Divorce

Introduction

The information available about divorce, how to cope, the causes, and the effects seems limitless. What was once considered a forbidden act is now commonly thought of as an "easy way out." Divorce rates reached an all time high in 1929 when eight in 1000 married women were divorced.# These statistics have unfortunately skyrocketed and some attribute that to the increase in our life expectancy, but there are many more issues that must be considered as well. Current sociologists seem to be focusing on the many causes of divorce, the effect it has on the children involved, and the consequences our society must face.

Causes of Divorce

There seems to be a large amount of data concerning cohabitation prior to marriage. Many social researchers have found a connection between non-nuptial cohabiters and a higher likelihood of future divorce. This is often lectured about in the Catholic religion to back up Catholic beliefs on marriage.

Researcher Michael Lawler disagrees with this information that is continually being preached to Catholics. In his own research he has come to find that much of this data and findings are outdated. Since the drastic rise in cohabitation in the past twenty years or so, it has been found that the former statistics are no longer accurate. These statistics were taken prior to the social acceptance of cohabitation and therefore those doing so were often unconventional, younger, less religious, and repeatedly had a family history of divorce. Lawler believes that since cohabitation is now more socially acceptable the composition of cohabiting samples has dramatically changed and therefore causing the likelihood of future divorce to decrease. He argues that when a sample is analyzed by age cohort it is found that younger generations do not show the same correlation between pre-marital cohabitation and divorce.#

An opposing argument comes from author Phyllis Witcher. She not only claims that divorce is often the result of cohabitation prior to marriage, but she noticed that cohabitation in all reality seems to be taking over marriage. "There are now eight times more cohabiting, unmarried couples than there were in 1970...and the United States now has its lowest marriage rate in 40 years."#

Witcher insists that changes in divorce laws are to blame. Many people choose not to marry in order to steer clear of the harsh consequences of divorce. This is very common among those who have witnessed the divorce of their own parents. The divorce rates are now in a slight downturn, but according to Witcher this can only be accredited to the decrease in marriage rates as well. She argues that if divorce laws were less harsh more cohabiting couples would marry and divorce rates would therefore rise again.#

Another argument for the cause of divorce falls back on women's employment. One researcher, Parsons, argues that women in the workforce can cause unnecessary strain on a marriage. In a nuclear family when the woman leaves for the workforce it is a temporary or permanent loss of a very important and unique person in the family therefore causing a disruption. It is also believed that when a woman has paid employment they have an increased power and can assert their independence, in turn destabilizing their marriage.#

Oppenheimer on the other hand feels that women's employment does not disrupt marriages per se, but disrupts unhappy marriages. She makes a point that the correlation between the increased number of divorces and the growth of women in the workplace is automatically assumed. What she finds is that there is no research done to find out about marriage behavior prior to the women entering employment. Oppenheimer agrees with the economic opportunity hypothesis when stating that participating in the workforce does not cause unhappy marriages, but it gives these women a resource to leave an already unhappy marriage.#

Since no research had been done on the happiness of a marriage prior to and following the women's employment researchers Schoen, Astone, Rothert, Standish, and Kim felt it necessary to do so. Their findings showed that when both partners are happy at the time, the employment of the wife does not disrupt their relationship. Yet in the model with which they did not obtain marital happiness variables, there was a correlation between women's employment and an increase in dissolution. They therefore concluded that women's employment plays an important role in explaining contemporary divorce patterns, but it does not destabilize a marriage.#

Unlike all of the previous researchers Michael Zimmer points out that there can be several motives for a divorce, and they may differ significantly based on the sex of the individual involved. For example economic variables and previous marriages tend to be factors among wives but do not seem to affect husbands. The duration of the marriage, marital happiness, and age at which they were first married are more common concerns among husbands. Zimmer's most prevalent evidence is the effects of cohabitation prior to marriage. The probability of divorce increased for husbands, while it stabilized the marriage for wives.# He wants to call attention to the fact that spouses are individuals and there can therefore be several explanations for divorce.

Alternatively Michael McManus does not blame money or cohabitation for divorce, but rather the church. He feels that the church has not done its part to promote premarital counseling and instruction. The church has contributed to divorce by thoughtlessly condoning marriages and not taking premarital counseling seriously. It has simply become a place where marriages take place. McManus indicates that 75% of all marriages are blessed by pastors, priests or rabbis, but still 60% of new marriages are failing. The church is now acting as a "wedding factory" rather than a religious organization. McManus believes that if they begin taking premarital counseling seriously then the church may also be the one to resolve our issue with divorce rates.#

The Effects of Divorce on Children

Divorce quite obviously puts a lot of stress on both the husband and wife involved, but almost all experts agree that the children are the ones affected most. Many times children will endure the effects of divorce for the rest of their lives. Author Jerry Falwell found that older boys tend to become aggressive and are more prone to drug and alcohol use when coping with parental divorce. Girls on the other hand appear to be strong on the outside but often suffer more long-term effects. These effects then tend to be heightened by the stress of being in a single parent home.#

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