What caused the doubling of divorce between 1965 and 1975?

  • Thread starter Thread starter patricius79
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

patricius79

Guest
On Christian Forums, some are arguing that what caused the doubling of the divorce rate around or after the 60s was not contraception, but other factors such as the acceptance of no-fault divorce and the increase in living-wage jobs for women.

How should I respond to this?

Thanks
 
I would agree that those were factors in the higher divorce rate - but the real factor?

Selfishness and self-centeredness
 
It was a variety of factors including women working. People always complain about divorce but one needs to remember it wasn’t all that terrific for all women. Some dealt with abusive or cheating husbands and the secret fact some spouses were gay/lesbian. That way when divorce became more accepted the suffering spouses were able to leave. The problem though is many people!e now treat divorce casually.
 
patricius79 said:
On Christian Forums, some are arguing that what caused the doubling of the divorce rate around or after the 60s was not contraception, but other factors such as the acceptance of no-fault divorce and the increase in living-wage jobs for women.

How should I respond to this?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Although divorces doubled, the number of Catholic marriage annulments went up by one hundred times from 500 to 50000. Why did Roman Catholic annulments resulting in marriage breakups increase 50 times more than the marriage breakups due to divorce?
 
Off the top of my head, I’d say women entered the workforce in large numbers, which gave them some financial independence from their husbands, which emboldened them to leave marriages in which they weren’t happy for whatever reason, which resulted in the stigma against divorce dissolving.
 
Tomdstone said:
Although divorces doubled, the number of Catholic marriage annulments went up by one hundred times from 500 to 50000. Why did Roman Catholic annulments resulting in marriage breakups increase 50 times more than the marriage breakups due to divorce?
Click to expand...
Annulments don’t “result in marriage breakups.” The marriage is broken before the annulment process begins. A civil divorce is required before the annulment process can start.
 
patricius79 said:
On Christian Forums, some are arguing that what caused the doubling of the divorce rate around or after the 60s was not contraception, but other factors such as the acceptance of no-fault divorce and the increase in living-wage jobs for women.

How should I respond to this?

Thanks
Click to expand...
The acceptance of no fault divorce played a big part in the rise of divorce. It was not the only factor but it did play a significant part.
 
patricius79 said:
On Christian Forums, some are arguing that what caused the doubling of the divorce rate around or after the 60s was not contraception, but other factors such as the acceptance of no-fault divorce and the increase in living-wage jobs for women.

How should I respond to this?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I think it was a combination of factors, including those that you have mentioned. It was the beginning of an age of choice, sexual and drug experimentation, rebellion from tradition and elders, brutal honesty, youthful malaise, self, and selfishness for both men and women. That would lead to all kinds of unintended consequences, many of which were self-destructive.

At the same time, the age was one of consciousness-raising, not only concerning the self but also the plight of those less fortunate than oneself. As Charles Dickens said about another such historical era: “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times…It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness.”
 
So there are a lot of people walking around in marriages that are not real marriages? Why would’t the Church examine people’s marriages so they are not living in de facto adultery?
 
patricius79 said:
On Christian Forums, some are arguing that what caused the doubling of the divorce rate around or after the 60s was not contraception, but other factors such as the acceptance of no-fault divorce and the increase in living-wage jobs for women.

How should I respond to this?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I think a lot of those divorces were couples who wanted to divorce before but we’re unable under previous laws. I think it partially explains the decreasing rate of divorce.
 
Here’s the question:
Divorces increase by two times for the general population.
Divorces and subsequent marriage annulments increase by 50 times over the same period for Roman Catholics.
Why?
 
Tomdstone said:
Here’s the question:
Divorces increase by two times for the general population.
Divorces and subsequent marriage annulments increase by 50 times over the same period for Roman Catholics.
Why?
Click to expand...
Why? Because for some reason and at a point in time I cannot point to exactly, the Church Married the state(pun intended) in regards to one of Her Sacraments. Bringing us to the crisis of SS"M" we have today…
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
So there are a lot of people walking around in marriages that are not real marriages? Why would’t the Church examine people’s marriages so they are not living in de facto adultery?
Click to expand...
**Can. 1060 **Marriage possesses the favor of law; therefore, in a case of doubt, the validity of a marriage must be upheld until the contrary is proven.

It is not adultery to live in an invalid marriage attempted in good faith because the marriage is held to be valid until proven otherwise. Moreover, it is possible for the investigation into the validity of the marriage to harm the marriage. It is not done when it might damage the relationship between validly married persons.
 
Tomdstone said:
Here’s the question:
Divorces increase by two times for the general population.
Divorces and subsequent marriage annulments increase by 50 times over the same period for Roman Catholics.
Why?
Click to expand...
Probably for the same reason John F. Kennedy could be elected President.
 
EasterJoy said:
Probably for the same reason John F. Kennedy could be elected President.
Click to expand...
I don’t understand this answer.
I don’t see any correlation between the election of JFK and the fact that Catholic divorces followed by marriage annulments increased by 50 times, whereas divorces for the general population increased twice over the same period. Does this indicate a failure on the part of the Catholic Church to support a stable family?
 
Tomdstone said:
Although divorces doubled, the number of Catholic marriage annulments went up by one hundred times from 500 to 50000. Why did Roman Catholic annulments resulting in marriage breakups increase 50 times more than the marriage breakups due to divorce?
Click to expand...
Your source of this?
 
This is an interesting thread. Some items:
  1. The cause of the divorce rate boom was NOT, IMHO, “women entering the workforce.” That’s a (disgraceful) over-traditionalist, “it would be better if women stayed home!” mentality. The reason it’s not the answer is because women entered the workforce in greater numbers in the 1940s, in WWII, doing war work, factory work, etc., and in turn had greater financial freedom, rather than the 1960s-70s.
  2. As to the real reason, I suspect it had more to do with greater enjoyment of freedoms – including perceived “sexual freedom,” and anything else – and some of those things weren’t bad. The same way that divorce can flow from cheating, adultery, etc., it can also flow from not being required to tolerate an abusive spouse; not needing to be reliant on a man, etc.
  3. Tom’s question – as to why the annulment rate skyrocketed – is IMHO a perfectly valid one.
 
Tomdstone said:
The Our Sunday Visitor Catholic Almanac has the statistics for a given year. The statistical handbook of the Catholic Church has more detailed data.
Click to expand...
I Can’t find any online statistics but did notice Vatican II liberalized the annulment process .
 
estesbob said:
Your source of this?
Click to expand...
Further study shows these statistics for the USA:
1994 Catholic Almanac, at p. 236, reporting for the year 1991: 63,933
Later Catholic Almanacs report:
1992: more than 59,000
1993: 53,652
According to the 1966 Catholic almanac, there were about 300 per year in the early 60’s.
So while divorces double or triple, Roman Catholic civil divorces and subsequent marriage annulments increase much more over the same period of time.
For the general US population:
1965 there were 479,000 divorces
1991 there were 1,187,000 divorces
1992 there were 1,215,000 divorces.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top