This paper is a discussion of divorce in America. This complex and difficult issue has a continuing impact on almost every facet of modern life. More than half the marriages in the United States end in divorce, and this devastating statistic affects not only the ex-husbands and ex-wives, but also their children, families, friends, and society as a whole. Once a shameful and often objectionable way of ending a failed marriage, divorce has become common and widely accepted. Divorce no longer prevents a politician from running for office or a character on television from being embraced by an audience. Yet experts continue to debate its effects on children, and fathers still struggle to be recognized as equally capable custodians of their children. Conservatives argue against the "easy fix" that divorce represents, and families continue to suffer. This paper examines the possibilities for softening divorce's devastation and prevalence in American society.
The fact that a marriage has failed is a difficult admission for partners to make. The bride and groom who began their commitment to each other, promising to love and cherish "'til death us do part," must now admit that, for whatever reasons, they are unable to sustain that commitment. Divorce is the most public of such admissions. Divorce in America is a growing phenomenon:
Between 1966 and 1976 the divorce rate in the United States doubled. While demographers disagree about their projections of divorce rates in the twenty-first century, they agree that we will never return to pre-1970 rates. In the next century, between four and six out of every ten marriages in the United States are projected to end in divorce (Ahrons 2).
In earlier times, divorce was not easy, common, or, in some cases, even possible. However, an incrreasingly liberal attitude has made it an acceptable choice in most situations. Hollywood was once considered the most decadent and scandalous p...