Causes of Divorce - Essay Example

Causes of Divorce College: Causes of Divorce Divorce has always been a common feature in the world and more common in the current century. In the US, it is estimated that about 40 to 50% of couples that marry are likely to divorce and 60% of second marriages are likely to fail. The high figures have become a point of attention among many researchers as they seek to investigate the possible causes for an increase in the rate of divorce in the public domain. Evidently, there are many relationship predisposing factors that are likely to jeopardize the stability of marriage. There is enough evidence supporting the idea that the contemporary gender empowerment crisis has increased the chances for divorce. Besides, the fact that there are many children brought up by divorce families is a factor that predisposes future families to the risk of divorce. In addition, early marriages and lack of marriage preparation has become a major cause of marriage among first time marriage couples. While it is arguable that changes in the modern society have led to the formation of a more free society and has contributed to equality in marriage, it evident that it may be the cause for an increase in divorce rates in the modern society. The dynamic changes within the social structures such as female empowerment, children freedom, and moral corruptness have contributed to the rise of divorce within the public. This essay seeks to identify how different aspects of change within the modern society have resulted to an increase in divorce rates. The contemporary gender activism strategies have increased the chances of couples seeking divorce. In the 21st century, one of the most popular topics has been gender activism in which different bodies have fought the war to change the oppressive traditional marriage structures. One pertinent issue has been to liberate females from male chauvinism and to give them equal rights within domestic settings (Gigy & Kelly, 2010). For instance, the government has established equal rights laws in the employment sector, domestic settings as well in social settings. Therefore, females are slowly taking up responsibilities that traditionally were reserved for males only. The same way, males are expected to take up responsibilities such as cooking that were traditionally believed to fall under the shoulders of women. The result of the struggle to changes the traditional norms is cooperation from females but resistance from males. As females fight for their rights within marriage, the males feel that women are acquiring a superior position and hence seek different measures such as violence to retain their position as heads of families. More so, the government has provided divorce as an option within marriage courts, which were inexistent within the traditional structures. Therefore, the partners within marriage have seen divorce a quick exit from marriage and this has led an increase in instance of marriage. Evidently, half of marriages occur due to a crash on responsibility boundaries within domestic settings. From this perspective, it is apparent that the struggle to change traditional systems contributes to gender-role crisis which leads to higher rates of divorce within the society. Secondly, the increase in divorce rates within the society has contributed to increase in the chances of couples seeking divorce. Psychology shows that a child from a single parent family is likely to lose trust in marriage and hence have higher chance of preferring a divorce when they enter the institution of marriage. In the 21st century, about 30% of children are raised within single parent families for reasons of divorce, death of parents or even unmarried parents (Thurnher, Fenn, Melichar & Chiriboga, 2011). When such children grow up, they suffer the consequences of divorce and this influences their attitude towards marriage. Among them, there are those who are brought up by their step mothers, and may suffer from such marriages. Psychologically, such children realize that their suffering is a result of divorce and they may end developing a negative attitude towards the institution of marriage. Therefore, when they get to the marriage age, they may be willing to try but they will seek for divorce as soon as there is a small problem within the marriage. Their minds are inclined to believe that marriage is meant to fail, and this affects their conduct within marriage. Besides, children who experience violence from one of the parents after a divorce, they are likely to hate marriage and perceive it as a source of suffering. Often, female children are majorly affected during a divorce and this predisposes them to divorce in future. Therefore, the divorce rates are progressively increasing due to increase in undefined family structures. From this stand point, it is evident that the change in family structure in the world is today impacting on the attitude that children have for marriage as they grow up. In addition, increase in young age marriage within the contemporary society has resulted to an increase in the rates of divorce. In the traditional systems, the society provided laws to regulate marriages and to ensure that children married only when they were mature enough to do so. Apart from this, the family bore the responsibility of educating the young people to ensure that they understood the role of marriage and challenges that one should anticipate. Therefore, such couples entered the institution of marriage with a good understanding on the institution. However, the current society has neglected the responsibility of guiding the young on issues of marriage and has left them to make their own choices. Notably, there is an increase in teenage marriages in the modern society as young people engage in sexual activities at an early. Secondly, increase in teenage pregnancy rates has increased the number of early marriages in the world today (Walker & Ehrenberg 2001). When young couples engage in marriage, they lack the necessary knowledge essential to help them overcome inevitable challenges of marriage. Besides, they are likely to face financial stress due to inadequate preparation before entering a demanding institution. Research shows that cases of infidelity are more common in early marriages than among old marriages. Therefore, the stresses that young couples face in marriage predispose to marriage or separation. On this ground, increase in the number of young marriages has contributed to an increase in cases divorce within the society. In a nutshell, the changes social structures in the current century have paved way for more cases of divorce within the society. An increase in the gender activisms has culminated into social conflicts within marriages as women fight for changes and women oppose this change. Males feel that women are taking control, which leads to domestic competition within the family. Above that, since females have divorce an option out of oppressive marriage, they will use this opportunity whenever they face conflict within marriage. Another reason for increase in divorce is the fact that single parenthood has become an acceptable and popular family structure, giving the attitude that single parenthood is a solution to the challenges of marriage. As such, children who have experiences of divorce within their immediate environment are more likely to seek this alternative when they enter in marriage. Lastly, failure of the society to take responsibility of educating children about marriage has resulted to increase in early pregnancies followed by early marriages. When young teenagers get into marriage, issues of financial stress, infidelity, and conflict are more likely. Resultantly, early marriages have higher chances of leading to a divorce more than when mature people enter into marriage. From this perspective, the changes in traditional structure evidenced in the modern society have paved way for higher divorce rates within the modern society. References Gigy, L., & Kelly, J. B. (2010). Reasons for divorce: Perspectives of divorcing men and women. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 18(1-2), 169-188. Thurnher, M., Fenn, C. B., Melichar, J., & Chiriboga, D. A. (2011). Sociodemographic perspectives on reasons for divorce. Journal of Divorce, 6(4), 25-35. Walker, T. R., & Ehrenberg, M. F. (2001). An exploratory study of young persons attachment styles and perceived reasons for parental divorce. Journal of Adolescent Research, 13(3), 320-34 Read More