A Look at The Rise in Our Divorce Rate

by Kristyne McDaniel

Recent studies have found that the divorce rate is up in America by nearly fifty percent. Given the way our society has changed over the years, it is no surprise that the number of divorces have been on the rise. Marriages face different challenges today, causing weaker relationships to crumble under the stress. In modern society, it is quite common for both the man and woman to have full-time jobs. When children come along in the marriage, it can be difficult finding a way to juggle the responsibilities of a career while trying to raise a family. But in light of couples signing divorce settlements, there have been some recent efforts within the last several years to help the survival of today's marriages.

When two people decide to wed, it is common for their religious advisor to assist with some form of pre-marital counseling. In many ways, this kind of counseling has allowed couples to avoid becoming a divorce rate statistic. But now a new form of counseling is on the rise. More commonly called, "premarital education," this course on relationships has shown vast improvements in preventing a number of divorces around the country. Engaged couples who go through this type of marital education have a thirty percent lower chance of divorce than those who don't participate. Despite the importance many religions place on marital counseling before saying "I do," a modern, more educated twist on it allows couples to meet in groups to discuss and learn about major conflicts and issues that affect modern marriages. In other words, it helps them prepare for challenges many of them will likely face during their marriage. Many couples choose to do both kinds of counseling before walking down the aisle to get the maximum preparation for their future matrimony. Finding premarital education programs is not difficult and you can usually discover where to attend a group session through your religious advisor or a professional counselor.

In 2004, a study was published by the National Press Club to show how to help lower America's divorce rate. What the study reported was yet another successful example of people taking the initiative to help save the sanctity of marriage. Called, a "Community Marriage Policy," this study required clergy members of various religious sectors in over 100 counties to cooperate in their efforts to help couples prevent divorce. The policy encouraged the clergy to come together and train mentor couples from any religious sector so they could offer marriage preparation courses, advice on how to enrich and enhance one's marriage, and offer counseling for crisis situations. This grassroots effort proved that, through help from these mentoring counselors, couples could find support and make their way through some of the challenges they face in their own marriage. The results of the study showed a drop in the divorce rate of over seventeen percent for the counties involved.

Although there are ways to help decrease America's divorce rate, the fact still remains that rates are higher than they have been in the past. Many of the increases occur regionally, showing that some of the higher divorce rates occur in the South. Northeastern states have lower divorce rates, with Massachusetts being the lowest in the nation with only a two percent rate in 2004. Reasons for the difference in divorce settlements comes from the knowledge that couples marry at an earlier age in the South, while Northeastern couples usually finish higher education before getting married. This puts them at an older age with more financial stability than there Southern counterparts. Since religion tends to play a role in marriages, divorces are less likely among the North's Roman Catholic population.

The divorce rate in American may be on the rise, but there are visible efforts to help eliminate this problem. With the rise in premarital education and counseling courses, couples across the country will have greater access to the proper preparation for handling modern society's numerous challenges. Although regional differences play a role in how many divorce settlements occur each year, perhaps more and more opportunities to educate engaged couples on how to develop a healthy marriage will become available across the country.