Family Policy

Family trend analysis

Student’s name

Institutional affiliation

Date

Introduction

Governmental and non-governmental institutions have put a lot of effort in comprehensively assessing social trends to understand society in a better and clear manner. Different plans, policies, and programs have been implemented to support this assessment and mitigate any risks associated with different trends that may impact family life. Currently, approaches to social network analysis can be implemented to examine people’s subjective families (Amato, 2014). Today, in the United States and other places across the globe, divorce is considered a serious social issue of concern mainly because the divorce rate increased at a high rate from the mid-to late19th Century. According to Emery (2013) divorce refers to the legal process in which matrimony bond existing between two individuals is dissolved. Various factors can be attributed to increased cases of divorce. This paper provides a comprehensive examination of divorce and how it is associated with religion in the United States. In the 21st Century, the United States including other countries around the globe has faced an increased rate of divorce. Examining the topic of divorce is imperative because it has serious short-term and long-term consequences on both children and parents such as social and behavioral problems, depression, increased risks of substance abuse, relationship troubles, constant stress, anxiety, intense sadness and poor socio-economic and education position. Therefore, it is crucial to determine some of the aspects associated with divorce to identify measures that can be implemented to reduce the increasing cases of divorce.

Religion is increasingly becoming a key determinant of the divorce rate in the United States. Research shows that religion fosters solidarity and this implies that to a great extent, the rate of divorce is associated with religion. Religion has a significant relationship with relationship quality, infidelity, domestic violence, and fertility (Institute for Social Trends, 2019). These four outcomes are key factors that affect families thus resulting in the divorce rate. Today, the Global Family and Gender Survey and World Values Survey show that individuals aged between 18 and 49 years regularly attend religious services have 0.27 more children as compared to those who don’t attend. Religion has a positive influence on marriage and this reduces cases of divorce (Swenson, 2008). A high number of highly religious women are likely to be strongly satisfied with their sexual relationships as compared to couples who are less religious. Therefore, religion plays a critical role in improving the quality of relationships and sexual satisfaction and vice versa thus reducing or increasing the rate of divorce respectively. Over time, religion has become more critical in reducing the rate of divorce whereby in some countries divorce rate has stabilized and cases declined in recent years. Currently, the number of individuals who believe in religion in the U.S has reduced and this has resulted in an increased number of divorce cases being reported today. The sources used to identify this trend are Religious service attendance, divorce, and remarriage among US nurses in mid and late life by Li, Kubzansky, and VanderWeele (2018) and World family map: Mapping social change and family outcomes by the Institute for Social Trends (2019).

Research shows that that in 2012, 89% of U.S adults believed in God and the majority were Christians however, in 2007 there were 92% of U.S adults who identified as Christians. Therefore, there was a reduction in the number of U.S adults are religion followers. Among those who follow religious services, the rate of crude marriage cases that were likely to result in divorce reduced from 8.2 per 1000 total population in 2000 to 6.9 per 1000 total population in 2015. The rate of divorce reduced from 4.0 per 1000 total population in 2000 to 3.1 per 1000 total population in 2015 (Li, Kubzansky, & VanderWeele, 2018). However, divorce cases mainly comprised of middle-aged groups. Religion plays a critical role in strengthening marital bonds, stability, and happiness thus reducing the likelihood of conditions that may result in divorce. Regular religious attendance affects marital stability because marriage is viewed as sacred and therefore divorce is not encouraged. Religious affiliation affects family life because of the teachings provided concerning marriage and divorce. 42% of individuals who attend religious services at least once per week are less likely to get divorced compared to those who don’t attend (Li, Kubzansky, & VanderWeele, 2018).

Research by the Institute for Family Studies (2020) indicates that the percentage of individuals who believe in Christianity reduced from 89% to 70% between the 1970s and 2020. As a result, this has resulted in changes in the likelihood of divorce in the U.S increased from 1.13 in the 1970s to 3 in 2020. This implies that there is a significant connection between divorce and religion. Individuals who attend religious services are 15% less likely to have ever divorce compared to those who don’t follow religious services. Religious teachings emphasize the issue of morality and divorce to ensure there is a reduction in cases of divorce among believers and society as a whole. This can be attributed to the reduced cases of divorce among those who follow religious services weekly, however, the general rate of divorce has increased in the U.S and this can be attributed to the reduced number of religious believers.

If the number of religious believers or followers continues to reduce then there will not increase the rate of divorce, but it may also result in an inability to achieve educational objectives, increased cases of domestic abuse, substance abuse, crime, instability in marriages, poor physical and meta health. Religion is a broad subject that has significant aspects in life including the rate of divorcé and therefore the trend may put the society at a great risk if proper measures are not implemented. All the same, believers of religion may face positive consequences such as reduced cases of divorce, strong marriages and relationships, improved morality, and socio-economic and education position.

Conclusion

I have lived in a community where I have witnessed this trend. I have witnessed two cases involving a friend and a neighbour whereby the two sets of couples were involved in differences that resulted in divorce. One common thing that I noticed about the two cases is that they were not believers of religion. The rationale for this statement is that they openly acknowledged that did not believe in God nor were they affiliated to any religion. This affected me because I was emotionally disturbed to see people I have known for a long time divorce. To some extent, this trend may influence a person's view of marriage. Their children may also face short term and long-term consequences such as social and behavioral problems, depression, increased risks of substance abuse, relationship troubles, constant stress, anxiety, intense sadness, and poor socio-economic and education position. Society comprises individuals with competing interests and therefore individuals tend to view things differently (Crash Course, 2017). As a result, the issue of how religion and divorce have been viewed differently and most of the affected people have failed to consider how religious teaching may help solve such problems.

References

Amato, P. (2014). Why study families? Retrieved from

https://www.ncfr.org/ncfr-report/past-issues/summer-2014/what-family

Crash Course. (2017). Major sociological paradigms: Crash course sociology #2. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbTt_ySTjaY

Emery, R. E. (Ed.). (2013). Cultural sociology of divorce: An encyclopedia. SAGE publications.

Institute for Social Trends. (2019). World family map: Mapping social change and family outcomes. Retrieved from  https://ifstudies.org/ifs-admin/resources/reports/worldfamilymap-2019-051819final.pdf

Institute for Family Studies. (2020). Regular Church Attenders Marry More and Divorce Less Than Their Less Devout Peers. Retrieved from  https://ifstudies.org/blog/regular-church-attenders-marry-more-and-divorce-less-than-their-less-devout-peers

Li, S., Kubzansky, L. D., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2018). Religious service attendance, divorce, and remarriage among US nurses in mid and late life. PloS one, 13(12), e0207778.

Swenson, D. (2008). Religion and family links: Neofunctionalist reflections. Springer Science & Business Media.