Many have heard about the shocking numbers regarding the divorce rate in the United States. The rate of divorce is not limited to the U.S. alone, but continues to be an international statistic that becomes more prolific each year. The effects of divorce are also felt as two-thirds of all divorces in the U.S. have children involved. While there is usually a negative connotation connected with divorce, many people have also experienced positive effects in their lives as the result of divorce.
Divorce is as common as marriage today as 50% of first time marriages and 65% of second time marriages end in divorce. This trend has stabilized somewhat over the past decade for a number of reasons. One reason is that many people are now waiting to get married at an older age. Statistics show that age and maturity play a big role in the chances of a successful marriage. Today, the average age for men getting married for the first time is 27 years while the average age of women is around 25 years. In the 1980′s the average ages for first time marriages for men and women were 24 and 21 years respectively.
Waiting to get married at an older age is just one way of stabilizing or reducing the rate of divorce. Research also shows that premarital counseling helps to reduce the divorce rate. More churches are developing programs and adding requirements for young couple planning to wed, which include couple retreats, pre-marriage counseling and compatibility tests.
Another growing alternative to marriage is unmarried couples living together. A quarter of a century ago there were less than one million unmarried couples co-habitating together, but the current numbers now put unmarried couples over 6 million as of 2007. These numbers continue to grow as many of these people themselves are a product of divorce and current economic insecurity favor cohabitation as a financial advantage.
Since the 1970′s, when the government lifted heavy penalties and restrictions for getting a divorce, divorce has grown to what it is today. However, modern alternatives to marriage, such as cohabitation, coupled with greater maturity and stronger requirements from the religious sector are helping to at least stabilize if not reverse this trend.
Jodat Law Group is a general practice law firm with an office in Sarasota, FL. They have provided this article for informational purposes only, written by an independent author (not by a Sarasota personal injury attorney), and has not reviewed or edited this article and is not responsible for its content or accuracy. This article should not be considered legal advice.