A new study has challenged some of the prevailing wisdom on divorce rates and trends in the United States. Researchers using new more thorough data collection from the most recent Census Bureau American Community Survey say that divorce rates may not be declining as we previously thought, but rather staying consistent or even rising.
Interestingly, the new more accurate data also reveals that younger Americans are less likely to get divorced than ever before, despite the generally held truth that younger couples in general are more likely to get divorced. Experts say that the rise in premarital cohabitation might be one cause of the lower divorce rate, since some couples who would have discovered incompatibility only after walking down the aisle are now detecting it earlier. By the same token, people are marrying at an older age than they have in the past, perhaps enabling them to choose more suitable mates.
Clearly the choice to stay married to pursue a divorce is a complicated one that cannot be distilled down to whether or not a couple lived together before they tied the knot. There are many contributing factors to the decision to end a marriage and it is not one that most people take lightly. This is why it is helpful to seek the advice of an experienced family law professional to find out more about the implications of divorce and to find the best way to prepare oneself and one’s family for this type of big lifestyle and personal change.
Source: Washington Post, “Divorce is actually on the rise, and it’s the baby boomers’ fault,” Christopher Ingraham, March 27, 2014.
