Divorce, At the Peak of It's Game. An essay about today's increasing divorce rates.

Essay by St3_BPHigh School, 12th grade January 2005

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Divorce, At the Peak of it's Game.

Today, up to fifty percent of all marriages will end up in divorce. In 1900, roughly only ten percent of marriages ended up in such a way. Why do so many marriages fail now? There are many factors which create such high divorce rates. Social acceptance, longer life spans, and religion help bring divorce rates to it's peak.

First and foremost, I would say that divorce was socially unacceptable in 1910, and many people stayed together regardless of whether they were miserable or not. Also, gender roles have changed since that time period, and women feel more empowered than they ever have before. They have an ability to support themselves properly without the aid of their husbands, and back then, it just was not feasible. "I firmly believe that the divorce rate is so high because most women believe that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The children, the house, support, alimony. And they do have everything to gain."

Another factor is religion. We have less of it in our society than we did before, and many of the religions, while they may not embrace the concept of divorce, accept it as being a sometimes necessary action. The slogan: "The family that prays together, stays together" is well known, and there has been much undependable evidence that has led to "unsubstantiated claims that the divorce rate for Christians who attended church regularly, pray together or who meet other conditions is only 1 or 2 percent". There has been a recent study by the Barna Research Group that puts much doubt into this thesis. They had interviewed 3,854 adults from the forty eight contiguous states, and found divorce rates among conservative Christians were much higher than for other faith groups

In this age, people are living longer. Society is moving at a faster pace, and the stress level in the 21st century is soaring. There is more focus on careers and money, instead of the construction of relationships; specifically in a capitalist society like the U.S. Larger life spans also gives us more time to gather with other people. We might meet someone that seems much more compatible then the current spouse. Also, it gives them more time to realize they do not actually love the husband/wife like they once did.

In only one hundred years, divorce rates have almost quadrupled. The United States has also the third highest divorce rates in the world. If we do not slow down, marriage might not exist in the next hundred years. I do not see the rates going back down to ten percent, as times have changed with more woman rights; but there are ways to adjust the percentage. People are not trying to make things work like they once did. The world seems to be getting lazier year by year, and marriages are suffering because of it. Lazy and in love...not such a good combination.

Works Cited:

1Epinons: http://www.epinions.com/kifm-review-736B-DAC8040-38EB9972-prod2

Posted: April 05, 2000

Author: Unknown

Last Updated: Never

2U.S Divorce Rates: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm

Posted: April 27, 2000

Last Updated: October 21, 2004

Author: B.A Robinson

3World Divorce Rates: http://www.aneki.com/divorce.html

Posted: 2004

Last Updated: Never

Author: Aneki.com

Other related information available at the following:

U.S Divorce Statistics: http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsUS2.shtml

Cohabitation Before Marriage: http://www.drdaveanddee.com/cohabitation.html
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