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Cheyenne West
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
February 9, 2015
Topic Proposal: Behind Divorce
Introduction/Overview
I will be examining the reasons why divorce rates are increasing and why marriage rates
are decreasing. I will look into the effects that divorce has on children, not only in their personal
lives, but also their social lives. I want to focus on American trends and keep all of my research
in the United States because that is what I am familiar with. Divorce may seem to be an
insignificant problem, however, it wreaks havoc within homes all across the country. In America

Commented [EP1]: Why is it and insignificant problem? Is our

culture so familiar with divorce that it is a regular thing?

today statistics show prior to 1960, divorce was highly uncommon. Then, in 1960, divorce rates

Commented [EP2]: Sounds a little funny. Reword and say

something like Prior to 1960, statistics show divorce in
America was highly uncommon.

skyrocketed. After that, marriage rates plummeted and divorce rates still remained a normality in
the everyday lives of Americans. Nationalparalegal.edu describes the different types of divorces.
There are two different types of divorce, fault based and no fault based. Fault based is when one

Commented [EP3]: Is annulment considered a type of divorce?

of the spouses, or both, does something to initiate the divorce, no fault based is when no one is to
blame but both agree to the divorce. Many people marry again 3 years after the divorce.
According to children-and-divorce.com, Married couples who live together prior to being
married have a higher risk of getting a divorce. When talking with my friends, I found out that
more of them have divorced parents than I would have initially thought. Many of them even
suffered from custody battles and had a tough time dealing with that. It was alarming to me how
people suffer from divorce, but I am more intrigued about their thoughts on marriage and if they
were to get married how they felt about divorce. Some people believe divorce is inevitable, not

Commented [EP4]: I find that there are more divorces in the

south compared to where I used to live in the Midwest.
Maybe do some research on which parts of the country
have higher divorce rates and why
Commented [EP5]: Do people really go into a marriage
thinking Ill probably get a divorce if so thats pretty
messed up and there is no reason for marriage.

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many other primates are monogamous, so many believe it is against our nature to be

Commented [EP6]: ?? This confuses me what do you mean by

primates? Monkeys apes?

monogamous. On the contrary, there are many religions that condemn divorce within their
church. I personally believe that if you are willing to commit to a person for the rest of your life
then you should work through any hardships.

Commented [EP7]: This is good, adding in your own opinion.

Try and elaborate a bit more

Initial Inquiry Question(s)

My initial inquiry questions are, what caused the high increase in divorce in the 1960s?
Why are marriage rates going down but divorce rates remaining the same? What are some of the
causes of divorces? What are the repercussions of divorce on children? Can common divorces be

Commented [EP8]: Too broad. What is the main cause of

divorce? Money, kids, job, etc.

the cause of increased crime rates? What are some ways that Americans can prevent divorce,
both prior to getting married and during the marriage? Why does living with someone before
marriage cause a higher divorce rate?
My Interest in this Topic
I am interested in the topic because my parents are divorced and my mother was
remarried and divorced again. I would like to know how this couldve affected me or my
siblings. I am also looking into my future, I personally am not interested in getting married so I
am intrigued to see if my parents divorces have anything to do with that. If I were to get
married, however, I would also want to do everything possible to not get a divorce, and I am
interested in any possible governmental things that could be put in place to help prevent divorce.
Next Steps

Commented [EP9]: Whats this? Provide an idea or example

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My next steps would be to research more in depth my inquiry questions as well as other
facts about divorce. I am most interested in finding out why the divorce rates rose in 1960 and
why marriage rates have been steadily decreasing in the past years.