As you all know, the Census Bureau collects many facts and figures throughout the year. They do not all come from those census forms that we fill out once a decade, but rather from openly available public records, surveys, etc. Their reports are often over a year after the data has been collected, but that is not normally their fault. If you think about it, for divorce figures, the data is collected by the states, not the federal government. At the end of the year, the states have to publish their date, but of course they have to collate it first. So, a state may not issue a previous year’s data until the middle of the next years. That is when the census bureau finally gets its hands on the final figures, but then it itself has to collate the data, analyze it, and publish its reports. By this time it is into the year after. So, our divorce data is from 2009, but that is the most current analyzed national data available from the Census Bureau. It was just finally publicly released several days ago, and it was a shocker to me. Let me quote what is the common thread in various articles published in various venues:
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — The Southern U.S. has the highest divorce rate of any region of the country with couples splitting up at a faster pace than the national level, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. In the South, the divorce rate in 2009 was 10.2 per 1,000 for men and 11.1 per 1,000 for women, compared with a national rate of 9.2 for men and 9.7 for women. Fourteen states had higher divorce rates for men than the U.S. average, including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. At the same time, states with the lowest rates, from 6.1 to 8.5, included Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Overall, men and women in the Northeast region had the lowest rates of divorce, at 7.2 and 7.5, respectively.
Speaking of divorce, if you are going through one and are looking for a lawyer you can help you during such a rough face, I would highly recommend you contact the Ramsden Family Law attorneys. There are several other websites, whose home page you can browse through for more help. Let me mention that while the Northeast as a region had the lowest divorce rates, additional states, such as California, matched the lowest divorce figures. Already the analyses have begun, but at least a couple that I have read betray the journalist’s lack of mathematical knowledge. For instance, one said that the reason there were more divorces in the Southeast was because there were more marriages, so it “makes sense” that there would be more divorces. But, the figures that I quotes above are “rates.” Mathematically, a “rate” lets you compare big states and small states, lower total marriage states and higher total marriage states. To cope with your divorce you can know more about Divorce Rebuilders here.
But, of course, was struck everyone right away was that the states that most claim to be family values oriented were the states where families are breaking up faster than any other region in the nation, while the states that eschew using that terminology, and are supposedly the states in which Christians find life harder, are actually the states where families are less likely to break up. It is quite a contradiction between what is said and what is practiced. There are probably many sociological factors that can give helpful insights into why the figures are the way they are. But, do not miss what the figures do point out. In the Southeast, when it comes to marriage, there is a significant disconnect between what is said, and actual measured behavior. Meanwhile, the Northeast states, most of which have pro-choice politicians–and several have gay marriage–are the states in which heterosexual marriage fares the best.
The interesting question to ask is why there is this disconnect. Of course, the word that has popped into many people’s mind already is the word hypocrisy. But, that is a mite strong. If you listen to country music at all, you already know that for decades country music has been singing about the regional experience, which is that you walk the “sawdust trail” but then you have relational problems. It is an old joke that to write a country song your spouse needs to leave you, your truck needs to break down, and your dog needs to die. Country music has recognized for decades that the disconnect that the Census Bureau found is a disconnect that has been present all along. Nevertheless, it is true that what is proclaimed does not match what is lived, and that is what country music has recorded so strongly.
Me, I suspect that there are several facets that play into the reality of this region, facets that sadly help to divide speech from practice, facets that allow for a “hot” religion but a “cold” practice, facets that present a picture of a “committed Christianity” that many people outside the region see as a purely outward expression rather than as an attractive alternative.
[Ed. note: Go to the post on the 29th of August which explains and modifies the last paragraph of this post somewhat.]
===MORE TO COME===
It is curious, I think, that the people who are most in need of liberal divorce laws are most afraid of Same-Sex marriage.
Sir, I beg to disagree. “Liberal” divorce laws are never needed. If anything, I submit that they actually do much to undermine marriage as a social, societal, and spiritual commitment.
I find it odd that many who would call me a hypocrite due to my opposition to same-sex “marriage” use divorce laws as if they are some sort of truncheon to end the debate. When I ask for help amongst people who do so to make divorce more rare and difficult to obtain, the lack of volunteers is quite noticeable.
I suspect that the states with the lower divorce rate have much higher co-habitation rate. In the more cultural conservative areas it is not as acceptable for non married couples to live together. In the South it is more acceptable to try and fail at marriage, than to not try at all. I’m not sure if data exists that can confirm or contradict this theory. My theory is strongly based on my personal experience as a Southern Evangelical.
I do think that most Protestant congregations are way too permissive when it comes to remarriage. I was very disappointed when a pastor from the church I grew up in officiated my fathers second marriage such a short time after my parents divorce was final. The words, “till death do us part” just don’t sound very impressive at a 2nd marriage.
The Orthodox liturgy for a second marriage has a confession of sin built into it. The assumption is that if there was a divorce, sin was involved. Note that in the case of a clearly abused spouse, some priests will soften that part of the liturgy, but some will keep it arguing that we are all sinners.
A confession of sin is such a thoughtful addition to the liturgy for the 2nd marriage. I was unaware of the part of Orthodox Tradition.
I always thought that big cities like Los Angeles, New York, Miami would have the highest divorce rates. I’m shocked to hear it’s the Southern States. Maybe it’s because they get married too young?
I may be misinterpreting the data, but this isn’t exactly the best way to measure divorce. It’s all the Census Bureau has to go on though and is useful to a point.
I’m assuming the initial marital status of those 1000 people is not being considered here and so this is just divorces per 1000 people, not per 1000 married people. In that case the marriage rate is very important, which may be what those other journalists meant to say. If the roughly 10 people in the northeast states were the only ones that were married than that’s a 100% divorce rate. On the other hand if all 1000 of them in the southern states were initially married than that’s a minimal divorce rate. If I’m misinterpreting the information and all 1000 people were married than it’s much more useful data.
That said, I actually think the implications of the statistics are indeed correct. Liberals (for lack of a better term – I consider myself liberal in most respects) tend to get married later. They are often co-habitating and have no problems with pre-marital sex, which is bad. But they are then far more mature when they do get married, which is good and leads to more stable marriages and families.
One thing that is certain is that the teen pregnancy rate is far higher in southern and “conservative” states than it is in the northeast and “liberal” ones. I blame this on the obviously very effective abstinence only approach most of those states have towards sex education. I’m guessing that it does lead to lots of doomed shotgun marriages that we are seeing in this data.
The rate quoted is per thousand married people. I am sorry that I did not make that clear.
What is the marriage rate for the various regions? If the marriage rate is higher in the South and the rate of divorce per marriage were the same, then the divorce rate would be higher. I don’t think just looking at the overall divorce rate is sufficient.
I was asked about the cohabitation rate in one of the posts. The 2010 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey of the Census Bureau does record an increase in cohabitation rates of heterosexual couples in the USA. Between 2009 and 2010, the rate of cohabitation appeared to increase by 13%. In 2009, the estimate was 6,700,000 cohabiting couples. By 2010, that estimate grew to 7,500,000 cohabiting couples.
Here is the kicker, of the newly added cohabiting couples, a higher percentage came from the South. So, for those who are arguing that maybe they get married sooner in the South, the reality is that the increase in cohabitation was HIGHER in the South than in other regions of the country.
[Late note: The percentage of cohabiting couples as a function of the population of the USA is also highest in the South.]