Marriage, divorce, and family structures in general have changed a lot over the last decade. These days, younger generations wait longer to get married, if they ever do decide to settle down, all while the divorce rate continues to decline. However, the decline isn’t quite as sharp as you might imagine. Still, if more people are thinking critically about if marriage suits their lifestyles, why is divorce still so common? Do the “changing times” cited by so many during the pandemic have something to do with it, or has something culturally significant been shifting under our feet?
Research surrounding couples suggests the latter is true. Current statistics in America state that the divorce rate rises roughly 2.3% each year. This isn’t to say that there’s only a 2.3% of a new marriage ending in divorce, but rather, this statistic means that of all the married couples in the country, 2.3% more of them end in divorce each year. Like everything else these days, COVID-19 likely had a hand in steepening the divorce rate. The increased amount of time spent together in quarantine and the disruption of daily schedules created a lot of tension that couples simply hadn’t experienced pre-pandemic. This remains in line with general marriage trends though. Incompatibility is cited as one of the leading causes of divorce. 43% of the couples surveyed mentioned this as a reason for their divorce. Nothing tested relationship compatibility quite like quarantine did in 2020.
Photo by Getty Images
Both marriage and divorce rates both decreased dramatically during the pandemic, specifically referring to 2020-2021, indicating a decreased interest in changes. Millions of people experienced life-altering changes to their lifestyles during the pandemic, causing people to feel reluctant about changing their marital status as well. Currently, only five out of every one thousand single people get married each year, down from eight out of every 1000 in the early 2000s. Increased quality time is an aspect of divorce which statistics often mentioned, largely related to premarital cohabitation or “moving in together”. More couples than ever are living together long-term without getting married, which doesn’t bode well for the divorce rate. According to a research study (Copen et al. 2012), couples that live together unmarried are more likely to separate within five years compared to the couples that live together and are married (49% compared to 20%).
The rhetoric that “love is about the little things” is echoed in love songs and rom-com movies, but the added tension of living together can sometimes cause friction in a relationship. This echoes past research (Copen et al. 2012) about couples that file for divorce within their first three years of marriage. Loving someone and living with someone are two very entirely different concepts, and many divorced couples find out the hard way.
written by Brady George.
