the Family). When a person only wants to partially commit to a relationship instead going all in, there are pieces of themselves that they are holding back. The very fact that either of them are considering cohabitation indicates that at least one desires to hold onto something. Finally, if a couple is emotionally healthy and stable, there is no need or benefit for their wholeness as a couple in cohabitation. Statistics indicate that there is less of a likelihood for a marriage to last if the couple lives together beforehand. If that is the case, then there is a perspective that needs to be adjusted in many people across America: that is, instead of viewing cohabitation as the next step, we need to view it as a detriment to a long-term healthy

Families are not being equally affected by the economic changes in America. “Rates of marriage also are changing according to class; middle-class people are more likely to marry and remarry than working-class people, who are more likely to remain single or cohabitate” (Marriage Wanes, 1999). When looking at the information presented in Marriage Wanes it shows that lower income individuals are less likely to marry. Though Money Income in the United States (2001) shows that all incomes are affected by a decline in the economy; racial groups; Blacks, and Asians are impacted the most by a higher decline of average median wages. Families in these groups will be the most impacted by the economic

Cohabitation is a relatively new form of union formation in the United States that is much more likely to occur among younger individuals than older ones. Estimates suggest that about 35 percent of persons born in the early 1960s will live with someone of the opposite sex before they reach their 25th birthday. This is compared to less than 8 percent of those born in the early 1940s. This form of living is becoming a norm in the world (Marin, Stolzenberg and Waite, 1995). One study found that, in 1997, almost 3.7 American households were composed of unmarried couples. Demographers comment that cohabitation has become an acceptable form of union. It is even viewed as a stage, the first phase in marriage. Many perceive cohabitation as a trial

Throughout the past four decades there have debates about whether premarital cohabitation, also known as “shacking up”, affects marriage. Cohabitation, while once considered taboo, is seen as normal or even an essential factor in modern relationships. Early research on cohabitation and divorce rates concluded that cohabitation before marriage was likely result in divorce, however current research and new findings are beginning to challenge those views.

For the mass majority, marriage is the peak of their lives as finding that special someone unlike any other is an unexplainable moment. Marriage, along with everything it holds, is the staple to their entire world. In comparison, however, to prior generations, marriages have transformed to signify more than a status and financial affiliated affair. Today, tying the knot has grown as an agreement between two individuals united into one by love and trust. Marriage has continued to unite many through love, however as the number of documented marriages grow, so does the rising divorce rate. With the modern world growing quicker than expected, so have the expectations of people and their perspectives on life. Commonly reported as reasons for divorce

The idea of marriage has been significantly changing over the years, but one thing has remained the same, the increasing rates of divorce. In American the numbers are reaching close to 50% and the question we must ask is why? The first thing that comes to our minds that one person is unfaithful to another that results into a divorce, but that’s not always the case. Some of the things that cause a divorce can be just simple things like one of the two, or both, have lost interest in the relationship. In my opinion the most common causes of divorce are as follows.

Children are born every day and as they grow up, they gathering experiences to create goals, dreams and aspirations. As adults these goals become realities and with today’s changing economy, some of them can shift. In the past the social norm was a “rural-based economy” (5), for the man to be the breadwinner, take care of the family financially and participate in hard labor, while the woman was to take care of the children, the house and the home-life of

In this prospectus, I research the idea of the inclining divorce rate in America throughout decades and if it is due to gender roles in marriage and relationships and how they have changed through generations or if other factors influence the increase in divorce. This topic is unique due to older generations having a different approach to gender roles involving relationships and marriage compared to younger generations. As generations get older, society changed especially because of the expectations of genders as well as other factors in relationships. Throughout this research I will take a deeper look into the ideas of how relationships are different from one decade to another including gender standards, why relationships do not succeed as much as they used too as shown by the inclining divorce rate, and what else could be a cause

In the U.S, divorce rates have been rising since the beginning of the 20th century. Fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce, and one half of these consist of families with children although the number of divorces involving children varies by race and ethnicity. The relative risk of a marriage ending in divorce is affected by a range of factors, like: education, religiosity, and the age of the couple at marriage, household income, race/ethnicity, community characteristics, and parents’ marital history.

Why should anyone enjoy a dessert before getting satisfied with the main meal? A comparable question is raised about cohabiting relationships before marriage. “If the couple is not ready for the full commitment of a marriage life that engages a balance of emotional and physical functions between partners, why should they even consider living together?” Many couples say they want to “test drive” their relationships and make sure they are physically compatible. Others just want to maintain their single status. However, cohabiting before marriage can lead to many malfunctions in the relationship. In fact, cohabiting before marriage creates unstable relationships, forms inferior quality of life compared to a marriage life, and raises the chances for divorce.

Attention Getter: Has anyone ever considered that before marriage you’re going to cohabit with your partner? Well, from psychology it says people start cohabiting because they enhance the opportunity to see if whether it’s compatible or not. According to statistics it says just over fifty percent of cohabiting couples never marry or if so it increases the divorce chances. With being married there is a greater chance because, statics shows that percentages are low and separation percentages has tremendously decreased since 1980.

There is a common misconception that cohabitation before marriage is the best test to see if couples are compatible enough to get married later on. Unmarried cohabiting couples have been increasing over the last few decades. Decisions that 20-29 year old people make now can affect their relationships in the future. Most couples assume that they are taking the right steps toward marriage when moving in with their partner, however, there are studies that show greater success in marriages for couples who have not cohabited beforehand. Using several different academic studies showed some significant findings. Couples who live together before getting engaged and/or married are more likely to get divorced than those who do not move in together until engagement or marriage, and that couples who live together before engagement report lower satisfaction in their marriages. Understanding why it is that a phenomenon that has become so common, and why such results are happening will be discussed.

The act of living together in a common place during a relationship can also cause the illusion of marriage, decreasing the importance of the constitution of marriage itself. This can cause psychological repercussions to both male and female (Bradbury 1987). The endearing part of the woman longs for marriage whereas the man sees this as the next best thing to marriage without the commitment to their mate. But contrary to the belief of both partners, this can only cause conflict between them. “First, a spouse locates the cause of a problem in the partner; second, he/she decides that the other partner is responsible; and finally he/she assign blame to his/her partner.”(Bradbury 1987) So when newly married couples have participated in the cohabitation phase, many believe that their lives are closing in on them after the marriage license is