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Haley Zeiler

Professor Williams

English A 8 AM

18 October 2018

Divorce in the United States

We all desire to find our one, true soulmate. The one who we will tie the knot with. The

one that will be our forever love; however, divorce has been present in the United States for

centuries and has never remained constant. The fluctuation in divorce rates is due to several

factors that are both within and out of our control. The final decision to abruptly end what was

intended to have lasted forever has everything to do with the factors that surround each member

in the marriage and the particular humans that are being affected, which ultimately corresponds

to the ups and downs in the recordings of the divorce rates over the years.

Many factors come into play when finalizing a divorce. “Falling out of love” could be

just one of the many reasons that this challenging decision has been brought to a married

couple’s attention. “Divorce rates are at such a high rate because independence is highly valued

in our society, but marriage is not an independent undertaking and requires sharing and yielding

to your partners wishes in order for it to be successful” Breakdowns in the communication

between each partner has played a role in several divorces. If you fail to communicate with your

spouse, then you are lacking the most important thing that a relationship feeds off of. Sexual

dissatisfaction has also been a characteristic displayed when expressing the desire for a divorce.

If one or both partners in a relationship are unhappy sexually, then they will wonder amongst

others to fulfill that craving, which can be defined as infidelity. Once the secret of infidelity

catches up to your marriage, then all of the trust you had for each other vanishes, along with the
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marriage. Finances have been an extremely repetitive motive for divorce. If one feels constrained

because they are having to pay for too much or that they are carrying the others dead weight,

then they will most likely want that weight lifted off of them. Quick changes in life style along

with abuse is another commonly seen reason for divorce is society. People undergo stress and

anxiety when quick changes such as a disaster or death occurs, this can affect their ability to love

properly which causes the other partner to feel unwelcomed. As the feelings fester within them

they fight and eventually agree to end things before they get any worse. Abuse is something

everyone wants to steer clear from, so it would only make sense that a person would have a

desire to leave their abusive situation and enter a healthy one.

People who are married before the age of twenty-five are more likely to file for divorce

than those that wait on marriage. The older you are, the more mature and suitable you are for a

life-long commitment. If the current marriage is not the first marriage, then it has a higher chance

of ending. Once someone has gone through the process of divorce once, they no longer fear it

because it is not unknown territory. They lived through it once and know they could do it again if

they needed to. If the religion between two individuals does not coincide, then they are more

likely to separate. Religion is something individuals hold to the highest of highs, and trying to

change that for someone else rarely happens or happens with extreme tension. Uneducated

people, or those who lack intelligence, are the ones who will most likely be seen filing for

divorce. Money is important. You cannot obtain large quantities of money without holding a

powerful job. You cannot hold a powerful job with education and intelligence. Lastly, those who

are addicts or contain a mental illness are at risk of getting a divorce in comparison to others

because addiction is hard to love, you are loving the drug rather than the person and most

individuals are not strong enough to stay with someone who is mentally ill.
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Divorce rates have been recorded over centuries and have gone up some years and down

others. This is because, “before the twentieth century, courts would not allow a divorce decree

unless it could be proven that one spouse was at fault for abandonment, cruelty, mental illness, or

adultery.” Due to this restriction, acquiring a divorce at this particular time was harder and

therefore the rates of divorce were low. As time progress, the rates began to inflate because,

“during the 1960s when feminism was just gaining ground, the Uniform Marriage and Divorce

Act was passed, which allowed for a no-fault divorce.” Now people had the freedom to file for

divorce without restrictions holding them back, and people wanted to test this freedom which

caused an increase in divorce. It only stayed fluctuating from there on out because there were

years that were more challenging than others and there were some years that provided more

money than other years, so the rates continuously changed. In present times; however, it is highly

present because of our drive for independence and our inability to give rather than receive. As

times continue, it will most likely mimic the previous patterns and lower before it shoots up

again.

We all fear change, but sometimes it happens. Sometimes we want it to happen, other

times we just have to accept that it will happen. Divorce occurs because of several elements that

are both controllable and uncontrollable and those elements happens to all kinds of people. Each

divorce case is not like the other, and each year is not like the next. Divorce can stay constant in

one year, increase the next, and vanish in the next two. These fluctuations happen as a result of

the factors and the people and have been calculated for centuries. It is obvious that although they

have been up and down, it has increased more than anything else.
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Works Cited

“Divorce Statistics: Over 115 Studies, Facts and Rates for 2018.” The Smart Choice for Divorce

and Family Law Issues, Wilkinson and Finkbeiner Family Law Attorneys, 2017,

www.wf-lawyers.com/divorce-statistics-and-facts/

Kennedy, Sheela, and Steven Ruggles. “Breaking Up Is Hard to Count: The Rise of Divorce in

the United States, 1980-2010.” vol. 51, no. 2, 8 Jan. 2014, pp. 588-596. JSTOR Journals,

doi:10.1007/s13524-013-0270-9.

Leamon, Shawn. “Why is the Divorce Rate so High in the US? (Recommended).” Divorce and

Your Money, 28 Jun. 2017, divorceandyourmoney.com/blogs/why-is-the-divorce-rate-so-

high/.

Lowenstein, Ludwig F. “Causes and Associated Features of Divorce as Seen by Recent

Research.” Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, vol. 42, no. 3/4, 1 Feb. 2005, pp. 153-167.

SocINDEX with Full Text, doi: 10.1300/J087v42n03_09.

Stearns-Montgomery, Mary. “The Top 10 Reasons Marriages End in Divorce.” Stearns-

Montgomery & Proctor, 26 Jun. 2013, stearns-law.com/blog/divorce/the-top-10-reasons-

marriages-end-in-divorce.