The changing face of marital relations is determining new family dynamics, which will have an adverse effect on the future of the society. We should bear in mind that children of divorce will become future citizens of tomorrow and our society will look very different because of them.

Absence of a parent: Divorce invariably alienates the child from one of the parents. In most cases, the custody is awarded to the mother. Therefore, most the children of divorce tend to grow up without having their father around for the most of the time. This trend of growing up without a significant presence of a father figure has adverse effects on the mental and physical well being of a girl as well as a boy child.



Growing up without one parent can lead to psychological problems amongst the children, which can directly have an impact on the society that we live in. Children growing up without one parent are more likely to have unstable relationships in future and are more likely to be confused about their gender. The latter can be especially true if the child is staying with the parent of the opposite sex.

Children of Divorce Tend More Likely to Become Delinquents: Recent studies have proved that children who grow up in a divorced home are more likely to engage in criminal activities. In fact, such children are likely to become delinquents by the age of 15, regardless of when the divorce occurred.



Boys who come from divorced families are twice as likely to end up behind the bars than boys from intact families. In addition, they also displayed signs of physical abuse, violence against women, child abuse, and drug abuse.

Children of Divorce likely to Experience Poverty: Children of divorce are more likely to drop out of schools because of lower academic achievement. Therefore, they are less likely to build successful careers, which will keep their standard of living low in their future. This increases their chances of poverty in their adult lives.

Impact of Divorce on Girls: According to recent studies, the impact of a divorce can be more pronounced amongst the girl child. Girls tend to skip school more frequently and display more depressive behaviour than the boys. In addition, girls tend to face self-esteem issues that can affect their personalities for the rest of their lives. They are more likely to engage in unsafe sex and become teenage mothers.

Impact on Stepchildren: The age of divorce has given rise to step relations. When divorced people tend to remarry, it can have far-reaching consequences for the children. Research indicates that stepchildren are abused physically, sexually, and psychologically than children from intact families. These circumstances further damage the fragile minds of the children, leading them to engage in disruptive behaviour in general as well as in their future relationships.

Divorce Impacts Health and Mental well being of Adults: Recent studies have indicated that married people are more likely to be happy and content with their lives. On the contrary, divorced individuals are more likely to face psychological problems of some kind.



The trauma of divorce and an unsuccessful relationship affects future relationships in a way that the cycle of unsuccessful relationships may become hard to break. This can partly be attributed to the attitude of people towards divorce.



Successful, mentally and physically fulfilling relationships, as we know, may cease to exist completely in the future. Divorced individuals are more likely to indulge in alcoholism and suicides. If such individuals have children, it can have extremely detrimental consequences of their psychological wellness.



High divorce rates will have an impact on how people plan their families. Most people tend to fear divorce and delay planning children because they adopt the approach of “wait and watch”. Some people tend to go through so many divorces in their lives that they never get a chance to plan for children. When individuals wait for too long to have children, they are bound to experience fertility problems.

Divorce Impacts The Quality of Life of Individuals: Married people are more likely to be productive on their job and subsequently, earn more. Therefore, they are likely to save more, have a better mental health and tend to live longer. On the contrary, divorced people tend to be less motivated and tend to be unhappy with their jobs, save less, and spend more because of their unfulfilling lives.



Major Western countries like the United Kingdom, United States of America and Canada have been experiencing an increase in their national divorce rates. Except for a few exceptions, almost a majority of the European nations have become prone to witnessing increased divorce rates. Asia and Africa, except for a few countries like Japan and Korea were not in the same league as the Western nations, in respect of increases in their national divorce rates.



In many societies, the social condition of its women determines the degree of familial ties and bonding within the family. For the disease of divorce, the figures arrayed by the various international agencies have shown that the concept of Women’s Liberation so vocally and passionately espoused in the yesteryears, has gone beyond its intended brief.



Breaking male hegemony, increased financial independence, equality in the gender roles are all fine goals, but increasing intolerance and the inability to effectively integrate oneself into the family unit are on the increase. The new found power has gone to the head. Women are initiating the divorce with a vengeance. 69% of all divorce cases were initiated by women in 2004. Of these, 52% cited bad male behaviour as the root cause for seeking divorce! Where is the family headed, without the becalming effect of a wife or mother?



History has repeatedly played out the collapse of nation states, due to the selfish and unfettered individualistic ambitions of individual satraps. Within the citadel of a family, giving free expression to individualism is a positive quality, provided it does not endanger the fortification itself. Priority to family needs over individual needs has always been the social norm. However, the present day social thought does not disapprove the focussed quest for personal satisfaction, even if it drives a nail into the coffin of an institution, like marriage. ‘I, me and myself, come first!’



There was a time when, divorce was an unspeakable word and the church vows attained finality when death parted the couple. Divorce showered social ostracism onto the couple. The shame and stigma of it lasted a lifetime and was highlighted as a blot in the otherwise distinguished history of the family. Honour, social mores … all that was a long time ago. Consequent to the advent of easy divorce laws in the 1970s, it appears as if an ad campaign extolling divorce has been let loose among the populace.



No-fault divorce laws, easy divorce proceedings, almost pre-set favourable outcomes for child custody and alimony and a battery of advisors and agencies to help in going through with the divorce process. Why would anyone baulk at the prospect of divorce? Divorce proceedings are beginning to resemble an afternoon jaunt in the neighbourhood park. Easy come and easy go, even if the mess is of your doing!



‘Once bitten, twice shy’ is an inappropriate adage to describe the restraining power of a divorce, to prevent a recurrence. However, statistics have necessarily shown that there are second-time divorces and umpteenth-time divorces, too (Remember Joan Collins?). It seems that people just don’t want to learn from their mistakes, or are marriages meant for the heck of it? A couple of years down the line, after the divorce, the wedding bells toll to a new lease of married life for the divorced spouse. Thus remarriage breathes life into an after-life after divorce. Now you can walk into or out of marriage, at will!



What has the all-pervading society done about this slowly festering sore? Accept it and learn to live with it or dress it up and hope that it will heal on its own? The widespread social acceptance that it is best to terminate an incompatible relationship rather than to work on solving the problem, has almost established divorce as the only plausible solution to the ills of marriage. The fact, that rampant divorce has taken roots in the soil of society, has inured a broad spectrum of society from reacting to this negative event and thereby allowed the rot to progress.



Seeing the contribution of each of these factors to the mushrooming of divorce and the crumbling of marriage, the day is not far off when the act of marriage would be like changing your clothes!