U.S. Divorce Rate Taking a Plunge - or Not?

Divorce in the United States had been on the rise through the last generation, but now it's beginning to take a turn for the better for those who've gotten married during the 21st century, according to http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/upshot/the-divorce-surge-is-over-but-the-myth-lives-on.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0 .

 

This is interesting for several reasons. Couples are realizing that divorce is not a complete problem solver, that reconciliation may be something to fight for, and indeed is possible even in an age of divorce.  Learn more at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1949256.   And divorce dramatically affects children and their best interests, the standard for any judicial intervention required by divorce (see http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1957143 ).

 

These statistics about dropping divorce rates may, however, be somewhat misleading, as outlined by the NY Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/04/upshot/how-we-know-the-divorce-rate-is-falling.html?mabReward=RI%3A18&action=click&pgtype=Homepage®ion=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0  due to fewer marriages and greater cohabitation in recent years.  Nonetheless, divorce is less popular this decade, as the Times writes: "Of course, the marriage rate has also fallen over this period. But even measuring divorces relative to the population that could plausibly get divorced — the number of people who are married — shows that divorce peaked in 1979, and has fallen by about 24 percent since."

This is indeed a good sign for family restoration.