CHAPTER OUTLINE

1. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

   Contrary to popular belief, divorce is not a modern phenomenon. It has been a part of United States history since 1639.

   1. Divorce in Early America.

      Divorce was adversarial in nature, and relatives and friends were often forced to choose sides against the offending party. The finding of fault became the basis for fines, whippings, incarceration, prohibition from remarrying, and even banishment from the colony. Fault-finding also became the basis for alimony, a concept originating in England in the 1650s whereby a husband deemed to be at fault for the dissolution of the marriage was required to provide his wife with a financial allowance. Conversely, if a wife was judged to be at fault, she lost any claim to financial support. Then, as today, the law was one thing and implementation another. Whatever the reasons, on the eve of the American Revolution, divorce was fairly well established in the social fabric of this nation.

   2. Divorce in Nineteenth Century America.

      The general trend was to liberalize divorce, except in New York where adultery remained the only grounds for divorce, and in South Carolina, where divorce was not permitted. These differing laws led to "migratory" divorce, whereby residents of one state traveled to another with more liberal laws, which in turn led to residency requirements. In 1887, Congress authorized Carroll D. Wright to undertake a study of marriage and divorce. He found that 68,547 divorces were granted between 1872 and 1876, women obtained two-thirds of the divorces, desertion was the most common ground for divorce, and western states granted the most divorces, while southern states had the fewest. More divorces occurred among the working class than among the middle and upper classes. Custody of young children, under the "tender years" principle, often went to mothers, but sometimes heated custody battles were fought. Split custody was sometimes awarded. Then, as now, divorce often meant financial hardship for the women involved.

   3. Twentieth Century America: Efforts at Reform.

      Divorces often increase following a war. Industrialization, the decline in economic functions of the family, employment of and independence of women, weakening of religious beliefs, and declining social stigma associated with divorce, were also viewed as causes of the increase in divorce. In 1969, California enacted no-fault divorce and other states followed. This statute turned out not to be the panacea its advocates had anticipated.

   4. Race, Ethnicity, and Divorce.

      Women are more likely to be divorced than are men across all major race and ethnic groups. This pattern can be explained by the fact that men are more likely to remarry than are women. African Americans have the highest percentage of divorced persons; Latinas/os, the lowest; and whites somewhere in the middle.

      1. Divorce Among African Americans: Statistical differences between blacks and whites can possibly be explained by differences in levels of education and income among the two groups.

      2. Divorce Among Latinos: Although Latinos also experience higher rates of poverty and unemployment as a result of discrimination, one might assume that they have a divorce rate equal to that of African Americans. Actually, they have the lowest overall divorce rate of the three groups. Cultural traditions and religion are cited as reasons for this fact.

      3. The Need for Further Research: More research is needed on groups such as Native-Americans and Asian-Americans.

2. WHO GETS DIVORCES AND WHY?

   Although no one can say with any degree of certainty which marriages will end in divorce, based on existing patterns, researchers can predict the statistical probabilities for different groups.

   1. Factors Affecting Marital Stability.

      Age at marriage, premarital childbearing, education, income, religion, parental divorce and the presence of children are all factors which affect marital stability.

      1. Age at First Marriage: Younger brides and grooms are more likely to divorce. Marriages between those 35 years and older are also at risk. Divorce rates for remarriage are higher than those for first marriages.

      2. Education: Among women, high school dropouts and those with more then 5 years of college education have higher divorce rates than those who graduate college.

      3. Income: The lower the income, the greater the likelihood of divorce.

      4. Religion: Among white males, those who never attended religious services had a divorce rate over three times higher than those who attended on a weekly basis. Protestants have the highest rates of divorce, Catholics next, and Jewish couples have the lowest rates.

      5. Parental Divorce: People whose parents divorced have higher divorce rates than people who come from intact families.

      6. Presence of Children: Marital disruption is most likely when the marriage is childless, and least likely when there is at least one child younger than three. Couples with children still at home are not happier, but they tend to delay divorce until all children are in school. Parents of sons are less likely to divorce than parents of daughters.

3. THE PROCESS OF DIVORCE

   Divorce is a complex social process in which a basic unit of social organization breaks down over time.

   1. Stages in the Divorce Process.

      Ahrons and Levinger identify three stages: marital conflict and unhappiness, marriage dissolution, and postdivorce period. Pozetti and Cate see divorce as a four-step process: recognition of serious marital problems, discussion of the problems, initial legal action, and, postdissolution period.

   2. The Six Stations of Divorce.

      Paul Bohannan identified six divorces that couples experience: emotional divorce, legal divorce, economic divorce, coparental divorce, community divorce, and psychic divorce.

4. THE CAUSES OF DIVORCE

   Although we know how couples end their marriages, we still don't know why.

   1. Societal Factors.

      Several macrolevel factors have contributed to the long-term trend of a rise in the divorce rate. Perhaps the most influential factor is a change in attitudes. Since the advent of no-fault divorce in all 50 states, the divorce rate increased in all but six states. Other countries are experiencing these macrolevel changes and divorce rates have risen.

   2. From the Perspective of Divorced People.

      Divorced people cannot always give a single reason for their divorce.

   3. From the Perspective of Family Therapists.

      Ten areas have been rated as most damaging: communication, unrealistic expectations, power struggles, serious individual problems, role conflicts, lack of loving feelings, demonstration of affection, alcoholism, extramarital affairs, and sex. The ten areas most difficult to treat successfully: alcoholism, lack of loving feelings, serious individual problems, power struggles, addictive behavior, value conflicts, physical abuse, unrealistic expectations, extramarital affairs, and incest.

      1. Implications for Strengthening Marriage: Communication skills can be improved. Postponing marriage when an individual has serious problems is important.

5. THE IMPACT OF DIVORCE ON SPOUSES

   The consequences of divorce are many and varied. Although some are experienced by both spouses, a number of factors are gender-specific.

   1. Common Consequences of Divorce.

      The most frequently occurring consequences of divorce are positive, but that should not negate the negative consequences.

      1. Health Problems: Lifestyle alterations sometimes lead to depression and despair. Many divorced people respond to their new status with feelings of stress, guilt and failure.

      2. Loneliness: Especially true for childless couples and older couples whose children have left home.

      3. Social and Sexual Readjustments: Getting back into circulation is difficult. Sex is often used to validate a sense of self-worth.

   2. Gender Differences in Divorce.

      Jessie Bernard referred to "his" marriage and "her" marriage.

      1. "Her" Divorce: The most striking difference between women and men following a divorce is a monetary one.
         1. Downward Social Mobility: Duncan and Hoffman found that women suffer about a 30 percent decline in their income in the year following a separation, whereas men experience a 15 percent increase. Weitzman found that the rate of decline for women was 73 percent and the rate of improvement for men was 42 percent. Two factors explain these figures: the earnings gap between women and men, and the failure of courts to award, and ex-husbands to pay alimony and child support.

         2. The Legal System and Women's Financial Well-being: Alimony is infrequently awarded today and even when awarded it is rarely paid.

         3. Causes of Inequality Between Divorced Women and Men: Weitzman attributes the inequality to the no-fault divorce laws.

         4. The Consequences of Divorce for Women: Many women suffer a loss of status and identity and lose their position in the domestic sphere. Women with sole custody must be provider and full-time parents, and must watch their children do without things taken for granted in the past. However, women adjust better than men to divorce, and are more likely to experience a sense of growth in self-esteem after a divorce.

      2. "His" Divorce: Men's opportunities for remarriage are greater than women's. They are unencumbered by children, and have more money, so they tend to remarry at higher rates and more quickly than do women. Divorced fathers often miss their children.

   3. Recovering From Divorce.

      Wallerstein and Blakeslee found that women take an average of 3 to 3.5 years and men 2 to 2.5 years to reestablish a sense of external order after the separation, although some had not recovered after 15 years. Younger people fair better, especially women. Non-traditional women and men adjust better and more quickly to marital breakdown.

6. THE IMPACT OF DIVORCE ON CHILDREN

   Nine out of ten black children and seven out of ten white children will spend part of their childhood in a single-parent household, in most cases resulting from marital dissolution.

   1. Short-Term Versus Long-Term Effects.

      Rejection, anger, denial, sadness, despair and grief are the short-term effects. Children often feel guilty and have fantasies about their parents remarrying. Health problems can result from the stress. Parental conflict prolongs the adjustment process. Findings of long-term effects are not consistent, with some investigators reporting no lasting effects after two years and others believing that the effects of divorce on children are lifelong. Age at divorce has an impact on the degree to which they experience disruption in their lives.

      1. Does Divorce Affect Children's Behavior? Findings are again inconsistent. However, unequal economic resources rather than differences in family structure may account for the observed differences in school performance. Misbehavior, especially among boys, increases following a divorce, but this could be due to a lack of adult supervision. Not all effects of divorce are negative; singleparent households are better than conflict-ridden households.

   2. Changing Patterns in Child Custody.

      In any marital disruption involving children, the question of custody must be resolved.

      1. Sole Custody: Today, approximately 90 percent of mothers are awarded custody of their children following a divorce. Although most fathers do not request custody, those who do so are often successful.

      2. Joint Custody: In recent years, courts have begun to award joint custody, in which both parents are involved in child rearing and decision making. However, full joint custody in this sense is rare. Most recently, there has been harsh criticism of joint custody arrangements.

      3. Visitation Rights: Visitation for the noncustodial parent often becomes a source of stress. The visits are often artificial, and sometimes a battleground through which ex-spouses carry on their conflict with each other. Grandparents have gone to court to ensure visitation rights.

7. REACHING ACCORD: DIVORCE COUNSELING AND MEDIATION

   Divorce counseling helps people conclude the psychic divorce. Some states require conciliation counseling, to see if the marriage can be saved, before the courts will consider granting a divorce. Divorce mediation is designed to help divorcing couples negotiate a fair and mutually agreed-upon resolution of such issues as property distribution, child custody, visitation rights, and financial support.

8. DIVORCE DEBATE REVISITED

   A new movement to toughen state divorce laws has emerged over the last several years. Supporters of tougher divorce laws argue that the current rules encourage a casual attitude toward the dissolution of marriage. Opponents of these measures argue that their adoption would mean a return to the anger, lies, and distortions required to obtain a divorce before no-fault.

9. OTHER FORMS OF MARITAL DISRUPTION

   Separation may be the first step toward a divorce, or it might just give a couple time apart to consider their alternatives. Desertion refers to the abandonment of a spouse or family. Both women and men desert, but men do so in greater numbers. A civil annulment legally states that the marriage never existed and, thus, the parties are free to marry at will. A religious annulment may be granted by the Catholic Church. Once it is granted, the couple must still obtain a civil annulment or divorce.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading Chapter Twelve, students should be able to:

1. trace the patterns of divorce in America from the first recorded divorce in 1639 to the present time.

2. identify the origin of alimony and discuss alimony as it occurs in divorce cases today.

3. describe no-fault divorce and the effects it has had on women.

4. discuss the influences of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on divorce.

5. describe the factors that affect marital stability.

6. describe Paul Bohannan's stages of divorce.

7. describe the consequences of divorce on both women and men.

8. describe the changing patterns in child custody, and the short-term and long-term effects of divorce on children.

9. describe four ways other than divorce, in which a marriage may be disrupted.

KEY TERMS

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS/CLASS EXERCISES

1. The concept of alimony was based upon the concept that someone was at fault in the breakup of the marriage. No-fault divorce has severely limited the awarding of alimony in most divorce cases today. Does the class think that this is a good or a bad thing? How would they settle requests for alimony from wives and husbands? Should there be a minimum number of years married, or a time limit on alimony payments? What about requests for adjustment of alimony payments if a spouse's financial status changes drastically?

2. Students are likely to react to different computation rates of divorce in the same fashion they do to other statistics: "Why can't there be just one way of calculating the divorce rate?" One way of generating interest and understanding follows: The crude divorce rate is a limited statistic because literal interpretation of it would lead to the same problem as calculating the incidence of diaper rash among every 1000 people in the population; older people don't get diaper rash-lots of folks in the population aren't even in a position to get divorced. Try this technique as you discuss divorce trends in class.

3. Most students have heard of the adversary system of divorce, but some are not well informed about what is implied by this tradition. Encourage students to think about situations where friends drift apart from one another because of social change. Some of the older students in your classes will be able to speak on this out of experience. Then, have students compare these situations with divorce cases that have been "hammered out" in court, with one party playing the role of plaintiff, while the other serves as defendant. What would it be like if established friendships had to be dissolved in court? What kinds of effects would this have on people's attitudes toward friendship? Have students compare the adversary system with "no-fault" statutes. Are "no-fault" divorces really that much different from adversarial ones? What conditions are responsible for a no-fault divorce becoming adversarial? Furthermore, a number of states are now considering abandoning no-fault and returning to an adversarial system. Ask your students what they think the future will bring in reference to these issues.

4. Often, students tend to view marital instability in terms of the likelihood of failure. That is, people who are more likely to divorce are also more likely to "fail" in life. The text's discussion of causes and correlates of divorce helps students to place the question of "Who divorces?" in perspective. Encourage them to think about the likelihood of divorce, using demographic and socioeconomic variables as a baseline.

5. There is a tendency for Americans to evaluate the consequences of divorce using traditional stereotypes (e.g., the husband is always the bad guy; it's usually his fault). Have students do some debunking here; Why are divorces more difficult for women than for men? Is it because men are always the bad guys, or due to more complex socioeconomic reasons? An interesting comparison can be made in this case to the notion of black matriarchy. Early investigations blamed the black family for black people's problems, rather than putting the finger on the socioeconomic plight of blacks in the United States. The key to women coming out of divorce with so many deficits and liabilities has more to do with the status of women in American society and the configuration of domestic court statutes than the evil qualities of American men.

6. It is always a good idea to familiarize students with the divorce laws and procedures in your state. If you are not very familiar with them, it is probably worth inviting a lawyer or judge who works on divorce cases to discuss the ins and outs of getting divorced, not only the legal issues but also the personal. Furthermore, it may be possible to invite a qualified divorce mediator to your class in order to discuss the differences between mediation and more conventional legal approaches to marital dissolution. It has been observed, for example, that handling divorce through mediation (especially custody issues) can help to limit the damaging effects of family break-up on the children involved.

FILMS AND VIDEOS

Divorce and the Family, 1995, 24 min. (Insight Media). This program presents divorce proceedings from the point of view of the children. It covers types of custody, alimony, mediation, child support, spousal maintenance, and visitation rights, as well as what rights children have in divorce cases. Courtroom hearings and meetings with lawyers are dramatized, as are the difficulties that parents and children face as they adjust to new living and financial arrangements.

 

Family in Crisis, 1994, 28 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). This specially adapted Phil Donahue program centers on the plight of economically disadvantaged children growing up in single-parent households. The presentation examines the problems facing children who are growing up without fathers and the cycle of poverty that affects minority families more than others. Possible solutions are discussed.

 

Single, Head of Household, 1988, 30 min. (Insight Media). This program looks specifically at how divorce affects children, investigating the possible repercussions on children of joint custody, and being raised in a single-parent home. The presentation targets the reality of mothers being offered sole custody of their children more often than fathers. The mourning process associated with divorce is also examined.

 

Single Parents and Other Adults, 1982, 25 min. (Insight Media). This program explores the complex issues that single parents must face, including dating, visiting arrangements for the ex-spouse, and money management.

 

Being a Single Parent, 1991, 19 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). This program focuses on three very different kinds of single parents: a divorced woman, a woman who chose to be a single parent, and a man who raised his two sons. The presentation deals with how parents cope with their roles as parents and wage earners, and discusses the psychological effects of divorce on the child.

 

Fatherless in America, 1992, 26 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). As pointed out in the text, "absent fathers" are commonplace in American society: Because of divorce, single-parenthood, incarceration, and welfare rules, nearly 40 percent of American children sleep in homes where their father does not live. The presentation also considers some efforts to reverse the growing trend toward fatherlessness in America.

 

Say Goodbye Again: Children of Divorce, 1983, 30 min. (DABE, LCA/MTI). A candid documentary depicting three families over a two-year period to show how children in different age brackets deal with divorce; also examines programs designed to help both children and parents cope.

 

When Your Parents Divorce -- The Storm's Inside, 1989, 15 min. (Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation (# 4497-065). This presentation is designed for small children, but will be educational for college audiences in terms of the impact of divorce on the young people involved.

 

Children and Divorce, 1986, 37 min. (Joelle Norwood, Films, Inc.). Examines how children feel about divorce and how they live with the consequences of their parents' decision. Reveals that many children blame themselves for their parents' divorce and are preoccupied with ideas of divorce. Group therapy and role playing are two ways children can begin to cope with their feelings.