OCTOBER 2000 The Effects of Divorce on America by Patrick Fagan and Robert Rector More and morre social scientists are concluding that divorce is hurting American society and devastating the lives of children.

• Children whose parents have divorced are increasingly the victims of abuse and neglect. They exhibit more health, behavioral, and emotional problems, are involved more frequently in crime and drug abuse, and have higher suicide rates.

• Children of divorced parents more frequently demonstrate a diminished learning capacity, performing more poorly than their peers from intact two-parent families in reading, spelling, and math. They have higher dropout rates and lower rates of college graduation.

• Divorce generally reduces the income of the child's primary household and seriously diminishes the potential of every household member to accumulate wealth. For families that were not poor before the divorce, the drop in income can be as much as 50 percent.

• Religious worship, which has been linked to health and happiness as well as longer marriages and better family life, is less prevalent in divorced families.

CRIME AND EDUCATION

To understand the significant relationship between a community's crime rate and family background, one need only look at the evidence. For example, Robert Sampson, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, found that the divorce rate predicted the rate of robbery in any given area, regardless of economic and racial composition. Sampson studied 171 U.S. cities with populations of more than 100,000. In these communities, he found that the lower the rates of divorce, the higher the formal and informal social controls (such as supervision of children) and the lower the crime rates.
        Child abuse is closely related to delinquency and violent crime, and divorce is a relevant factor in an abused child's background. Not only do higher levels of divorce accompany higher levels of child abuse, remarriage does not reduce the level of child abuse and may even add to it. After a divorce, mothers may marry again or acquire new boyfriends, but the presence of a stepfather or boyfriend increases the risk of abuse, though at significantly different rates.
        When parents divorce, most children suffer. For some, this suffering turns into long-lasting psychological damage. Neglect of children, which can be psychologically more damaging than physical abuse, is twice as high among separated and divorced parents.
        Children who use drugs and abuse alcohol are more likely to come from family backgrounds characterized by parental conflict and rejection. Because divorce increases these factors, it increases the likelihood that children will abuse alcohol and begin using drugs. Comparing all family structures, drug use in children is lowest in the intact married family.

* Neglect of children, which can be psychologically more damaging than physical abuse, is twice as high among separated and divorced parents.

        Throughout a child's educational experience, divorce hinders learning and achievement. Divorce impedes learning by disrupting productive study patterns, as children are forced to move between domiciles, and by increasing anxiety and depression in both parents and children. Because of its impact on stable home life, divorce can diminish the capacity to learn--a principle demonstrated by the fact that children whose parents divorce have lower rates of graduation from high school and college and also complete fewer college courses.

ECONOMY AND PERSONALITY

According to data reported in 1994 by Mary Corcoran, professor of political science at the University of Michigan, "During the years children lived with two parents, their family incomes averaged $43,600, and when these same children lived with one parent, their family incomes averaged $25,300."
        Divorce has significant negative economic consequences for families. The breakup of families leaves one parent trying to do the work of two people--and one person cannot support a family as well as two can. The result is decreased household income and a higher risk of poverty.
        Almost 50 percent of households with children undergoing divorce move into poverty following the divorce. Some 40 percent of families on AFDC are divorced or separated single-parent households.
        Divorce also wreaks havoc with children's psychological stability. When their families break up , they experience reactions ranging from anger, fear, and sadness to yearning, worry, rejection, conflicting loyalties, lowered self-confidence, heightened anxiety and loneliness, depression, suicidal thoughts, and even suicide attempts.
        Divorce affects all of society's major institutions, but none more than the family itself and the child's capacity to sustain family life as an adult. The severing of the relationship between mother and father rends the hearts of most children, making their own capacity to have deep and trusting relationships more tenuous.
        Indeed, divorce seems to perpetuate itself across successive generations. The impact on home life is so strong that children of divorced parents struggle as adults to create a positive, healthy family environment for their own children. Adults who experienced divorce as children prove less capable of breaking the cycle and instead pass on a legacy of tragedy to their children and grandchildren.

WEAKENED RELATIONSHIPS

Parents not only divorce each other, they in effect divorce or partially divorce their children. The primary result of divorce is the deterioration of the relationship between the child and at least one parent. Divorced mothers, despite their best intentions, are less able than married mothers to give the same level of emotional support to their children. Divorced fathers are less likely to have a close relationship with their children; and the younger the children are at the time of the divorce, the more likely the father is to drift away from regular contact with them.

The severing of the relationship between mother and father rends the hearts of most children, making their own capacity to have deep and trusting relationships more tenuous.

        Divorce diminishes children's capacity to handle conflict. One important difference between marriages that stay intact and those that end in divorce is the couple's ability to handle conflict and move toward agreement. Children of divorced parents can acquire the same incapacity to work through conflict from their parents.
        Many teenagers struggle with feelings of inadequacy and frequently turn these feelings into erroneous judgments of peer rejection. Daughters of divorce find it more difficult to value their femininity or believe that they are genuinely lovable. Sons of divorced parents frequently demonstrate less confidence in their ability to relate with women, either at work or romantically.
        When a family breaks apart, the rhythm of family life is deeply affected, and this often means that religious practice is disrupted. The diminished practice of religion, in turn, can have negative consequences. The data clearly show that parents and children in intact families are much more likely to worship than are members of divorced families or stepfamilies. Moreover, following a divorce, children are more likely to stop practicing their faith. Even when they enter a new stepfamily, their frequency of religious worship does not return to its prior level.
        This drop-off in worship has serious consequences because religious practice has been found to have beneficial effects on such factors as physical and mental health, education level, income, virginity, marital stability, crime, addiction, and general happiness. Church attendance is the most significant predictor of marital stability; it is closely related to sexual restraint in adolescence. Regular worship, more than religious attitudes or affiliation, is associated with lower crime rates and lower rates of use and abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs. Religious worship is associated with better health and longevity, reducing the risk of suicide, both in America and abroad.

REVERSING THESE TRENDS

As the available evidence shows, divorce is bad for society and very harmful for children. It weakens relationships, communities, cities, states, and the nation. The increased rates of child abuse and neglect, crime, behavioral and emotional problems, health problems, cohabitation, future divorce, and out-of-wedlock births as well as the decrease in religious worship, educational attainment, and income potential should alarm every policymaker and community leader. The effects of divorce transcend generations and contribute to the all-too-evident cycle of social decay.
        Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-New York) was right when he said that "Congress cannot legislate useful attitudes," but this does not mean that politicians cannot work to change attitudes that undermine families and society. Many great politicians, from Augustus through Ronald Reagan, have used the podium and gavel to do exactly that. But changing attitudes toward divorce will require politicians and civic leaders at the federal, state, and local levels to make this one of their most important future tasks if America is to protect tomorrow's children from the effects of divorce.
        Moreover, restoration of marriage will require a modest commitment of resources to pro-marriage programs. While fiscal conservatives may balk at this recommendation, they should consider that federal and state governments currently spend $150 billion per year to subsidize and sustain single-parent families.
        By contrast, only $150 million is spent to strengthen marriage. Thus, for every $1,000 spent to deal with the effects of family disintegration, only $1 is spent to prevent that disintegration. The folly of such misplaced priorities should be evident to all.
        Refocusing funds to preserve marriage by reducing divorce and illegitimacy will be good for children and society and will save money in the long run as well.

WHAT CONGRESS SHOULD DO

Congress should take the following steps to combat the problem:
        First, establish, by resolution, a national goal of reducing divorce among families with children by one-third over the next decade. Setting such a goal would immediately focus national attention on the severe problems related to divorce. Setting a national goal would help channel resources into divorce prevention and foster new approaches to strengthening marriage. Reducing the divorce rate by one-third would roll it back to roughly the level that existed in the early 1970s.
        Second, establish pro-marriage demonstration programs. The federal government should divert sufficient funds from existing social programs to establish a wide range of demonstration programs to provide training in marriage skills. Such programs should give young people, dating couples, and married couples the information and tools necessary to help them build and maintain a strong marriage, including an understanding of the major reasons why marriages break up. The programs also should seek to develop skills for handling conflict, dealing with change, and enhancing the marital relationship.

* Government commitment to strengthening marriage is the first and best welfare program, which wil benefit not only today's children but future generations.

        Third, rebuild the federal-state system for gathering statistics on marriage and divorce. Since 1993, the gathering of accurate data on divorce has stopped; in 1995, the Clinton administration ended federal support for this system. Half the states no longer compile data from marriage registries and divorce courts. Without such information, the nation cannot assess the true impact of marriage or divorce on families, schools, communities, and taxpayers.
        Fourth, host a National Marriage Summit in conjunction with governors who are leading in this area. Govs. Frank Keating of Oklahoma, Mike Leavitt of Utah, Bill Owens of Colorado, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Jeb Bush of Florida, and Mike Foster of Louisiana have publicly voiced their interest in reforming marriage policy. The summit's focus should be what must be done to restore marriage to its rightful place as this society's center beam.
        Fifth, give a onetime tax credit to always-married couples when their youngest children reach age 18. Giving a onetime tax credit of, for example, $500 to always-married parents would signal to Americans that an intact marriage is important and fundamental to the well-being of children and the nation. This would represent a small reward for those who commit their marriages to nurturing the next generation into adulthood, and it would begin to help offset the marriage penalty in the current tax code.

WHAT STATES CAN DO

Marriage and divorce are governed by state law. States should change their laws to reduce the impact of divorce on children. Specifically, they should:
        Establish a goal within each state to reduce the divorce rate among parents with children by one-third over the next decade.
        Set up pro-marriage education and mentoring programs. State governments should establish programs to provide young people, dating couples, and married couples with the information and tools necessary to build and maintain strong marriages.
        Require married couples with minor children to complete divorce education and a mediated copartnering plan before filing for divorce. Education can help couples resolve problems and save their marriage; however, it is most effective when undertaken in the initial stages of the divorce process.
        End "no-fault" divorce for parents with children under age 18. No-fault divorce is a meaningless term for children because of the damage divorce does.
        Make the covenant marriage option available to couples who seek to marry. In a covenant marriage, couples are bound by force of law to a marriage contract that lengthens the process for obtaining a divorce by two years, thus applying a brake on the divorce. Louisiana and Arizona have enacted covenant marriage laws. In approximately 25 states, such legislation has been introduced but has not progressed through the legislative process.
        Take a page from the educational outreach strategy embodied in Florida's 1998 Marriage Preservation and Preparation Act. This bill requires marriage education classes for all high school students and offers a marriage license fee reduction to couples who take a minimum four-hour marriage education course.
        Divorce has pervasive ill effects on children and the five major institutions of society: the family, church, school, marketplace, and government itself. If the family is the building block of society, then marriage is the foundation. This foundation is growing weaker, however, with fewer adults entering into marriage, more adults leaving it in divorce, and more and more adults eschewing it altogether for single parenthood or cohabitation.
        Given the prevalence of divorce, American children are becoming weaker educationally, emotionally, and physically. Yet few are willing to point to divorce as a major contributor to these problems. Few policymakers like to dwell on its effects, but ignoring the problems will do little to change the culture of divorce.
        To set about rebuilding a culture of family based on marriage and providing it with all the protections and supports necessary to make intact marriages commonplace again, federal, state, and local officials must begin to talk about the problem and experiment to find sound strategies. America's forefathers had to rebuff threats from outside the nation. Today's generations are called to counter threats from within. What is required is the will to act.
Reprinted by permission of the Heritage Foundation.

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