Divorce
Introduction
The information available about divorce, how to cope, the causes, and the effects seems limitless. What was once considered a forbidden act is now commonly thought of as an "easy way out." Divorce rates reached an all time high in 1929 when eight in 1000 married women were divorced.# These statistics have unfortunately skyrocketed and some attribute that to the increase in our life expectancy, but there are many more issues that must be considered as well. Current sociologists seem to be focusing on the many causes of divorce, the effect it has on the children involved, and the consequences our society must face.
Causes of Divorce
There seems to be a large amount of data concerning cohabitation prior to marriage. Many social researchers have found a connection between non-nuptial cohabiters and a higher likelihood of future divorce. This is often lectured about in the Catholic religion to back up Catholic beliefs on marriage.
Researcher Michael Lawler disagrees with this information that is continually being preached to Catholics. In his own research he has come to find that much of this data and findings are outdated. Since the drastic rise in cohabitation in the past twenty years or so, it has been found that the former statistics are no longer accurate. These statistics were taken prior to the social acceptance of cohabitation and therefore those doing so were often unconventional, younger, less religious, and repeatedly had a family history of divorce. Lawler believes that since cohabitation is now more socially acceptable the composition of cohabiting samples has dramatically changed and therefore causing the likelihood of future divorce to decrease. He argues that when a sample is analyzed by age cohort it is found that younger generations do not show the same correlation between pre-marital cohabitation and divorce.#
An opposing argument comes from author Phyllis Witcher. She not only...
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