12.5: A Brief History of U.S. Divorce Trends

Explaining the Post-1950s Rise in Divorce

We cannot know with certainty why the divorce rate rose so sharply in the 1960s and 1970s, but some common explanations are incomplete. Firstly, there is little reason to think that marriages suddenly became less happy during that period. Although data on marital satisfaction across decades are limited, the best available research suggests that satisfaction did not noticeably decline after the 1950s. What changed instead was behavior. After the 1950s, people became more willing to end marriages that were already unhappy, making divorce a more common response to marital distress.

Second, some commentators have blamed the second-wave feminist movement for rising divorce rates, often claiming that feminism encouraged women to view marriage as oppressive. However, the timing does not support this argument. The women’s movement gained visibility in the late 1960s and became nationally prominent in the early 1970s, but the divorce rate had already begun increasing several years earlier. If the trend was already underway, it does not make sense to treat feminism as the primary cause. A more sociological explanation points to broader structural and cultural changes in family life.

One important factor was women’s growing economic independence. As more women entered the labor force, many became less financially dependent on their husbands, even though women’s wages often remained lower than men’s. Greater earnings and work experience made it more possible for women in unhappy or harmful marriages to leave because they were better able to support themselves after separation or divorce (Hiedemann, Suhomlinova, & O’Rand, 1998).

At the same time, dual-earner families often faced new pressures. Coordinating work schedules, childcare, household labor, and emotional expectations increased daily stress and reduced time for intimacy and problem-solving. When couples have less time and energy to address conflict, marital satisfaction may decline and divorce may become more likely.

Public attitudes toward divorce also changed. Disapproval of divorce has declined since the 1950s, even though negative views have not disappeared (Cherlin, 2009). Whereas divorce was once widely seen as a moral failure, it is now more often viewed as a normal, if still difficult, part of life. Along with this shift, the belief that couples should remain in unhappy marriages "for the sake of the children" has weakened, and ending a distressed marriage is increasingly seen as an acceptable option.

Historian Stephanie Coontz argues that modern divorce is not simply a sign of weaker commitment. It is also a consequence of how marriage itself changed historically. Once marriage came to be based more strongly on love, mutual affection, intimacy, and personal fulfillment, people became more willing to leave marriages that were unhappy, unequal, or harmful. Using the sociological imagination, divorce can therefore be understood as more than an individual private trouble. It is also shaped by public issues such as women’s changing economic opportunities, shifting cultural expectations about marriage, and legal reforms that made ending a failed marriage more feasible.

Legal change also contributed to rising divorce. Historically, most states required spouses to prove "fault," such as adultery, cruelty, or abandonment, in order to end a marriage. Today, all states allow some form of no-fault divorce, meaning a couple can divorce by stating that the marriage has broken down due to irreconcilable differences. When divorce becomes simpler, less adversarial, and less costly, more people are able to pursue it. However, divorce rates began increasing before many states adopted no-fault laws, suggesting that legal change was not the original cause. No-fault divorce is therefore best understood as one contributing factor that reinforced broader changes already underway (Kneip & Bauer, 2009).

Recent Trends in U.S. Divorce

Over roughly the last quarter century, divorce rates in the United States have declined steadily and are now closer to levels seen around 1970 (Wang, 2020). Using the refined divorce rate, which measures divorces per 1,000 married women, the U.S. divorce rate peaked at about 22.6 divorces per 1,000 married women around 1980. By 2023, it had declined to 14.4 divorces per 1,000 married women, and by 2024 it had declined slightly again to 14.2. In other words, divorce has become less common among married people than it was at its peak. This pattern shows a long-term downward trend rather than continued increases (Hays, 2025; Westrick-Payne, 2025).

Recent estimates also complicate the long-popular claim that "half of all marriages end in divorce." Cohort-based estimates suggest that about 40% of today’s first marriages may eventually end in divorce, while the risk is typically higher for remarriages (Bailey, 2025).

Researchers point to several likely explanations for the decline in divorce.

• Firstly, people are marrying at older ages and later marriage is associated with greater marital stability.
• Second, the educational attainment of those who marry has increased and higher education is also linked to lower divorce risk.
• Third, fewer people are marrying in the first place and fewer marriages also means fewer divorces. For example, in 2019 there were 16.3 new marriages per 1,000 women ages 15 and over, down from 17.6 in 2009 (Anderson and Scherer, 2020).

Is Less Divorce Always Better?

Falling divorce rates are often interpreted as good news and as a counterpoint to the idea that modern family life is in decline. However, they also raise an important sociological question: is less divorce always better?

Sociologist Philip N. Cohen (2017) argues that divorce trends are more complicated than a simple story of family decline or family recovery (Cohen, 2017). Most people who marry hope to stay together, but divorce is not like crime: a society with no divorce would not necessarily be healthier or more just. If divorce were impossible or extremely difficult to obtain, people could be trapped in unhappy, unequal, or abusive marriages.

At the same time, very high divorce rates may suggest that many marriages are under strain or that couples lack adequate support for resolving conflict, managing economic stress, or balancing work and family responsibilities. From this perspective, a moderate level of divorce may be healthiest: high enough that harmful or deeply distressed marriages can end, but not so high that marriages dissolve without opportunities for repair, support, or reflection.

There is no universally agreed-upon ideal divorce rate. However, Cohen’s argument encourages us to move beyond the assumption that more divorce is always bad or that less divorce is always good. Divorce can involve loss, instability, and economic hardship, but it can also be a pathway through which families reduce conflict, escape harm, and reorganize toward greater safety and stability.

Open Content, Shared Previously

Adapted by Sarah Earl-Novell from 11.5: Changes and Issues Affecting American Families in Introduction to Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World by Anonymous, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. 

Adapted by Sarah Earl-Novell from 14.3: Challenges Families Face in Introductory Sociology 3e (OpenStax), licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

Modifications by Sarah Earl-Novell include remixing, editing, contextualization, and the addition of original content.

References

Anderson, L., & Scherer, Z. (2020, December 7). U.S. marriage and divorce rates declined in last 10 years. United States Census Bureau.

Bailey, G., Stone, L., & Wilcox, W. B. (2025, July 24). Divorce in decline: About 40% of today’s marriages will end in divorce. Institute for Family Studies.

Cherlin, A. J. (2009). The marriage-go-round: The state of marriage and the family in America today. Alfred A. Knopf.

Cohen, P. N. (2017, February 20). What can the history of divorce tell us about the future of marriage? Sociological Images. 

Hays, J. (2025, October 16). 8 facts about divorce in the United States. Pew Research Center.

Hiedemann, B., Suhomlinova, O., & O’Rand, A. M. (1998). Economic independence, economic status, and empty nest in midlife marital disruption. Journal of Marriage and Family, 60(1), 219–231.

Kneip, T., & Bauer, G. (2009). Did unilateral divorce laws raise divorce rates in Western Europe? Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(3), 592–607.

Westrick-Payne, K. K. (2025). Refined divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2024 (Family Profiles, FP-25-31). National Center for Family & Marriage Research.