The Divorce Crisis

in America





The impact on the
Socioeconomic and Political
Health of Our Nation

By: Joshua Fuller
Photo modified
Cover of Grace Yips book,
The Negative Impacts of
Divorce on Children
A few things first
I am not entirely unbiased in my research on this topic.
As a child of divorced parents, I want to understand
the implications that divorce do not merely have on
mere individuals, but as our society as a whole.
No divorce is the same, and no childs response to
divorce is exactly the same. I will be generalizing about
some of the various effects divorce has on children
according to the literature on divorce, but please do not
assume that I, nor any child of divorce, experiences the
exact same issues mentioned within my presentation.
A few Definitions
What is marriage?
(1) : the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex
as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual
relationship recognized by law (2) : the state of being united
to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a
traditional marriage <same-sex marriage>
What is divorce?
the ending of a marriage by a legal process

Marriage in America
Generally seen a heterosexual, monogamous union that is
granted and regulated by each individual state
Federal and state laws on marriage have evolved over
the years, including the removal of the ban on
interracial marriages and the legalization of same-sex
marriages in some states
The reasons for marriage also vary extremely
What Marriage
Traditionally Was Like
Heteronormative, confined, and
complementary duties and
obligations: women were in
charge of domestic matters and
men were chiefly breadwinners
Marriage traditionally viewed as
the primary institution of
childrearing
Marriage seen as a non-
transitory commitment: falling
out of love was not a
justification for getting divorced
Different spheres of
domesticity and work
Divorce in the era of
traditional marriage
Traditionally, divorce in the
United States could only be
justified on the breaking of
obligations like the following:
1. Adultery
2. Abuse
3. Cruelty
Divorce was also culturally
stigmatized, often seen as
rejection of moral and societal
obligations, including childrearing
In traditional divorce
proceedings, one of the party
members was often required to
find fault or guilt in their
spouse, thereby validating the
grounds for divorce. In this case,
the wifes abuse and mental state
are cited for grounds.
Modern, No-Fault Divorce
California (1970): state law allows
for No-Fault divorce, allowing
married couples to separate due to
irreconcilable differences
No grounds needed for divorce,
proceedings can occur unilaterally
Different from traditional divorce in that it treated spouses as
separate from their traditional family roles (e.g. wife as child care)
To avoid legal sex inequality, the law treats spouses as equal,
self-sufficient, and without specific obligations
This actually hurts women and children (to be discussed)
What Caused This Legal
and cultural Shift?
Lets Look at
the numbers
Divorce in the US
Divorce rate in the USA hovers around 40-50%, with
about 450 divorces per 1000 marriages (APA).

So what happened?

Instead of looking at marital breakup in terms of an
ethic of obligation to others, Americans began to see it
in terms of an ethic of obligation to the self. In other
words, no longer were the parents' interests presumed
to be subordinate to their children's; instead,
individual happiness became the new standard by
which a marriage was judged.

Barbara Dafoe Whitfield, The Divorce Culture (1996)
Divorce and Individualism
Psychological revolution (1960s): evaluation of self and
personal satisfaction over social or ethical obligations
! People less inclined to cite economic conditions for unhappiness,
happiness based on subjective feelings, not the situations that
cause feelings (Whitefield, 1996)
! Increase in romanticism and expectations of marriage:
general population discontent with marriage
! Feminist arguments:
! Jessie Bernardmarriage good for men and bad for women,
women become physically/mentally ill due to marriage
! Emotional reasoning supersedes economic reasoning in causes of
divorce since women working was more culturally acceptable
Starting Fresh: Divorce and
Emotional Growth
! Psychologists and self-help
authors describe divorce as
crazy time through which
there is the emergence of
self (Trafford, 1982)
! Freedoms associated with divorce:
! Men: freedom from paternal and spousal obligation and reasonability,
economic ability to spend lavishly on manly toys (e.g. cars)
! Women: ability to gain a sense of wholeness and confidence, an
opportunity to be financially in charge
! Post-psychological revolution divorce self-help book titles reflect
nature of divorce being either a competition or a new beginning
Ethical issues of
expressive divorce
Traditionally, a couples children (and society) were
assumed stakeholders in the divorce of a couple
(Whitefield, 1996)
Expressive divorce argues that a person has the right to
pursue inner happiness, disregarding external interests
(children included)
Expressive divorce also claimed there are no right or
wrong reasons to divorce, disregarding obligations
Expressive divorce is a form of emotional capitalism, in
that it stresses the safety of personal investment versus
investing in others (e.g. spouse and, by relation, children)
Ethical issues of
expressive divorce
Dorothea LangeMigrant Mother (1936)
Expressive divorce gives rise to
No-Fault Divorce law
Democracys Discontent (1996)
Issue of self-sufficiency and legally treating
women as equal to men in a society where
social sexual inequality clearly still exists
Poverty common amongst divorce women
and their children
Equal split of marital assets fails to reward
good marital behavior
Divorce law makes marriage a dangerous
investment, especially for women
Ethical grey-area of forcing & monitoring
family-bonds through legal means
The product of expressive
divorce: Post-nuclear Family
To justify the complexity of life after divorce, post-nuclear
family ideology emerged
Ideology: family is defined by voluntary affection and
love valuing qualitative and emotional ties over blood
and kinship (Whitefield, 1996)
Open, tolerant, and
individual chooses who
is (and is not) in family
Assumes love is an
abundant resource,
allows people to come
and go
Ethical issues of
the post-nuclear family
This ideology fails to offer
solutions to the maintenance of
ties to the non-residential parent
lost in divorce (Whitefield, 1996)
Devalues the institution of
marriage as the primary and
secure method of childrearing
Market-place like ideology where personal interests are top
priority and, thus, transactions short and safe "instability
Statistics show children more likely to be abused, neglected,
and even killed by residential, non-related parent figure
Ethical issues of
expressive divorce
Thinking of the Children
The Child of Divorce
DO WE Fit the Trend?
Correlational studies highlight that approximately 1 in
2 children will see the divorce of their parents before
the age of 18
Between 1970 and 1996,
over 25 million children
(under the age of 18)
witnessed the divorce of
their parents
Obviously children
should be viewed as an
interested party in the
divorce of their parents
Psychological impact of
divorce on children
About 45% of children will experience
the divorce of their parents by the age
of 18, 1 million children affected by
divorce annually
Short term effects in children: anger,
depression, aggression, interpersonal
conflict, economic hardship, stress,
less parental supervision, less
consistent discipline, lower academic
achievement, acting out, low self-
concept, increased dependency
Long term effects: anger at initiating
parent, as well as moderate to severe
clinical depression after 5 years
(Wallerstein, 1985)
After 10 years, continued sorrow
about divorce impacts romantic and
family relationships (Wallerstein)
Thinking of the Children
Judith Wallerstiens Study (1970s-1990s)
Children of divorce experience substantial expectations of failure, fear
of loss, fear of change and fear of conflict
Relationship anxiety and avoidance
1/5 girls in the study had first sexual experience before the age of 14
Over half sexually active with multiple partners during high school
Sex was the price for attention, some had multiple abortions
Children in divorced families about 2 times more likely to not
complete a college education, 2 times more likely to drop out of HS
About half of the children found gratifying, long term relationships in
adulthood, and only about 40% opted for parenthood
Participants claimed not ready for marriage or adulthood due to lack
of parental model because of the divorce
No marriage, no divorce, right?
A general sensation of the divorced-families children in
Wallersteins study is that avoiding marriage resolves
the potential threat of the emotional harm of divorce
Men and womens reactions to relationships differ:
Men: 42% never married nor cohabitated for longer than
6 months v. 6% in intact families, others had failure of
first love and retreated into isolation
Women: bouncing from one lover to the next, had sex
(and/or married) men they did not care for
Marry me. Its my birthday. One subject on 2
nd
date
Intense relationship anxiety & confusion
Rushing to the altarthe cycle
of divorce
60% of the divorced children in Wallersteins
study married, versus 80% of intact family
children
Half of the divorced children that married did
so by age 25 v. 11% in intact families
Of the marriages occurring before 25, 57% of
the divorced childs marriages also ended in
divorce v. 25% in the comparison


At the time of conclusion, not enough evidence to support the intact-
nature of later marriages for divorced children, but1/3 of group went
into therapy for dealing with the emotional trauma of divorce & marital
adjustment problems and half this group found it very helpful
Rushing into marriage because of anxiety perpetuates the cycle

What does this mean for
our Future?
Since the 1970s, there have been over 34 million
children (many now adults) impacted by divorce
Anxiety, depression, emotional instability in social
life, work life, and home life
Increased poverty for women and children impacted
by divorce
Isolation in children towards one or both parents, the
prime people responsible for childrearing
Profound impacts in other areas?
Factors impacting
longevity of marriage
Marriage and our future
Maslows needsinclusion/family
Safetynurturing, promoting growth
Learningskills, values, discipline
Although not every married couple has children,
undoubtedly one of the expectations of any couple that
has a child is to raise, nurture, and support their child.
This includes physical, emotional, and financial
support. At least in the past, the needs of the child
superseded their parents.
Factors that correlate
with intact marriages
Ethnicity
Age
Religion
Family structure of
spouses parents
No birthing prior
to marriage & age
of first child in
marriage
And education!
Learned Communication
Styles
Marital hostility in the family of origin
correlates with marital hostility and
maladjustment in the marital
relationships of children in the future
(Whitton et. al, 2008)
Similarly, positive marital engagement
correlates with positive marital
adjustment and positive engagement for
the children of the family of origin
(Whitton)
Albert Bandura and Social Learning
Theory
Banduras experiment demonstrated
that children modeled behavior of
adult role-models when interacting
with the Bobo doll. Do we learn our
marital communication/avoidance
patterns from our parents?

Self-evaluation & Marriage
and Family Therapy as a
check up
Use risk-assessment to focus
on areas within your life and
relationships that will need
your to be improved
Take time to learn about
yourself and your expectations
for marriage, but be flexible
Learn about positive
communication and conflict
resolution strategies
Knowing your risks
What can we do as society?
1. Acknowledge that marriage is not broken and that broken
people is what causes divorce
2. Understand that marriage is a commitment to society,
and thus as members of society it is our responsibility to
help struggling marriages
3. DO NOT assume that children are a resilient party in
divorce, as this is often not the case
4. Encourage premarital counseling and covenant
marriages
5. Encourage more research into the topic of marriage and
divorce and its psychological/socioeconomic impact
Literature Cited
http://www.allyou.com/diet-fitness/health-screening-tests
http://web.campbell.edu/faculty/vandergriffk/foundations_divorce.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr049.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/28/elderly-couple-love-story-married-70-years_n_3142004.html
http://joyfullyhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2011/10/learning-in-waiting-room.html
http://www.fellowshipoftheparks.com/Documents%5CUnexpected_Legacy_of_Divorce.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/11/04/national/20051105divorce_graphic.html
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pdfs/fcs482.pdf
http://lifepartnerschristianministries.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/04-how-could-this-happen2.jpg
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/images/full/lange/lange_migrant_mother.jpg
http://www.peacemaker.net/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=aqKFLTOBIpH&b=1043497&ct=5077343

Literature Cited
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr049.pdf
http://www.npr.org/news/graphics/2009/jun/marriage/marriage.gif
http://thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-should-know-about-marriage-in-america/
http://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.jpg
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/12/20/
overcoming_wide-4157f43e42e81538b9d8774991fb57bc6659261f-s6-c30.jpg
http://crimeagainstnature.org/2013/07/22/spikes-in-divorce/
http://www.pravmir.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/229.jpg
: http://www.pravmir.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/229.jpg
http://blog.menonlyfamilylawonly.com/Portals/233845/images/bigstock-divorce-pen-7981780.jpg
http://genealogylady.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/schwartz-w-b-1900-05-26.jpg
http://americanmemoryofthe1950shousewif.bgsu.wikispaces.net/file/view/kbll.jpg/180416905/283x345/
kbll.jpg


Literature Cited
Books consulted:
# Divorce Culture by Barbara Whitfield Dafoe (Published in
1996)
# Democracys Discontent by Michael J. Sandel (Published in
1996)