According to Clarke & Brentano, divorce began in the sixteenth century up until today. In America, the social context of divorces has been the emotional and physical hardships in a marriage. People divorced due to “loveless or childless marriages, misbehavior, and wickedness that violates marriage covenant (pg. 3).” The issues leading to divorce have continued to increase with an increase in liberal divorce laws. Divorce laws have continued to establish new grounds for divorce since the 16 th Century.
Research Findings
According to Clarke & Brentano, divorce rates increased in the twentieth century due to social conditions. According to Clarke & Brentano, “industrialization, urbanization, and women’s suffrage were causing the divorce rates to escalate.” Sociologist explained that this increase was due to the life changes occurring that required some adjusting. Sociologists, therefore, proposed that the government provide support to families to help them adjust – this would reduce the divorce rates (pg. 5). Today, this finding is significant as it applies to the same issues causing divorces. Lifestyle is changing how people view marriage and divorce.
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Another finding is the increased divorce rates due to changes in men and women after World war (pg. 7). According to Clarke & Brentano, after a war, the divorce rates were higher than during the war. The distance during the war led to women becoming independent economically and socially while the men questioned their decision to get married (pg. 4). Unwise marriages and women’s independence are a leading cause of divorce due to the friction related to both circumstances. This finding is applicable to the modern world where divorce rates are high due to rushed marriages and ‘women not needing a man’. Today, the social context of this finding can help people, the government, the church to reduce instances of divorce.
Comments
The most informative thing on the New York Time article by Kristof is the numerous instances where girls are married off, willing or unwillingly, for the wrong reasons. It is hard enough for a girl at the age of 13 to be pregnant, adding a marriage is even harder. Expecting her to be happy and respected in such a marriage is absurd and unlikely as is the case of Tyree. The NHS report indicates that most couples cohabitated before marriage - this leads to delays in first marriages which mainly end up in divorce. Clearly, according to the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center report, interpreting divorce and marriage rates is difficult statistics that may have erroneous data. As of 2011, the state with the highest divorce rate was Nevada (5.6) while the one with the least was Illinois (2.6). However, there is a general decline in divorce rates in all states from 1990 to 2011.
