Another reason for divorce rates increasing is because getting divorced is now socially acceptable, due to the current fact that so many people in society are divorcing and it has also become socially accepted. It has been accepted in society and even seen as a ‘normal’ thing to do, as a result of the Divorce Reform Act. Many children are now growing up in single one parent families because of a divorce in their nuclear family. Rodgers and Pryor (1998) think divorce has a major affect on children and that they suffer poverty, psychological and behavioural problems, there standard of education is lower, mental health issues and anti – social behaviour.
I believe that their views are over the top and go beyond common sense as they are stereotyping children who’s parents are divorced. To an extent I can see where Rodgers And Pryor are coming from however some of their points come from, for example some children might be badly behaved because their parents can’t control them, or have a lower standard of education if their parents have more important “problems and worries” and therefore don’t enforce education on the children.
According to Fletcher (1966) peoples expectations of marriage are too high, so they basically believe getting married will change their lives for the better and everything will be “perfect” but in reality thit isn’t the case. Therefore this shows people aren’t rejecting the idea of marriage and the idea of a nuclear family they will make an attempt on making the family life work, however when it doesn’t turn out how they expected they obtain a divorce. Ronald Fletcher believes that people want more from their relationship than what they can actually do receive.
In research carried out by Crow (2001) it was found that nowadays women have higher education, resulting in better jobs and careers therefore they are more independent which means they can support themselves, whereas 30 or 40 years ago most women had to rely on their husbands to support them financially. This proves that women don’t have to be so concerned with being unable to financially support themselves when separating and therefore the decision to separate or not is much easier for them.
There are still many “small” issues which are also involved in high divorce rates, these being the following:
Individuals growing apart and having the choice to divorce
Individuals finding another life partner
Individuals making the wrong decision about marrying
Individuals wanting to separate from their husband or wife.
The amount of divorces in Britain has gone up 20 percent in the last 30 years. 87 percent of marriages survive for the first 5 years, but only 48 percent survive for 25 years. This shows that many individuals are obtaining divorces in Britain. There are now 40 percent less first marriages than in the 1960’s. Marriage is becoming ‘unfashionable’ and too serious, this is resulting in many people cohabiting – living with a partner but not actually marrying them. I believe this to be happening because it comes down the financial factor of being unable to afford the so called “white wedding” and their main priority is to get onto the property ladder.
To conclude this essay I believe the main reason for the divorce rate has increasing due to The Divorce Reform Act, as it has now become so easy to get divorced in this current century. I don’t agree with the way the law works because the nuclear family is under threat and making divorce such an easy option isn’t helping the family life and what is best for the children may be forgotten because of other situations and circumstances. However I do comprehend why individuals want to obtain a divorce due to adultery or domestic violent issues but I believe people who decide to marry, should take many factors into consideration. I also believe because divorce has become socially acceptable it has increased the divorce rate and this should also be taken into thought.
