The Surge is Finally Over — Divorce Trends in 2016
Why do some marriages last a lifetime while others end in a divorce? Americans have been pondering this question for quite some time now. A popular myth about marriage is that half of them end in divorce.Most of us actually believe that 50% of American couples get separated after a few years of marriage. However, recent statistics suggest otherwise. The divorce rate isn’t — and never has been — 50% in the United States, or any other country for that matter. Recent studies prove that the numbers are dropping across many states.
Yet, one cannot ignore the fact that the divorce rates in the U.S are higher than most developed nations in the world. These alarming numbers have influenced professionals to study the divorce patterns in the country to understand why and how this works. The research conducted has led to the following findings that explain the major divorce trends in the US in 2016.
Mature Marriages Last Longer
One of the main reasons for the drop in the divorce rate is the increasing number of mature marriages. Since people are becoming more work-oriented in the current era, the rate of early marriages has decreased to a surprising degree. During the 1970’s, the median age for men to get married was 23 and 20 for women. However, in the last few years, these numbers have increased to 27 and 26 for men and women respectively.
The fact that people are marrying later in life has led to more mature marriages where the couple truly understands the needs and wants of one another. Research shows that such couples are likely to last longer than couples who get married at an early age, especially right after high school or college.
Education is the Key
A surprising revelation of these research studies was the fact that education plays a role in divorce. Among many sociological factors that can influence separation, education turned out to be the most influential one. Demographer Philip Cohen states that divorce is more common among couples with limited education. The main reason for this occurrence was the fact that couples with limited education tend to marry younger. This supposedly leads to financial instability and then divorce.
Couples with low education levels tend to immediately resort to divorce when they hit a rough patch. On the other hand, educated couples tend to use professional help in the forms of counselling and couples therapy to mend the wounds. In the same way, during a separation, the latter category tends to use the services of reliable law firms such as Canterbury Law Group to sort everything out efficiently. This enables them to handle matters such as child custody and spousal support in a smooth manner.
Feminism as an Eye-Opener
Studies also revealed that two thirds of divorces are initiated by women. The decrement in divorce points to the changes in women’s expectations. They are no longer raising the bar to the “perfect husband” that they witnessed in young adult novels and romantic comedies. The feminist revolution that took place in 2015 has influenced the drop in divorce rates to a great extent since the women of 2016 possess high levels of self-esteem and self-confidence.
Living Together Helps
The permissive attitudes among the American citizens have also played a role in this reduction of numbers. In the current era, couples prefer to live together before they get married. This “living together” phenomenon has led ill-fated relationships to end in breakups instead of divorce. Moreover, the acceptance of single-parent families has decreased the number of shotgun marriages, which often end up in separation.
The overall marriage trends in 2016 represent the various areas of American life. The work-minded young population, changing gender roles, and late marriages have all contributed towards the reduction in divorce rates. Researchers have predicted that if the numbers keep going down, twothirds of marriages will never have to end in divorce.