Family Divorce Research Papers

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Divorce
Did you know that 100 divorces occur each hour ? Approximately 1,250,000 divorces occur each year in the United States (Matthews). Between 1970 and 1977 divorce rates rose 79%. Even though these high rates have declined, a high proportion of marriages still end in divorce (Avins). The divorce rate today in the Untied States is 44%, the rate of divorce for the people who marry for the first time is close to 30% (Avins)(Pattern 1). Divorce has been on a constant rise for the past years in American History, causing a handful of affects on children.
Marriage is traditionally defined as a social institution uniting men and women in special forms of mutual dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining families (Polomeno). At the age of 16, with parental consent, a majority of states will allow marriage. For the couples that marry between the ages of 14 and 17 years of age they are twice as likely to divorce as couples who wait until their twenties (Kecskes). Today the average age of first marriage is 27 for women and 29 for men, but fewer than 8% of women and 13% of men married for the first time at the age of 30 or older (Avins) (Pattern 1A). Couples who marry when they are 18, 19, and 20 tend to be blindsided by many problems that take place during marriage such as unemployment, abuse, unexpected pregnancy, in-laws, affairs and many more (Kecskes.) Youthful marriages are a higher risk factor to divorce instead of couples who wait till they are older because of low income, poverty, and cohabitation before marriage. Around two thirds of couples who marry today are already live together and are known to be less committed in marriage (Koontz).
A common mistake in young marriages is the lack of preparation for a li...

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...hey were young (Avins). Also as children get older they end up feeling less affection for their parents and have less contact with them and engage in fewer family activities (Matthews). Specific emotional long terms effects include fears of betrayal, abandonment, loss and rejection. Rising anxiety could last into then teens and early twenties. Life long vulnerability to experience loss. Anger, resentment and hostility and many more symptoms can occur (Matthews). Reduction in the ability to develop and maintain supportive friendships and dating relationships are some of the key aspects in the social long-term affects of divorce. (Matthews).
Divorce has been on a constant rise for the past years in American History, causing a handful of affects on children. Even though the rates aren’t as high as they have been before, they are very high for what they should be.

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