In the twentieth century, there was a consecutive and expeditious increase in the divorce rates all over the world. According to the National Center for Health Statistics’ report in 1985, the US divorce rate in the late 1980s was over five times as much as that in 1910. This extremely alarming rate has brought about the anxiety for the authorities and prompted them to make divorce a hassle (Hickey, 2014). The responses of society; however, show a great contradiction to this matter. The Pew Research Center’s 2013 Global Attitudes survey pointed out that 24 percent of all respondents viewed divorce as unreasonable for morality, compared with 36 percent who believe that divorce is ethically supportable. In my opinion, divorce should not be stricter to get because of the benefits that it can bring not only to spouses and children but also to our society.
The foremost conspicuous positive effect of divorce can be seen on parents. When spouses get divorced, they might be extricated from their troubled marriages. Normally, spouses live separately and apart after divorce; thus, they may not have to tolerate their wrong partners any longer and have an opportunity to set up a more preferable life. The attitude of separated couples is unexpectedly positive. 91 percent of men and 93 percent of women felt “better off” after divorce than when they were in marriage (Havemann & Lehtinen, 1990, p.275). Not to mention, when parents are liberated from arguments with their partners, more time as well as physical and mental effort will be spent on their children. The mother or father who is in charge of their children might freely make plans for the children’s future and teach them in her or his own way without too much contradictory ideas from her or his partner (Hank, 2011). As a result, the children may be educated more effectively than ever.
Another up-side of divorce is its constructive impacts on children. For children suffering family’s serious discordance, divorce may be viewed as a pleasant deliverance from spousal conflicts (Arkowitz & Lilienfeld, 2013). Research carried by Garber in 1991 has proved that it is not the separation of parents but the level of disputes in the family that has long-term negative influences on children. Moreover, although short-term outcomes of divorce might be gloomy to a majority of children, there is rather high feasibility of children’s resilience to the hurt of the early sorrow. Surprisingly, in the long run, children of divorce commonly become more mature and independent than those from intact family (Pocs, 1993).
The ultimate thing which persuades me into advocating divorce is the welcome acquisitions that it has dedicated to our society. Since 1969 when No-Fault Divorce Laws, which permit the spouse to get divorced without proving any wrongdoing of the partner, were enacted in some states in the USA (Simon, 2009), apparent progresses in society have been recorded in those areas. Formerly, when these laws were not introduced, it was extremely tough for women to obtain a divorce even when they were abused in the family on the grounds that they had nothing for demonstration.Thing has changed significantly with the legalization of no-fault divorces. In a decade, there was a sharp 33.3 percent downturn in domestic violence, while the number of women murdered by their husbands dropped by ten percent (Stanford University, 2003). The same study also indicated a slip between eleven percent and nineteen percent in the rate of suicide among women. These statistics are likely to generate strong motivation not to make divorce harder to obtain.
However, the dispiriting findings from some studies testify some downsides of divorce as the root of children’s health, academic and moral problems such as school-quitting, criminal tendency, higher risk of sickness, stroke and early death (Hansen, 2013). Carried out in the same topic, other research gives out conflicting results, saying there is no discrepancy in the risk between children in divorced families and those from remarried or intact ones (Lofquist, 1993). The inconsistent outcomes might result from the different investigating methods and the disregardance of some factors such as adapting ability level, family function and marital conflict. From these point, it would be rather safe to say that not all children encounter troubles after parental separation, and of whom suffer from the consequences, the majority are plausibly adaptable to the change in family pattern after several years (Lofquist, 1993).
To sum things up, for the betterment of families and society that divorce can contribute to, it seems to be not up to par to make effort to hinder divorce. In case spouses cannot save their marriage any longer, divorce should be considered a good choice. All in all, divorce is an end to a journey, not an end in itself. Instead of preventing separation, I think it is better to help people realize their responsibility when deciding to join in a marriage.