Marriage & Divorce
Posted by Improving Lives Counseling | Articles
In the U.S., couples marrying for the first time have a 33% chance of divorcing or a 67% chance of staying married. Reportedly, generation X and millenniums find “as long you both shall live”, a 21st century challenge rather than a matrimonial commitment. Could this be why statistics show 64% of couples write their own vows and 53% of couples remove content from long held traditional vows? Perhaps the divorce rate has slipped from 50% to 33% because couples are cohabitating rather than “tying the knot.” In 2014, The Pew Research Center reported, “In 2012 one-in-five adults age 25 and older (about 42 million people) had never been married. In 1960 only about one-in-ten adults (9%) in that age range had never been married. Adults are marrying later in life, and the shares of adults cohabiting and raising children outside of marriage have increased significantly.”
Healthy, happy marriages are good for mental and physical health. Children growing up in a happy home have fewer mental, physical, and social problems. Although more than 50% of those surveyed believe marriage is a must for couples who want to spend their lives together, 46% placed marriage at the bottom of their list of priorities. As society evolves, economic realities change and cultural norms fade, getting married and/or staying married, [for many] turn out to be an arduous task. Improving Lives Counseling Services offers counseling and therapy for relationship problems.
In 2016, AARP online published an article subtitled: “Is your significant other keeping you healthy – or making you sick?” Chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and stress can be linked to an unhealthy or unhappy marriage. Depression and/or disruptive behavior in one spouse can lead to alcoholism, drug abuse, promiscuity, and physical abuse in the partner. A marriage in which one spouse is chronically ill is more likely to fail if the relationship is new or the couple is young (millennial or generation X). Sudden loss of a parent, a child, a job, or a home can disrupt or end a relationship.
Although the divorce rate is down, “Gray Divorce” (adults 65+) is on the rise; a quarter of all divorces are among boomers 50 and older and these numbers too are expected to rise. The stigmas which forced couples to stay together have given way to happiness outside of marriage. Today’s two income families often translate into individual careers, separate retirement plans, and autonomous lifestyles. Knowing modern medicine will give them a longer, healthier life; escape, get-away, and the prospect of starting over are real for baby boomers and retirees alike. As couples age, they change physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. When they fail to grow together, they grow apart. The 21st century affords couples of all ages an easier track toward separation and divorce – often unwarranted and unnecessary.
Before you find yourselves sleeping in separate rooms, preparing separate meals, or spending hours alone binge watching shows you know your partner fails to appreciate, let us help. Irreconcilable differences within a relationship can lead to high blood pressure, migraines, digestive disorders, incontinence, and heart attacks. Coercive control and emotional abuse can lead to physiological and psychological problems. The counselors and therapists of Improving Lives Counseling Services want you to live the life you were meant to live. Mental check-ups are just as important for couples as they are for children, adolescents, and teens. It’s never too early or too late to work on making your relationship the best it can be. Improving Lives Counseling Services offers individual, couples, family, group, and video sessions. You are not alone. Call us.
