Divorce Rates in America

Americas disjoin Rates why Are They So High? The sanctity of wedlock ceremony is a usance that has been entered by gen durationtions over the past thousands of years. In the United States alone, 2,200,000 great deal conduct to enter the life date commitwork forcet of marriage every year. Yet, less than one-half(a) of that nation is expected to keep that commitment. In a 1999 Rutgers University study, it is said that notwithstanding 38 percent of Americans consider themselves happy in their married state, which has form magnitude from 53 percent 25 years ago.With the current, alarming statistic of over half of marriages resulting in disjoint, on that touch is often reason to take notice of how these song got so high. Although I personally contrive not grown up in a separate household, I sought to understand why so many other people drop, and in turn maybe chance on knowledge to avoid becoming a part of the fall apartd population as well. In Steven Nocks article, Americas dissociate Problem, he en slosheds the important point that Divorce is not the problem, nevertheless rather a symptom of the problem (1 Nock).With varying symptoms such as the feminist battlefront in the 1960s, an increase in financial dependence, change magnitude c atomic number 18er mobility, and the overall changed intuition of marriage, the divorce rates guide increase rapidly since the 1960s and deserve further explanation. The overall family structure has been challenged, and tarnish lines in American families have widened since the 1960s and the 1970s, which is when the divorce rate doubled.In the time article, The Pursuit of Autonomy, Alan Wolfe states that the family is no longer a haven all overly often a center of dysfunction, it has become one with the heartless world that surrounds it. While this statement may be a slight caricature of the family perception, reasons remain for the rapid increase of 30 percent in the divorce rate since the 1960s. Dis cussed in Barbara LeBays article, American Families Are rootless Apart, on that point be supposedly four main societal changes that occurred in the 1960s, which have greatly impacted right aways traditional family structures in America.Such societal changes include the sexual revolution, womens going movement, states relaxation of divorce laws, and mobility of American families and be said to be responsible for many of our family alienations. During this time frame, societys youth fled from the confines of family, while other family members sought to keep them close and as a result, it is said that there were most likely more problematic issues between children and parents during the 1960s and early 1970s than ever before.More importantly, the womens liberation movement in the workplace played a large spot in changing the values and perceptions of family structure in America. Before this time, men were the assumed leader of each household and were given the largest responsib ility of advancing in their careers to make a living, while women were for the most part financially dependent upon them. However, starting in the 1960s women with a college degree could blend in independently and establish a life for themselves.There was a new lore in society that civil rights meant equal rights for everyone, including women (243 Finsterbursch). Women sought sexual equality, which include a wider range of career opportunities and promotions that were once available only to men. By having this form of financial independence, women likewise had more of the freedom to break away(predicate) from destructive or unhappy marriages. Although this movement is an important and productive one, it also impacted the traditional notions of marriage. trade union had suddenly become a choice, rather than a necessity, and the entire idea of divorce became less of an issue. Another great change during this time period was the increase in mobility of families in which many fami ly members were no longer living in the same household with one another. manpower and women began to move to wherever they could come on in the corporate ladder in the shortest amount of time. Despite how far it was from where they grew up, college students took more jobs away from home, jeopardizing family unity.People inquireed to vest lots of time and energy to recreate their lives without the support of their family with these relocations, and still today many are willing to sacrifice their family relationships in order to advance in their careers. Barbara Lebay makes the important point that strangely, the more financially independent people become, the more families scatter and grow apart and tolerance levels decrease as their financial means increase (1 Lebay).In relation to this observation, Joseph Ducanto makes a similar point about the financial effects of divorce on poverty, along with the melodic theme that while fixing the divorce system will not decease the futur e of poverty, certain changes can help to bring the problem into an easier resolution. In the article, Divorce and Poverty are Often Synonymous, there is praise for the concept of prenuptial agreements due to the fact that in recent years, prenuptial agreements have been adopted by many states of the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act.The toleration of this Act is said to significantly strengthen the legal basis for borrowing and enforcement of these agreements within marital proceedings (90 Ducanto). In todays society, the need and importance of prenuptial agreements signifies our priority of finances being a uncouth theme to marriage termination. Often times, who makes the money in the family and just how much can determine whether a marriage will stay in concert or not, an issue that was not common before the 1960s. The accumulation of marriage and divorce laws over the years are also said to have affected our increasing divorce rates.Since the 1970s, all states have had access to what are called no-fault divorces, with the only real restriction being a waiting time limit of a few months to a year. The motivation for this concept came from the movement of people who felt this would benefit women and children who were stuck in verbally or physically abusive marriages. However, in Steven Nocks article, Americas Divorce Problem, he discusses that many believe that the facility of this idea has also created approximately of a divorce socialization to the United States in which the traditional sanctions of marriage are no longer respected as much.Others also judge of the no-fault divorce saying that it often leaves women dependent, harms the interest of the children, and deteriorates the general social well-being (1 Nock). Although I personally have not grown up in a divorced household, I sought to understand why so many other people have, and in turn possibly gain knowledge to avoid becoming a part of the divorced population as well.With varying symptoms s uch as the feminist movement in the 1960s, an increase in financial dependence, increased career mobility, and the overall changed perception of marriage, the divorce rates have increased rapidly since the 1960s and 1970s. During this time, there came the beginning of what some would describe as a divorce culture for America in which divorce was not seen as such a serious matter, with even the electing our first divorced President of the United States, Ronald Regan.Although events and movements of this era such as womens empowerment in the workplace are very important to history, they have also impacted the traditional notions of marriage. Marriage has become a choice, rather than a necessity, and the entire concept of divorce is much less of an issue. This new attitude on divorce has distinctly prevailed to current times and will hopefully correct itself throughout more changes in events to our society. Works Cited Ducanto, Joseph N. Divorce and Poverty Are Often Synonymous. Ameri can Journal of Family Law24. 2 (2010) 87-94. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. Finsterbusch, Kurt. taking Sides Clashing Views on Social Issues. New York McGraw Hill, 2011. Print. LeBey, Barbara. American Families Are Drifting Apart. USA Today Magazine130. 2676 (2001) 20. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. Nock, Steven L. Americas Divorce Problem. Society36. 4 (1999) 43-52. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.