Divorce Statistics and Studies Blog

Recent military divorce statistics

"How large is the problem in terms of marriage and divorce in the US military?   Since the start of the campaign in Afghanistan in 2001, over 56,000 service personnel have  gotten divorced, according to an Associated Press report in February 2006.  There are about  3⁄4 of a million military personnel on active duty who are married, including almost 100,000  dual military couples.  According to the Army, 6% of married officers and 3.5% of enlisted  soldiers got divorces in 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available.  The  Army’s overall divorce rate for 2000, before the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, was 2.2%."

-- From the course materials for an American Bar Association continuing education seminar, "Military Custody and Visitation – Twists and Turns", delivered March 19, 2008 by Red Bank, N.J. lawyer Patricia Apy, Chair, Military Committee, ABA Family Law Section, and  Raleigh, N.C. lawyer Mark E. Sullivan, author, The Military Divorce Handbook (Am. Bar Assn. 2006)

Military divorce up only gradually since '01, study says

Courtesy of Mary French at Army Magazine,

The full study, titled  “Families Under Stress: An Assessment of Data, Theory, and Research on Marriage and Divorce in the Military,” is available at for purchase on RAND's web site.

April 12, 2007

 

RAND STUDY FINDS DIVORCE AMONG SOLDIERS HAS NOT SPIKED HIGHER
DESPITE STRESS CREATED BY BATTLEFIELD DEPLOYMENTS

Despite greatly increased stress on the U.S. armed forces since the start of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, divorce rates among military families have increased only gradually, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

After several years of decline, marital dissolutions among military members began increasing in 2001, according to a study by the nonprofit research organization that analyzed records from about 6 million men and women who served in the United States military during the past 10 years.

The steady increase in divorce, separations and annulments increased the rate of military breakups to about 3 percent annually in 2005 -- the same level observed in 1996, when soldiers did not routinely face the battlefield deployments that are common today.

Researchers examined overall trends in the breakup of military marriages and the specific effects of deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Contrary to expectations, married service members who had been deployed were generally less likely to end their marriages than those who had not been deployed, and longer deployments were associated with greater reductions in risk.

60,000 Marriages Broken by Iraq War?

Link: AlterNet: War on Iraq: 60,000 Marriages Broken by Iraq, Including Mine.

Very moving article. Unfortunately it doesn't say where the 60,000 number comes from. If anyone has better information, please post it in a comment to this post.

Additional info on topics of divorce rates and correlations with other factors

Divorce Rates: U.S. | International | State & Local | Why they increased | When children present | Change Over Time/Historical | Length of marriage before divorce |  Military | Understanding divorce rates
Correlations with Other Factors: Age | Alcoholic parents | Children of Divorce Getting Divorced
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