1. Title, author, and full citation:
(W. BRADFORD WILCOX “The Evolution of Divorce,” National Affairs, FROM ISSUE NUMBER 1 ~ FALL 2009)
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-evolution-of-divorce
2.Summary
Gives a must-read summary of the history and impact of divorce policy on children and on the way Americans view marriage. Gives 3 suggestions to ameliorate the problem: 1. reform state divorce laws (a one-year waiting period for divorces of married parents, educate those parents about the likely social and emotional consequences of their actions for their children) 2. extend the federal Healthy Marriage Initiative 3. expand the child tax credit.
3. Favorite Quotes:
“In 1962, as Whitehead points out in her book The Divorce Culture, about half of American women agreed with the idea that “when there are children in the family parents should stay together even if they don’t get along.” By 1977, only 20% of American women held this view.”
(W. BRADFORD WILCOX, The Evolution of Divorce, National Affairs, FROM ISSUE NUMBER 1 ~ FALL 2009)
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-evolution-of-divorce
“Children who are exposed to divorce are two to three times more likely than their peers in intact marriages to suffer from serious social or psychological pathologies. In their book Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps, sociologists Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur found that 31% of adolescents with divorced parents dropped out of high school, compared to 13% of children from intact families. They also concluded that 33% of adolescent girls whose parents divorced became teen mothers, compared to 11% of girls from continuously married families. And McLanahan and her colleagues have found that 11% of boys who come from divorced families end up spending time in prison before the age of 32, compared to 5% of boys who come from intact homes.”
(W. BRADFORD WILCOX, “The Evolution of Divorce,” National Affairs, FROM ISSUE NUMBER 1 ~ FALL 2009)
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-evolution-of-divorce
“more than two-thirds of all parental divorces do not involve . . . highly conflicted marriages. ”
(W. BRADFORD WILCOX, “The Evolution of Divorce,” National Affairs, FROM ISSUE NUMBER 1 ~ FALL 2009)
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-evolution-of-divorce
Work by demographer Nicholas Wolfinger indicates that the adult children of divorce are now 89% more likely to divorce themselves, compared to adults who were raised in intact, married families.
(W. BRADFORD WILCOX, “The Evolution of Divorce,” National Affairs, FROM ISSUE NUMBER 1 ~ FALL 2009)
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-evolution-of-divorce
“views [about marriage] seep into the popular consciousness and influence behavior — just as they did in the 1960s and ’70s, when academic and professional experts carried the banner of the divorce revolution. ”