Divorce and Cheating Recede During the Recession
An economic recession can have a big impact on the way couples stay together and how, when, and if they decide to divorce.
There’s good news, however, as according to new data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the divorce rate in the U.S. is the lowest that it has been since the early 70s. Add in the fact that affairs are declining, and the it would appear that couples are doing what it takes to make it these days.
The news comes via the Wall Street Journal, which reports that the divorce rate dropped from 16.9 divorces per 1,000 married women in 2008 down to 16.4 divorces per 1,000 women in 2009. That number sounds even better when you compare it to the figure from back in 1980, when the divorce rate per 1,000 women was up at 22.4.
These numbers come from the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, which regularly publishes reports on marriage and relationships.
Professor Bradford Wilcox is the director of the National Marriage Project. He pointed out that there can be a big difference between what plays out in the gossip headlines and what is actually going on with American couples.
“It runs counter to this image people have of Tiger Woods and divorce,” he said. “They get a sense from the media that divorce is prevalent, but the reality is we’re not experiencing divorce that way.”
Generally, those who track divorce rates across generations are in agreement that the divorce rate has been declining since the 70s, during the divorce revolution.
The divorce rate in the last few years decreased further from 2008 to 2009 than it did from 2007 to 2008, so the trend is, if anything, building momentum.
As we have talked about before, it may be that some couples are waiting for the economy to improve before they take what can be the costly step of going through the divorce process.
Couples are also waiting longer to get married in the first place.
Infidelity rates have also fallen recently, especially among married men, according to the Wall Street Journal and Prof. Wilcox. Though the drop in infidelity rates may be modest, according to his research the rates of infidelity have not gone up in the last several decades.
Adults who were married at any point in this decade responded to surveys from the General Society Survey reporting that 21 percent of men and 14 percent of women had sex with someone who was not their spouse even while they were married. In the 1990s, 22 percent of men reported they had done so, and the number for women was the same.
For those who are married right now, 16 percent of men say they cheated, alongside 10 percent of women. In the 1990s, the percentage of men held steady, while women came in at 11 percent.
Eighty-four percent of women said that infidelity was “always wrong” in the 2000s. That rate was at 73 percent in the 70s. Among men, 78 percent said that infidelity was always wrong.
