Divorce Statistics and Studies Blog

Dueling banalities: The 9 Reasons for Divorce vs. The 5 Reasons for Divorce

"5 Common Reasons for Divorce" by Jennifer Chang on simpledivorceadvice.com lists:

• Infidelity
• Growing Apart
• Abuse
• Finances
• Sex

But it recharacterizes them as "really the end process of a marriage in trouble." It says "In the United States Infidelity is the cause for a third of divorces", which works out to be the most common reason for divorce. That is the only item in the article that looks like it is based on any hard evidence. There are many other claims about the real reasons behind the above reasons, but with no citations or descriptions of sources it is impossible to tell whether any of it is based on evidence, or is just conventional wisdom, urban myths, etc.

 

"Understanding the Top Reasons for Divorce", by simpledivorceadvice.com (no byline), is a decently commonsensical breakdown of nine common reasons for divorce, although it does not claim to be based on anything scientific or authoritative. There are many equally accurate ways to describe the causes of many divorces. Unlike in other areas of the law, it can be hard or impossible to look at the chain of causes and effects and identify which is the "proximate cause". There are more immediate, and more fundamental, causes, and ultimately the reasons behind why some choose divorce, and why some behave in ways that provoke divorce, are "because they can." The Nine Reasons are:

• Damaging Communication, 
• Financial Difficulties, 
• Infidelity
• Abuse mental and physical
• Addiction of all kinds
• Unmet Expectations
• Commitment Issues
• Change in Goals 
• Stepfamily Breakdown

Lesbian mothers' breakups and custody arrangements: new long-term study

When lesbian mothers split up -- latest results from the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study

From the summary by Nancy Polikoff: 

The NLLFS has been following 85 children of lesbians born through donor insemination beginnning in the 1980's.  Information about the study and its earlier published research is all located on the NLLFS website.

Of the 73 two-mother families in the study, 40 couples had split up by the time their child was 17 (over 90% of these occurred before the child was 13).  This is a higher rate of separation than the divorce rate for married heterosexuals.  71% of separated couples reported shared custody of the children, a number considerably higher than the rate of shared custody among divorced heterosexuals.  59% of the couples had completed second-parent adoptions, and parents in that group were more likely to share custody.  The children whose mothers had completed second parent adoptions were much more likely to report feeling close to both mothers.  

Neither adoption nor joint custody showed any correlation with psychological health or problem behavior, but that may be related to the small sample size. Marriage was not part of the study because nearly all the separations happened before gay marriage or civil unions, etc. were available.

India: Reconciliations during divorce litigation decreasing

India: Reconciliations during divorce litigation decreasing

 

Gay divorce statistics now available

"Divorce and Marriage Rates for Same-Sex Couples" by Frederick Hertz,
Huffington Post

New study: What makes some couples divorce?

Why do even satisfied newlyweds eventually go on to divorce?

Lavner, Justin A.; Bradbury, Thomas N.

Journal of Family Psychology, Oct 31, 2011.

Abstract: Although divorce typically follows an extended period of unhappiness that begins early in marriage, some couples who are very happy throughout the first several years of marriage will also go on to divorce. This study aimed to identify risk factors early in marriage that distinguish initially satisfied couples who eventually divorce from those who remain married. We identified 136 couples reporting stably high levels of relationship satisfaction in the first 4 years of marriage. We compared the couples who went on to divorce by the 10-year follow-up with the couples who remained married on initial measures of commitment, observed communication, stress, and personality. Divorcing couples displayed more negative communication, emotion, and social support as newlyweds compared with couples who did not divorce. No significant differences were found in the other domains, in relationship satisfaction, or in positive behaviors. Overall, results indicate that even couples who are very successful at navigating the early years of marriage can be vulnerable to later dissolution if their interpersonal exchanges are poorly regulated. We speculate that, paradoxically, the many strengths possessed by these couples may mask their potent interpersonal liabilities, posing challenges for educational interventions designed to help these couples.