Despite the common notion that America remains plagued by a divorce epidemic, the national per capita divorce rate has declined steadily since its peak in 1981 and is now at its lowest level since 1970.
Yet the natives are not making better decision regarding the choice of their life. This also implies to those, who study marriage and work to make it more successful can’t decide whether the trend is grounds for celebration or cynicism.
What’s fueling the decline?
Some scholars have postulated that since, most of the couples are having living in relationship and so this could lead to lower level of divorce rates.
And on the other hand, the marriage rate has dropped by nearly 30 percent in past 25 years; and Americans are waiting about five years longer to marry than they did in 1970.
‘The divorce divide’
While other experts have documented what they call ‘the divorce divide,’ contending that divorce rates are indeed falling substantively among college-educated couples but not among less-affluent, less-educated couples.
Andrew Cherlin, a professor of public policy at Johns Hopkins University has suggested that families experience less tension where, both the partners are earning since, it is related to the increased standard of living.
Other experts too are heartened by what they view as the increased determination of many couples to make marriage work. Among them is Bill Chausee of Child and Family Services of New Hampshire, which offers marriage-strengthening programs in a state where divorces dropped more than 25 percent between 2000 and 2005.
Efforts to combat divorce
Some states have made concerted efforts to combat divorce with publicly funded marriage education campaigns, although their effectiveness remains in question.
In Oklahoma, 100,000 people have attended workshops since a marriage initiative began in 2001, but the latest divorce figures showed no drop and the campaign’s backers no long stress their original goal of cutting divorce by one-third by 2010.
The Bush administration believes such programs have merit — its Healthy Marriage initiative has disbursed more than $200 million nationwide in the past five years.
Now does that mean, wealthier couples have better odds of success in marriage?
[Source:women lifestyle]
