Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T02:02:46.221Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Contemporary Trends in the Stability of English Marriage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Robert Chester
Robert Chester
Affiliation:
Department of Social Administration, University of Hull
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

From 1959 to 1969 the annual number of petitions for divorce in England and Wales increased by 133%, and the rate of divorce per 1000 married population increased by an estimated 100%. Traditional explanations for the historical increase in divorce, relying on such factors as increased legal and financial opportunity, wartime disturbances and demographic changes, seem inappropriate to deal with recent experience, and it is proposed that normative changes are involved. Cohort analysis suggests that the marriages of the 1960s are more vulnerable to early divorce than those of the 1939/45 war, and that this vulnerability was increasing throughout the period. It seems likely that earlier divorce also implies higher proportions ultimately divorcing.

Total marriage breakdown is impossible to quantify because some separations are informal and leave no record. However, a formula is proposed for totalling divorce petitions and matrimonial proceedings in the lower courts to calculate annual numbers of breakdowns newly coming to public notice. Calculations based on this show an increase in annual numbers of 75% over the period, and of 65% in the rate, thus demonstrating that divorce figures alone give a false impression of trends in marriage breakdown. Although the rates and numbers of unrecorded breakdown are unknown, and may be diminishing, it is concluded that breakdown is probably increasing in volume among contemporary marriages. On the basis of speculative estimates it is also suggested that perhaps one sixth to one quarter of contemporary marriages may ultimately experience some form of breakdown.

The question is posed whether the increases shown represent a generational effect, due to pass, or a new pattern of high manifest breakdown rates. On the basis of trends in the indices of various forms of valueorientated personal behaviour (including divorce), it is suggested that from about 1955 onwards new patterns of behaviour began to emerge. The causation of such patterns is attributed to social structural changes developing since the was which have fostered a more permissive approach to personal behaviour. It is concluded that these trends have influenced the norms of marriage behaviour, and that relatively high rates of marriage breakdown will henceforth be an integral feature of social experience.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , October 1971 , pp. 389 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence (1968) Cannabis. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Chester, R. (1970) Sex differences in divorce behaviour. J. biosoc. Sci. Suppl. 2, 121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chester, R. (1971) The duration of marriage to divorce. Br. J. Sociol. 22, 172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health (1967) Annual Report. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Committee on Statutory Maintenance Limits (1968) Report. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Day, L.H. (1964) Patterns of divorce in Australia and the United States. Am. sociol. Rev. 29, 509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferris, A.L. (1970) An indicator of marriage dissolution by marriage cohort. J. soc. Forces, 48, 356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, R. (1966) The Family and Marriage in Britain. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
General Register Office (1946–1950) Registrar General's Statistical Review of England and Wales. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Glatt, M., Pittman, D., Gillespie, D. & Hills, D. (1967) The Drug Scene in Great Britain. Edward Arnold, London.Google Scholar
Goode, W.J. (1966) Family disorganisation. In: Contemporary Social Problems. Edited by Merton, R.K. & Nisbet, R.A.. Harcourt Brace and World, New York.Google Scholar
Hartley, S.M. (1966) The amazing rise of illegitimacy in Great Britain. J. soc. Forces, 44, 533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Home Office (1969) Annual Report: Criminal Statistics for England and Wales. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Illsley, R. & Gill, D.G. (1968) Changing trends in illegitimacy. Soc. Sci. Med. 2, 415.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Law Society (1965/1966, 1966/1967 and 1968/1969) Annual Reports on Legal Aid and Advice. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
McClintock, F.H. & Avison, N.H. (1968) Crime in England and Wales. Heinemann, London.Google Scholar
McGregor, O.R. (1957) Divorce in England. Heinemann, London.Google Scholar
McGregor, O.R., Blom-Cooper, L. & Gibson, C. (1970) Separated Spouses. Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
Rowntree, G. & Carrier, N. (1958) The resort to divorce in England and Wales 1858–1957. Popul. Stud. 11, 188.Google Scholar
Stanley, W.J. (1969) Attempted suicide and suicidal gestures. Br. J. prev. soc. Med. 23, 190.Google ScholarPubMed
Turner, C. (1969) Family and Kinship in Modern Britain. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.Google Scholar
Wilkins, L.T. (1960) Delinquent Generations. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar