Quote:The divorce rate is rising because there's no taboo around it any more. If people don't get along, they just bail. It's a by-product of our ME ME ME society, not the rules of dating, heh.<
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Before my grandpa died, we were sitting around one day and he gave talked to me about being married to my grandma (for like 54 years until she died) and how it was never easy, and there were years and years of struggle to keep it afloat. He said a constant effort needs to be put in by both sides in order for it to work, but if that is truly the person you love, you will be willing to put that effort in and make sacrifices. He also told me that for every tough time, there were 20 good times which made it all worthwhile. <
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I don't even think it's as much two selfish people as it is how lazy we have become as a society. The % of white collar over blue collar workers has increased drastically since the 40's. Factory workers, assembly lines, mines. That is work ethic to me, with the hours they put in because the pay sucked and they had no other options. I am not saying white collar employees these days don't bust their ass, or have a good work ethic, I just think that the work ethic back then was a lot better because they had to be. Work ethic at the job tends to spill over to the home sometimes too. <
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I'd be curious to know the difference percentage-wise of newlyweds back then having a child in the first year or even two, compared to now. I guarantee it was a lot higher. That would force responsibilty (Yes, I know that happens now too). One contributing factor to the quickness of having children is the amount of women working full-time jobs now compared to then. Independance for women definitely contributes to divorce rates since they aren't afraid to to open up their mouths instead of nodding and smiling in their pearl necklace and apron, and then crying in their single bed 4 feet from their husbands.<
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How about availability of meeting someone else. Co-Ed workforces, women not staying at home anymore, phone dating services, internet dating services, cell phones, pagers, email. Not only is the availability of someone else greater, ways to communicate with them without being caught are light years better.<
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And last, but not least, as Orme said, divorce isn't taboo anymore. I would say that the reaction from most friends and family after a divorce would be sympathy or at worst, shock for not seeing any problems. I don't think many people are looked down upon or shunned for divorcing anymore. Case in point, both sets of my grandparents went to church every Sunday, sometimes during the week, plus masses they did EVERY year for dead loved ones on the day they died, crucifixes, statues of Mary/Jesus etc...you get the picture. Between both sets, they had 7 kids. 4 of the 7, including both my parents, got divorced. From what I hear, none got shit for it from a "Marriage is sacred and you
oke that vow" standpoint. Needless to say, if the 14th to 17th Apostles known as my grandparents (everyone knows Chris Rock is the 13th) didn't blow a gasket over it, it's a good indication at least for me personally, that it's become acceptable. Shit, even Prince Charles divorced, then re-married a divorcee which is a HUGE no-no for someone in line for the throne (Although it had happened before).<
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Average marriage age for men is the highest it's been since at least 1890 (27.1 years old) and Women is also the highest (25.3) since then. Keep in mind this is 2003 data, but per the webpage I pulled it from <
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(LINK), it came from
http://www.census.gov. It doesn't seem like much, but it's like a 5 year jump from 1960.<
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On the other hand, the divorce rate (3.7%) is the lowest it has been since the early 70's and is going down every year.<
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Also keep in mind,<
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THIS<
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is 2004 data. Also cited on this page is
http://www.census.gov.
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Well, compared to 40+ years ago our divorce rate is high, but I guess some of these stats kind of debunk some of my theories. Oh well. We do have about a 25% increase in total marriages compared to 1960 (Last time it was lower) though, which means a pretty big increase in number of divorces.
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