Problems and Solutions
Divorce in the United States - Problems and Solutions
People get divorced for a variety of reasons: differences in personalities, onset of addictions or emotional/physical abuse, or financial issues. Sometimes these reasons for divorce can be impacted by one’s cultural upbringing, including ideals placed on them regarding abstinence and contraception, as well as religious ideals. In order to understand the most frequent causes of divorce in the United States, religious ideologies and geographical setting must be taken into account. Moreover, statistics and data driven studies are incredibly in order to be well and accurately informed. Understanding the divorce statistics in the U.S. is the first step to figuring out the main causes of divorce, such as religion, age, and ethnicity or cultural background, as well as the solutions to what prevents divorce and what makes relationships happy and successful.
Rather than divorce rates rampantly increasing across the country, Joshua Goldstein (1999) claims that divorce rates actually leveled off between 1980 and 2000. The metric used for his study is the crude divorce rate for married persons, which is measured by the number of divorces by the count of married women ages 15 and older, per year. Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), Goldstein demonstrates that the divorce rate did indeed level off from 1980 through 1990 after a 20-year period where the rate experienced exponential growth. The real question is whether or not this leveling off trend continued beyond 1990 to present day (2014), or if divorce rates continued to increase after a brief hiatus.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota, Sheela Kennedy and Steven Ruggles, attempt to address this very question in their 2014 study, “Breaking up is hard to count: the rise of divorce in the United States, 1980-2010. Kennedy and Ruggles found that indeed after 1990 there has been a period of recent marital instability between 1990 and 2008. They also found a doubling in divorce rates over the past two decades among people over the age of 35 and yet a decline in divorce rates among women under the age of 25, perhaps due to “increasing selectivity of marriage.” Although it was previously thought that couples who waited until they are older to get married would be immune or less prone to getting a divorce, the findings from this study suggest that divorce habits may be age-independent and more due to other factors including life experience and spousal selectivity.
Manfred Nelson Blake focuses directly on the matter of divorce in his timely volume The Road to Reno: A History of Divorce in the United States. Just as its title might suggest, the work traces the legality of divorce from the colonial era to present day. Although it is not an exhaustive overview, it does provide perspective as to where the United States used to be in regards to divorce (operating on the mentality that divorce was sacrilegious and an embarrassment to both the man and woman) in comparison to today where divorce has become ubiquitous and a common form of dinner conversation for many. Blake raises the point that the path of divorce followed a western movement as divorce has always been less common in New England and eventually spread out toward more liberal areas such as Chicago and Los Angeles. With this in mind, the point can be made that couple’s immediate locale influences their views on divorce and may or may not inhibit their likelihood of getting a divorce. It may be interesting to research whether or not divorce rates are still higher on the west coast of the United States in comparison to the east coast and southern states.
In a study conducted by Dr. Matthew Bramlett and Dr. William Mosher, trends in marital breakup, divorce, and remarriage were analyzed and conclusions were made regarding changes in outcomes differing by race and ethnicity. Over 10,000 women, ages 15-44, were interviewed for the study in 1995 and trends in the report were based on data from the years 1973, 1976, 1988 and 1995. Although somewhat outdated, the study did produce interesting results. The analyses demonstrated that divorce and remarriage patterns were indeed related to the women’s ethnicity. According to Bramlett and Mosher’s report (2002), “the results consistently demonstrate that the cohabitations and marriages of non-Hispanic black women are less stable than those of non-Hispanic white women” (p. 30). Furthermore, one may argue that these trends are not recent enough, yet taking a closer look at the data, it seems that the differences by ethnicity or race are becoming more pronounced in recent years. The study carried on to attribute the racial differences with the culture of the communities in which the women live. In conclusion, the study makes the point that one’s immediate culture and the racial background of that community does affect individual perceptions of divorce and could lead to higher rates of separation, as was found in the black, non-Hispanic communities compared to the Caucasian women.
A 2011 article from the journal, Christian Century, written by Anne Kuperinsky (2011) claims that New Jersey leads the U.S. in least number of divorces. This claim is in alignment with the previously mentioned theory that states on the east coast would have lower levels of divorce; however it also seems counter intuitive as New Jersey is a breeding ground for sleezy, terrible reality TV shows such as Jersey Shore and yet this Garden State secures the number one spot in producing couples who do indeed live “happily ever after”. According to the American Community Survey, the rate of divorce in the Northeast is 7.2 per 1,000 men and 7.5 per 1,000 women. In comparison, the numbers in the South were considerably higher as 10.2 per 1,000 men and 11.1 per 1,000 women got divorced. New Jersey boasts low figures of 6.1 men and 6.0 women per 1,000. Although some might think that the divorce rate would be lower in southern states due to people’s infatuations and deep ties to religion, this data displays another picture.
So then what could be the religious ties or influences on a man and woman’s relationship and what does that got to do with the chance of them ending up divorced? The reasons explaining the higher divorce in the South include: 1) younger average marriage age partially due to low rates of college attendance 2) negative views of birth control which results in nonmarital pregnancies that result in “shotgun” marriages 3) higher number of marriages in the South as opposed to the single culture of the Northeast. For example, Maine and New Jersey have the lowest rates of marriage and once people do end up getting married, they are at an older age and perhaps more mature to get through relationships problems that otherwise could have caused separation in younger couples.
Now there is evidence that demonstrates that not only younger couples tend to get more often in the south but also that divorce rates among women under the age of 25 are declining. So what do we believe? I support the link between age at which one gets marriage and the likelihood of divorce as more likely: the younger you are, the more likely you are to get a divorce. Therefore, one easy solution to preventing divorce is getting married at a later age, perhaps after 28, as individuals tend to have had more life experiences and general knowledge on how to resolve relationship issues. Couples that get married very young, perhaps under the age of 24, may not have reached their individual maturity levels and thus it becomes harder to resolve conflict once in a pair.
Religious views could also have an impact on divorce rates and according to Goldberg’s 2014 article “Christian Marriage, Christian Divorce” in Nation, there is a higher rate of divorce in the Southern states of Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas in comparison to the lower rates in the liberal Northeast. Researcher Jennifer Glass, a sociologist at the University of Texas expresses that, “It’s a puzzling paradox. These (Southern States) are places where you would expect the reverence for marriage and social disapproval for divorce to keep couples together” and yet this is not the case (p. 6). Therefore, it seems as though religion has an adverse affect on divorce rates and may not be as influential or successful in keeping couples together. Glass worked with another researcher, Philip Levchak from the University of Iowa, and confirmed the link between conservative Protestantism and divorce: right-wing Christianity indeed undermines the “happily ever after” contemporary marriage. The researchers claim that “conservative religious beliefs and the social institutions they create, on balance, decrease marital stability through the promotion of practices that increase divorce risk in the contemporary United States” (p. 6). And what are the practices that contribute to this instability? They may be in part due to social pressures to get married at a young age, the promotion of abstinence until marriage, poor sex education, less knowledge and access to contraception for teenagers, as well as traditional views of gender-roles that lead to single-earner dependency in families and lower financial gain.
These findings may be a surprise to many as it not only debunks the myth that religion plays a large role in keeping couples together but also makes the argument that great irony is at play as “the very practices meant to shore up marital security in conservative communities end up sabotaging marriage” (p. 7), according to researchers Glass and Levchak. However, there religious ideologies can also have a positive effect on relationships. Other social sciences research suggests that couples who go to church together are more likely to stay together and not get divorced. In addition to going to church, couples may benefit from time spent together through other activities such as attending the same bi-weekly book club or volunteering at a local animal shelter together. Perhaps the solutions of spending quality time with one’s partner and engaging in an activity that is mutually beneficial for the pair, can contribute to healthier and happier relationships that in return, keeps the couple together.
The best solution to preventing divorce in the United States is a complete paradigm shift of marriage ideals. The ideas and values placed on marriage at a young age and the encouragement of putting off sex until marriage is toxic and counterproductive to having successful relationships. People should be encouraged to explore safe, sexual relationships with others before they are wed so that they can learn important lessons about being with another person. Moreover, parents should encourage their kids that there is no rush to be married and that each individual should choose when is best for them to married and to whom they should marry rather than being subjected to social and societal pressures. Glass (2014) suggests, “Clearly you can’t put people with few relationships skills and few resources together at a really young age and saddle them with children and expect them to survive.” (p. 9) Therefore, the most effective method of preventing divorce is to delay marriage in the first place.
The model that exists in northern states where marriage is delayed and responsible premarital sex is socially accepted is statistically proven to work better. The American education system is missing a few components to reinforce these ideas including greater sex education and access to abortion and contraception. The whole notion that one shouldn’t have sex until they are married needs to be let go if we want to see divorce rates decrease. A shift of gender roles should also be integral to this transition as the idea of the “male-breadwinner family” (p. 9) is also destructive to healthy relationships and more empowered, breadwinning women will generate a decrease in divorce rates. Overall, it has been demonstrated that our accepted conservative and deeply religious family values don’t at all work to conserve families and keep couples together.
Divorce is an increasingly studied topic in the United States and the findings that are being more and more frequently released are turning old ideas of marriage, religion, and abstinence on its head and demonstrating that we need a paradigm shift in order to stop the rising divorce rates in our nation. According to Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s claims as quote in The Nation article (2014, “The truth is, the greatest tool to life children and families from poverty is one that decreases the probability of child poverty by 82 percent. But it isn’t a government problem. It’s called marriage.” The necessity for husband and wife to stay together are clear: a stable home can lift people out of poverty and contribute to a more positive, happy way of life. Of course there are exceptions of physical violence and abusive relationships that the parents need to be split apart, but the most important goal would be to prevent couples from reaching this stage and perhaps one solution is that they should have never been married in the first place.
References
Blake, N. M. (1977). The road to Reno: A history of divorce in the United States(pp. 152-59). Greenwood Press.
Bramlett, M. D., & Mosher, W. D. (2002). Cohabitation, marriage, divorce, and remarriage in the United States. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat, 23(22), 1-32.
Goldberg, M. (2014). Christian Marriage, Christian Divorce. Nation, 298(6), 6-8.
Goldstein, J. R. (1999). The leveling of divorce in the United States.Demography, 36(3), 409-414.
Kennedy, S., & Ruggles, S. (2014). Breaking up is hard to count: the rise of divorce in the United States, 1980-2010. Demography, 51(2), 587-598. doi:10.1007/s13524-013-0270-9.
Kuperinsky, A (2011). New Jersey leads U.S. in fewer divorces. Christian Century, 128(25), 19.
