DIVORCE1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 19956.08.010.012.014.016.018.020.022.024.0Divorce Rates in the United States
1940–1995Divorces per 1000 married womenFigure 1
SOURCE: Vital Statistics of the United States
lower age at marriage that characterized all West-
ern nations after World War II are trends that have
not been adequately explained. Whether these
trends reflected the consequences of war, the
effects of having grown up during the worldwide
depression, or a short-term rise in social conserva-
tism is now debated. Regardless of the cause, the
decade of the 1950s is universally regarded as a
temporary aberration in otherwise long-term and
continuous twentieth century trends. Not until the
1960s were there additional significant changes in
divorce laws or divorce rates.
The 1960s were years of significant social
change in almost all Western nations. The demo-
graphic consequences of high fertility during the
1950s became most apparent in the large and
vocal youth movements challenging conventional
sexual and marital norms, censorship, the war in
Vietnam, and educational policies. Challenges to
institutional authority were commonplace. Divorce
laws were not immune to the general liberalization.
‘‘Between 1960 and 1986 divorce policy in almost
all the countries of the West was either completely
revised or substantially reformed’’ (Phillips 1988,
p. 562). Most such reforms occurred in the late
1960s to the late 1970s. Unlike earlier divorce law
reforms, those during the post-World War II era
did not extend the grounds for divorce so much as
they redefined the jurisdiction over it. The passage
of no-fault divorce laws signaled a profound shift
in the way divorce was to be handled.
Most significantly, divorce became the pre-
rogative of the married couple with little involve-
ment of the state. No-fault divorce laws do not
require either spouse to be guilty of an offense.
Instead, they focus on the breakdown of the emo-
tional relationship between the spouses. These
statutes typically require a period of time during
which the spouses do not live together. Beyond
that, evidence must be adduced to substantiate
one or both spouses’ claim that the marriage is
irretrievably broken. The significance of no-fault
divorce lies entirely in the fact that decisions about
divorce are no longer the prerogative of the state
or church but rather of the married couple.
The passage of no-fault divorce laws in the
West is properly viewed as a response to changing
behaviors and attitudes. Indeed, social science
research has shown that divorce rates began to
increase significantly prior to passage of such laws
and did not change any more dramatically after-
ward (Stetson and Wright 1975).
The changes in divorce law and actual divorce
behaviors in the West are a reflection of the redefi-
nition of marriage. More vulnerable and fragile
emotional bonds have replaced the economic
constraints that once held spouses together. The