by Patrick Sills

Created on: January 21, 2012   Last Updated: January 22, 2012

How is marriage viewed in the 21st century? The answer ? Not very favorably. Statistically, at least half of all marriages will end in divorce. In fact, when it comes to reasons that marriages come to an end, divorce has now surpassed death. Thus, “until death do us part” has become about as sincere as that boy who cried wolf one too many times.

The option of dissolving a marriage has been around since the concept of matrimony has existed, but the frequency and likelihood of ending such a bonding by means of divorce or annulment has steadily increased. In the mid-1800s, as an example, less than 1 in 10 marriages ended in this manner. By 1974, a little more than a century later, divorce took the lead. By 1985, the divorce rate had passed 55%. Since that time, it appears to be holding steady at around 50%, give or take a little.

Interestingly, the mean duration of a marriage hasn’t changed much since the 15th century. On average, this is about 20 years. However, for 500 of those 600 or so years, one spouse’s death was almost always the reason. One must also remember that while most weddings occurred then when people were quite young just as they do today, the life expectancies were also considerably lower.

One could then conclude with reasonable logic that marriages of today should be lasting longer, but they don’t because divorce has effectively displaced death as the primary cause of marriages reaching their end.

Since half or more of marriages now end in divorce, this is furthermore regarded as normal. Once a practice is deemed to be “normal,” more people will engage in the activity. Changes in society play a direct role as well. For instance, while 90-95% of young adults today still plan on marriage and 85% actually go through with it, divorce has become so common that people now look at it as nonchalantly as a boyfriend and girlfriend breaking up. This has in turn resulted in more single parents than at any other time in recorded history.

Researchers of this topic also attribute decidedly changed gender roles as a factor. Unlike marriages of a few decades ago, women routinely hold occupations outside of the home. Thus, there is now an increased aura of independence.

Perhaps most significantly of all, a finger must be pointed at obvious cultural changes that have taken place since the 1960s. During that time, the United States in particular experienced a shift from rather conservative moral values to a far more

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