Were divorce rates in the 1950s lower because marriages were happier?

In the 1950s divorce rates were lower. While superficially this fact appears to fit into the "happy days" the 50s were remembered for, deeper analysis reveals a different picture.

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Experts In Media

Penna Dexter Radio Host

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The divorce rate in 1982 was more than double that of the 1950s. It had grown in the fertile ground tilled by the feminists’ message that “a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” ... The Newsweek story—headlined Splitsville on the cover—describes divorce in terms of the cost to human happiness. But divorce also exacts a price from society in dollars and cents. ... All this is evidence that God’s plan for the family was very wise. Marriage was His idea.

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06 May 2008 Source

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Experts In Media

Po Bronson Journalist & Novelist

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People get divorced for good reasons. It used to be that wife-beating wasn't a reason to leave your husband. In some cultures, it still isn't. (And in case we think those cultures are so distant – it wasn't until 1992 that the U.S. Catholic Bishops issued a statement that women didn't have to stay married in an abusive relationship – because Catholic wives thought (or were being told) that they had to stay and save their marriage.

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01 Jan 2008 Source

Experts In Sociology

Barbara Whitehead Sociologist

Disagree

In the 1950s most Americans believed that parents should stay in an unhappy marriage for the sake of the children. The assumption was that a divorce would damage the children, and the prospect of such damage gave divorce its meaning. By the mid-1970s a majority of Americans rejected that view.

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01 Apr 1993 Source

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1 Point the27th 09 May 2010 Stance on Question: Disagree

There wasn't no-fault divorce in those days! It was legally more difficult to get divorced.

0 Points NotAnExpert 18 Jun 2009 Stance on Question: Agree

Look at the divorce rates.. but more importantly look at the rates of people having sex before marriage. If you had sex with 30 girls before you met your wife then you'd prolly get divorced too. Blame it on women and men being unhappy but being forced to stay married.. sorry don't buy that "expert" opinion. I buy the opinion that people today don't know love if it hit them on the face. People today have sex like rabbits, and are torn.

If you only ate vanilla ice cream your whole life, what would your favorite ice cream be? Vanilla.

What if you ate baskin robins ice cream 31 flavors. what would your favorite be then? Chocolate? no maybe vanilla this week. how about chocolate AND vanilla, and strawberry. Maybe we need toppings.

Of course people are unhappy with marriage. They bond sexually within the first 3 weeks of dating and then they wonder why 3 years later the husband / wife turned into a horrible person. If you dated a guy / girl for 1 or 2 years and didn't sleep together you would have a much better idea of why you loved them. if you have sex in 3 weeks you are emotinally bonded without knowing who or what they really are.

and look, right around the time of the 1970's when free love was rampart.. look at the divorce rate skyrocket.

http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/vanneman/socy441/trends/divorce.html

1 Point Anonymous 15 Jun 2010 General Comment

I lived with my husband before I married him. It has been 10 years, a house and two children and I still love him and our sex life gets better every time. I am not saying we are June and Ward but what ever happen to really loving some one with all your heart and sticking it out through the rough stuff and I am not talking about abuse of any kind but certain things that a marriage can be faced with if you love yourself enough and love your partner enough then you can make it. Young people in the USA are too fickle they want the new, now!!!

Were divorce rates in the 1950s lower because marriages were happier?

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