News Article blog: Divorce

Article 1

"Getting Hitched"
National Review Online
By Kathryn Lopez and Kay Hymowitz
January 24, 2007

This particular article assessed the state of marriage in our current society. Lopez is interviewing Hymowitz and first asks her to explain the state of marriage in America. Hymowitz says that the 40% divorce rate and the 37% out-of-wedlock birthrate contribute to a dismal state, but there is more to it than just numbers. She states that Americans no longer understand the meaning of marriage where more and more people are marrying just because they got pregnant. She also points out that 51% of American women are single, which allows for her to interject with the concept of feminism. This rather high number of single women indicates that more women are happier with being alone and are creating an independent life for themselves with a healthy career. She also states her political stance. She believes that a president with a strong platform for marriage is what our society needs. She notes that Barack Obama would be an excellent candidate. She believes a president needs to have a summit on black marriage, transform the celebrity image of marriage, and save marriages in poverty-stricken areas. In the end, it's really all about smart politics.

Article 2

"Keeping the Covenant"
Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News - The Tribune
December 23, 2006
By Jeff Ackenback

This article is about the Fellowship of Jackson County Clergy and how they decided to become proactive and sign a marriage covenant which would be maintaining the biblical standard of marriage. They believe that there needs to be a lot of pre-marital effort, which would only make marriage benefit in the long run. Rev. Steve Greene made a great point: "I feel like more effort is put into that 3o minute wedding ceremony than preparation for marriage." One of the key statistics that he stated that those who cohabit before marriage and/or engage in pre-marital sex suffer a greater change of getting divorced or being in an unfaithful marriage. This article really took a stance on being more conservative in the way we must deal with marriage. The covenant included:

• That God has established in Scripture the sanctity and companionship in marriage
• That God intends that the marriage bond between one man and one woman for a lifetime
• That it is our role to teach our children and youth the sanctity of marriage

The FJCC surprisingly has not received any negativity regarding the covenant and those who have signed it have really stood by its teachings.

Article 3

"Divorce rates down, but many families still struggle"

The Associated Press State and Local Wire

By Amy Lawson

September 14, 2006

This particular article, unlike the other two, actually claimed that the divorce rate was declining. The centers for Disease and Control Prevention listed the divorce rate as 5.3 per 1000 people in 1981 and 4.0 per 1000 people in 2001. The crux of the article pertained to the stories of divorcees including Monique Irvin who had been married to her husband for 18 years, which sadly ended in divorce. They all seem to agree that divorce is no fair to the children and they should have a right to know what is going on. Tyrence Burse said that he tells his kids everything in order to know what was going on without being involved. In fact Dr. Alnoor Ramji of Select Behavioral Health in Norwich said that the way a child deals with divorce is a reflection of a parent's coping ability.

Article 4

"Divorce rates, marriage rules"

Canadian Business and Current Affairs

By John Syrtash

September 21, 2006

This article gives a bit of a different perspective for divorce rates and marriage is assessed by a Canadian, John Syrtash. He says that the divorce rate is lower in Canada vs. America due to the fact that many married couples are not forced to relocate for their jobs as much in Canada as in America. This is due to the fact that the population in Canada is concentrated in a few major metropolitan areas, which greatly reduces the need to move elsewhere for a job. He also states that the Canadian culture is based more on compromise, which significantly reduces the stresses of marriage. He also puts an interesting spin on the rules of marriage and claims that ladies should always come first and that the role of husbands is to make their wives happy. In addition, he most importantly states that you should never take your wife for granted.

Article 5

"Divorce vs. Marriage"

Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire

By D. Deviga

November 10, 2006

Although this article is quite succinct, Deviga offers many statistics about marriage and divorce in a global sense. She states that in Singapore, divorce is up a third since 1990 and it has nearly doubled in Thailand. She says that couples get married every 42 seconds in Japan but a couple will get divorced before 2 minutes are up. She then begs the question, "Is divorce the new 'cool'?" She believes that divorce seems to be the new method of expressing one's individuality. Her article certainly sheds light on divorce outside of the US and gives us reason to believe that divorce is certainly a global problem.

Summary

Although most of the statistics in these articles were objective in their purposes, the nature of most of the articles were clearly subjective. After stating the facts, the authors naturally included their own biases in response to the facts. Controversies could certainly arise from all five of the articles that I have summarized above. In the "Getting Hitched" and "Keeping the Covenant" articles, there was a noticeable anti-gay marriage tone from the authors. This certainly would generate backlash especially from democrats/liberals who support gay marriage. More specifically the "Keeping the Covenant" article was very religion-based. Although I am in strong support of the covenant and its teachings, there are many other people out there who would not necessarily agree with those ideals. Also, I think men should read the article by John Syrtash! As a women, I agreed with every word. His views may seem old-fashioned to some, but I think if more men followed the chivalrous role, marriages would be a lot happier. I have to say that I really enjoyed reading all five articles that I chose. They all indicated the problems we ALL need to be aware of due to the divorce rate and increasing lack of healthy marriages in our world. I think it is important that more articles similar to these are published because it will only increase the awareness of the number of marriages that are suffering. This awareness is needed to help alleviate these problems and help our society move forward in producing healthy marriages and families.

American Family Decline Analysis

After reading Popenoe's account of his views regarding the decline of American families, I could not help but agree with him more. He supports his viewpoints which much evidence. He states that the American family has been in decline since 1960 due to many reasons including a decline in fertility, a decline in the number of children in a family, and increased divorce rates. In fact, he notes that the divorce rate in 1960 had been 9 and more than doubled in 1987 to 21. Currently, the divorce rate has exceeded 50% !! He states that divorce has clearly replaced death as the dissolver of marriage, which is quite evident since divorce is so widespread. Popenoe also points out that the relationship between being married and relative happiness has also declined. As a result, people are less likely to devote time, energy, and money to family life. Family members investing more time in themselves has become a current trend, which certainly threatens the traditional nuclear family mentality. He believes that the values constituting a healthy family have also been in decline. Also, he states that cohabitation has been a reason as to why families are in decline. Living together before marriage postphones marriage and very well might delay the beginnings of a family. All these factors combined has certainly led to the decline of the American family.
The articles written by Judith Stacey and Philip Cowan challenge the ideas of Popenoe. Stacey believes that family is not an insitution, but rather an "ideological, symbolic construct that has a history and politics." She disagrees with Popenoe's claim that family was "the only social institution in existence." In fact, she does not accept the instituional definition of family. She states that Popenoe did not take into consideration the post industrial economic transformations that had a profound effect on the dynamics of family. Philip Cowan feels quite similarly. He criticizes Popenoe for failing to take demographic and psychological changes into account. He also contests that smaller families certainly do not mean that family life is in decline, but rather smaller families promote quality of life for the children. He also believes that the effect of divorce on children is more short-lived than Popenoe suggests.
I would most definitely take Popenoe's side of the argument. First of all, I feel that the divorce rate in our world today is terrible. I feel that people are too hasty in their decisions regarding their future spouse. True love is also being disregarded. I feel there would be much less divorce if everyone could wait to find the love of their life. Instead, a lot of people make concessions and end of marrying someone who is not a perfect fit. I feel as though this marks the fundamental reason as to why there is so much divorce, which ultimately leads to the decline of the American family. As my dad always told me, "You can't build a house on a bad foundation." Popenoe has clearly stated that the traditional nuclear family mentality is hardly common anymore. This has certainly triggered a decrease in the amount of happiness in a lot of families, which has led to an increased number of dysfunctional families. It is so hard not to agree with Popenoe because I am able to see his arguments firsthand in the very world in which I live!