Why Marriages Fail

A report in The Sunday Times yesterday refers to some interesting research in Holland into the causes of marriage breakdown. The researchers interviewed 1700 people in Holland who have divorced since 1949 and found that the reasons given for marriage breakdown have changed quite dramatically in the last fifty years, shedding light on the huge increase in divorce rates over that period. It seems that reasons for divorce used to be in general far more serious than today, most commonly involving violence and adultery, whereas today emotional and psychological factors are much more important. The researchers speculate that in the past incompatible couples may have stayed together unless the marriage deteriorated into violence or adultery whereas today couples are likely to separate much sooner, hence the higher divorce rates.