Divorce and the Decline of Morality

As America's divorce rate continues to skyrocket, it seems that morality continues to

plummet. Approximately sixty-five percent of all marriages in America end in divorce, and this

number does not seem to be declining any time soon. Are we creating a new generation "Y" of

single parents? Is a broken home the wave of the future? If Americans don't get a grip on

morality, this will surely be the case.

It is not possible to pinpoint exactly why America's divorce rate is so high, much higher

than that of previous decades. There are so many issues today that contribute to divorce than had

existed in the past. Take teen pregnancy, for instance. It is alarming that so many of our children

are having children themselves. They feel they must get married at fifteen and sixteen because it is

what's right for the baby. Needless to say, most teen marriages under these circumstances usually

end in divorce. What kind of life is this for a child? What kind of values will they learn from their

parents example? According to Stuart Shepard, staff writer for Focus on the Family, "divorce

tears down our moral and social responsibility to our children. They see marriages as if things

don't work out, you can just leave and not work it out" (Shepard np). Adult children of divorced

families are three times more likely to get divorced than adult children raised with both parents in

the home (Markman 128). This negative pattern of divorce is one that could go on for

generations if Americans are not willing to slow down their rate of divorce.

Another contributing factor is the fact that divorce is much more accepted by society as a

whole. Even though a lot of American...

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