El Rharbaoui 1

El Rharbaoui Ismail

Professor Kolin Gonalves

FAS 0210

15th April 2016

The Raise of Divorce

A main change that has appeared in nowadays families is a huge increase in divorce.

While before the 20th century, divorce was rarely found, nowadays it has become ordinary,

and we find it at local and global levels. Twenty years ago, only few divorces occurred in the

whole year in America, but now, there is one divorce approximately every 36 seconds. That's

nearly 2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 876,000 divorces a year

(Wolfinger 345). By this concern and its consequences, it has led to an increase of single

parents, broken families, and a mandatory work for sociologists and psychologists. That is

why, in this essay I will introduce the main explanations that has led to the expansion of

divorce.

The first explanation for the rise of divorce is the change in laws that have occurred

mainly in the 1970s and 1980s and that have focused in laws related to marriage. These

significant changes have mainly freed woman from her husband, it has given her the right to

divorce without giving any explanation; she could just say that it is not working between my

husband and me anymore. Moreover, these laws has allowed to families to get separated and

then divorced much easier, they give up as soon as they face a problem; in fact, in the early

1900s and way before, when these laws were not applied, families were doing their best and

trying harder to keep up their marriage and find many ways and alternatives to solve their

problems.
 El Rharbaoui 2

The second obvious reason that has led to a high divorce rate is the lack of

communication. It may seem that parents are always discussing to each other every time they

face a problem, but if we dig deeper, we will find out that they are ashamed or do not want to

take the responsibility for something they have done (Cleek et al. 182). For example, a parent

could have done or said something toward his child or neighbors or just get fired from his job

and avoid her/his husband/wife just to not have the responsibility to say it because there are

too afraid, but what they forgot is that his/ her partner is there for him, and that every time he

hide something, their couple is ruined gradually.

Another main cause of divorce is financial collapse. Nicky Hart (Haralambos 1)

argues that an increase in divorce is the result of economic changes that have affected the

family. Decades ago, life was cheap, a father working in a small industry will provide all the

needs of his family, but now everything has become really expensive; therefore, to provide to

his family needs as food, healthcare, house, and studies is not easy; thus, parents feel a certain

pressure because they both need to become wage earners and forced to work and become

economically independent; this situation has led to a conflict between parents and as a

consequence get divorced.

Even if these three causes given above are different, they lead to the same issue,

divorce. Since these last decades the world has faced a rise in divorce rate, we should

determine the source of this problem and try to give some explanations. If liberal laws are

causes of a high rate divorce, the clear approach to block this rise is to make them less

attainable (Rasul and Imran 41). This solution may seem a very good approach toward this

problem; however, it cannot be given as a prime solution to divorce since it is a more complex

word that has very different implications. It is really hard to give a rational explanation for the

rise of divorce; and it is even more difficult to find solutions to this problem since it has a lot

of problems coming from the root. Clearly, as this essays position claim, answers can be
 El Rharbaoui 3

found within a broader socio-economic framework rather that in a narrow legal one.

Finally, it is worth saying that the three motives given above, changes of laws, lack of

communication, and financial collapses are just three main causes from a whole of others, as

stated in the Department of Educational Foundation & Counselling Psychology, there are a lot

more causes that lead to divorce: childlessness, poverty, drug/alcohol abuse, domestic

violence, infidelity, sexual incompatibility, Religious differences, Educational background

(Irvin 1) hence, societies should aware their citizens that divorce has a lot more of

repercussions on them and on their children, that divorce cannot be done just because the

couple face an issue, but they have first to confront the problem and try to solve it by all the

means possible until they get a plausible solution.

 El Rharbaoui 4

Works Cited

Cleek, Margaret Guminski, and T. Allan Pearson. Perceived Causes of Divorce: An Analysis

of Interrelationships. Journal of Marriage and Family 47.1 (1985): 179183. Web.

Haralambos, Michael, and Martin Holborn. Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. London:

Collins, 2008. Print.

Rasul, Imran. Marriage Markets and Divorce Laws. Journal of Law, Economics, &

Organization 22.1 (2006): 3069. Print.

"The Northwest's Premier Divorce and Family Law Firm." Washington Divorce & Family

Lawyer. Print.

Wolfinger, Nicholas H.. Contemporary Sociology 36.4 (2007): 345346. Print.