Why Divorce Rates Increased - Essay Example

Why Divorce Rates Increased Many researchers have pointed out that divorce rates are increasing all over the world.One researcher (Lamb, 196) on a related topic has revealed that between 1970 and 2005, rate of divorce increased from 1.5 to 2.8 in England and Wales, in France, the hike was from 0.93 to 2.5, the figures for Poland showed a progressing graph from 1.13 to 1.8, from 0.32 to 0.8 in Italy, and in Norway, from 0.92 to 2.4. The figures for the Asian countries through the years, 1979 to 2005, have also been revealing a similar trend- 0.3 to 1.4 in China, 0.72 to 2.75 in Taiwan, 0.39 to 2.6 in Korea, and 1.2 to 2.1 in Japan(Lamb, 196).

Coming to South American countries, divorce rates increased from 0.21 to 0.7 in Mexico, from 0.17 to 1.9 in Costa Rica, from 0.36 to 1.2 in Trinidad, and from 0.28 to 0.7 in Jamaica (Lamb, 196). These figures show that this phenomenon is some what universal. Lamb has listed the reasons for this social change as “delays in age at first marriage, rising non-marital cohabitation, and increases in non-marital births” which are again caused by “women’s growing education and economic independence, a decline in religious influence, an increase in individualism, and a corresponding decline in communalism (196).

The risk factors that bring about a divorce as identified by researchers also constitute a very long list (qtd. In Lamb, 197). This list includes, factors like: Marrying a teenager, being poor, having a low level of education, having no children from the marriage, bringing children from a previous union into the marriage, being in a second or higher order marriage, cohabiting prior to marriage, having no religious affiliation, not sharing the same religion with one’s spouse, living in an urban area, and growing up in a household without two continuously married parents (Lamb, 197-198).

Other findings of social science research in this regard have suggested that education has a positive association with the risk of divorce (qtd. by Lamb, 198). Many predictive factors of divorce have been identified as well. These comprise of “frequent arguments, repeated expressions of negative affect, domestic violence, infidelity, and low levels of emotional support, commitment, love and trust between spouses (qtd. by Lamb, 198). When we look into the consequences of divorce on adults, many findings are there to suggest that divorced individuals are in general having lower psychological health and physical health as compared to continuously married people (qtd.

by Lamb, 199). This phenomenon can be accounted by the impact of stress and loneliness that divorced individuals experience (Lamb, 199). Another important effect of divorce is on the emotional and social well-being of the children. Children whose parents have been divorced are recorded to be exhibiting less “emotional, behavioral, social, health ..(related).. and academic” performance (Lamb, 202). These revelations emphasize the need to tackle increase in divorce to ensure the general well-being of individuals and the society as a whole.

The causes of divorce as suggested above also provide a picture of the complexities of the issue. In order to answer the question, why divorce rates Increased, I would like to analyze extensively, the content of ten major studies carried out by researchers in the last ten years on this topic. These studies will be selected in consultation with my teacher. The findings of these studies will be cross-referenced to arrive at conclusions closer to the social reality. Works CitedLamb, Michael.E., ed.

The Role of the Father in Child Development, John Wiley and Sons, 2010.