Interesting.
I wonder if this is because people don’t look at marriage as a Sacrament, a holy covenant.
I believe this has much to do with it. When people realize they made a promise to God in front of witnesses it helps to put things in perspective. They need to be reminded of this fact.
I wonder if this is because people don’t look at marriage as a Sacrament, a holy covenant.
How sacred marriage is held certainly is a factor, income being another, but which relates to character formation. Asian women have the lowest first divorce rate at 10 divorces per 1,000 women in a first marriage, vs. 16.3 for white and 18.1 for Hispanic women and 30.4 for blacks.
Income and race are perhaps the most pronounced aspects in correlation to divorce, with the higher the income, the less divorce, and there are far more black ( 72% of black babies were born to unwed mothers, 2011) Prots than Catholics.
But higher incomes or very high levels of education testify to greater commitment and likelihood they will marry those who have similar character. The black culture overall has eaten the fruit of lies, that of the demonic victim entitlement mentality which is deleterious to character.
And culture often trumps religious affliction, or the latter reflects the former.
Misc. stats:
Only 7% of couples who attend church services once a month will divorce within the first 5 years of marriage. The rate for those who go to church once a year or less is 2 ½ times higher. — U.S. government's National Survey of Family Growth, Atheists won't save Europe by don feder http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27937
77 % of Catholics polled "believe a person can be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday, 65 percent believe good Catholics can divorce and remarry, and 53 percent believe Catholics can have abortions and remain in good standing. — 1999 poll by the National Catholic Reporter. http://www.catholictradition.org/v2-bombs14b.htm
40% Roman Catholics vs. 41% Non-R.C. see abortion as "morally acceptable"; Sex between unmarried couples: 67% vs. 57%; Baby out of wedlock: 61% vs. 52%; Homosexual relations: 54% vs. 45%; Gambling: 72% vs. 59% http://www.gallup.com/poll/117154/Catholics-Similar-Mainstream-Abortion-Stem-Cells.aspxCommitted Roman Catholics (church attendance weekly or almost) versus Non-R.C. faithful church goers (see the below as as morally acceptable): Abortion: 24% R.C. vs. 19% Non-R.C.; Sex between unmarried couples: 53% vs. 30%; Baby out of wedlock: 48% vs. 29%; Homosexual relations: 44% vs. 21%; Gambling: 67% vs. 40%; Divorce: 63 vs. 46% ^
The percentage of percentage of adults Protestants who have been married and divorced is 34% versus 28% for Catholics, while Evangelicals were at 26%. Atheists or agnostic were at 30% (only 65% were ever married, vs. 84% for born-again Christians) while those aligned with a non-Christian faith were at 38%. The largest disparity (17%) relative to divorce was between high and low income levels (22% to 39%). — http://www.barna.org/family-kids-articles/42-new-marriage-and-divorce-statistics-released
31% of Catholics made less than $30,000 per year (2008), while 19% made $100,000 or more (National average: 31% and 18% respectively). The figures for Evangelical Protestants were 34% and 13% respectively. Hindus and Jews had the highest income levels. http://pewforum.org/Income-Distribution-Within-US-Religious-Groups.aspx
Considering the wide scope of possible reasons why a marriage may be annulled, as an est. 400,000 marriages have been annulled since 1970 (http://articles.philly.com/1986-05-08/news/26049605_1_annulments-divorced-catholics-marriage), then how many RCs today are possibly in invalid marriages, even though canon law presumes all marriages are valid until proven invalid?
Broken down by race and ethnicity, the study found Asian women have the lowest first divorce rate at 10 divorces per 1,000 women in a first marriage. The first divorce rates of white and Hispanic women were similar at 16.3 and 18.1, respectively. African-American women have substantially higher rates of first divorce compared to all other racial and ethnic groups, at 30.4 divorces per 1,000 women in a first marriage...
The association between education and divorce is also curvilinear. The least (no high school diploma or GED) and the highest (college degree) educated women share the lowest rate of first divorce, with 14.4 and 14.2 per 1,000, respectively. - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111103161830.htm?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
33% of all first marriages end in separation or divorce after 10 years (32% of White women, 34% of Hispanic women, and 47% of Black women)...
Black women are more likely to have a cohabitation end, and less likely to marry by age 30, likely to have a shorter marriage if they do marry for both first and second marriage, less likely to formally divorce if they marry then separate, less likely to cohabitate after a divorce, less likely to remarry, and less likely to have a successful second marriage. - http://www.psychpage.com/family/mod_couples_thx/cdc.html
In 1960 72% of adults were married (and 85% were ever married), compared to only 52% in 2008 (and 73% had ever married). Part of the difference is the higher divorce rate in modern times. — 2010, Pew Research Center; http://theosophical.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/americans%E2%80%99-changing-views-of-marriage-and-family/#more-2540
Almost 50 percent of households with children undergoing divorce move into poverty following the divorce. — Julia Heath, "Determinants of Spells of Poverty Following Divorce," Review of Social Economy, Vol. 49 (1992), pp. 305-315. http://www.hispeace.org/html/artic27.htm
Of all single mothers in America, only 6.5 percent of them are widows, 37.8 percent are divorced, and 41.3 percent gave birth out of wedlock. — Ann Coulter: Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America; http://rightwingnews.com/mt331/2009/04/ann_coulter_on_single_mothers.php
Single mothers—unwed or divorced—are estimated to co$t the US taxpayer $112 billion every year, or more than $1 trillion each decade.- http://www.marriagedebate.com/pdf/ec_div.pdf
66 percent of divorced couples in the United States are childless [not necessarily due to abortion], versus with 40 percent who have kids. — http://www.smartmarriages.com/divorce.factors.html
Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing costs U.S. taxpayers more than $112 billion a year, according to a study commissioned by groups advocating government action to bolster marriage. — Georgia State University economist Georgia State University economist Ben Scafidi’s, Institute for American Values, the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, Families Northwest of Redmond, Wash., and the Georgia Family Council,. http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=80&sid=1386915
Those who identify themselves as being conservative on social and political matters lower divorce rates (28%) than those liberal on social and political matters (37%). — http://www.barna.org/family-kids-articles/42-new-marriage-and-divorce-statistics-released