Rising divorce rates in the U.S.

Although consistently rising divorce rates in the United States are indicative of personal dissatisfaction and the inability or unwillingness of partners to reconcile their differences, it cannot be said that divorce is merely a result of personal characteristics; instead, demographic and societal-level variations in divorce rates illustrate how social and cultural factors can influence the chances that a marriage will end in divorce.

An initial look at the statistics regarding rates of divorce will prove useful as a means of establishing the relative effect of societal and demographic variations on divorce rates. Margolis (1989) reports a ten-fold increase in divorce between 1890 and 1987 (p. 6). A demographic portrait, or quantitative study of the human population trends, is more than a numbers game, however, because it poses crucial questions about population trends, and is thus an exploration of the quality of human life. This discussion will examine the impersonal demographic trends which have a fragmenting effect on the institution of marriage, as well as other societal-level correlates of the divorce rate. A demographic trend would be exemplified by the movement of a marriage population from the East to the West, whereas a societal-level correlate of the divorce rate would be shown by level of socioeconomic development, as one example.

In "Structural Determinants of the Divorce Rate: A Cross-societal Analysis," Trent and South (1989) look further than just the U

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ives and mothers. As Trent and South (1989) note, "Because men lack the opportunity to form alternative relationships with women, they will be less inclined to seek divorce from their current spouse. Moreover, men will use their control over political, economic, and legal institutions to constrain women's opportunity to dissolve a marriage" (p. 393). Trent and South's (1989) final consideration, the correlation of religion with rate of divorce, cannot be shown to operate in the same manner as socioeconomic level, female labor force participation, and sex ratios. This is because the range of influence of religion on societal-level divorce rates is large and difficult to ascertain, even though religion plays an important role in the incidence of divorce. As the authors note, "The Roman Catholic Church bans divorce altogether, [but] Muslim nations have traditionally been permissive, at least for men" (p. 394). A Muslim man, for example, can traditionally step out of a marriage without religious reproach. A look at some demographic trends will show that it is far easier to get divorced--or, to put it another way, the likelihood that a couple will divorce increases--as one moves west. In addition, it can be said that, if marria

Category: Psychology - R