Examine the Reasons for Changing Patterns of Marriage and Divorce over the Last 50 Years or so.

'Examine the reasons for changing patterns of marriage and divorce over the last 50 years or so.' (24 marks)

There have been varied patterns over the last fifty years for marriage and divorce. Marriage, being a legally recognised commitment between two adults, holds many responsibilities - for example, financially.

Divorce is the legal splitting of that couple meaning they are no longer bound by the law to cohabitate or be committed to one another.

Recently marriage has become less popular and cohabitation has increased. It has been argued by Chester (1985) that marriages are being delayed and cohabitation often comes before a marriage now. This is often because couples would like to see how well they live with each other and use it as a sort of trial period before marriage - a more serious commitment. However, many couples see no issue in cohabitating and not marrying and therefore do not. Another reason to support the decrease in marriage would be the cost, especially with the recent recession, most people find marriages very difficult to finance. Many couples that desire to marry are fairly young and do not have the source of finance to host a wedding.

Often in the twentieth century, couples felt obliged to marry if the woman was pregnant. As this is generally not the case anymore due to the acceptation of pre-marital sex, marriage will have decreased from fifty years ago.

That said, opposing the decrease in marriage would be the point of the recent legislation of homosexual marriages in the UK as this would increase the total amount of marriages. Though, some could argue it could also heighten the divorce rate! Additionally, as marriage – like divorce – is more acceptable without religion and more accessible from the government, we now have situations called serial monogamy. This is people being married and then divorced several times in their life and this is a reason for the increase in both marriage and divorce rates.

In addition, divorce is...