Very interesting: a recent Gallup poll aimed at testing the waters of contemporary American values found that 68 percent of the 1,535 respondents said that divorce is morally acceptable, while 91 percent said that heterosexual adultery is morally wrong. Those polled were asked to respond to the idea of 20 different behaviors, and heterosexual infidelity ranked the worst of all, while divorce was the second most popularly acceptable.
In fact, human cloning, polygamy and suicide were all seen as more acceptable than infidelity. The findings suggest significant changes from years past with regard to Americans’, and perhaps many Georgians’, views of marriage and family.
Four decades ago, adultery was far more widely approved of — at that time, the same poll showed the disapproval rate for infidelity to be two times lower than it is now. A different sense of marital justice appears to have risen up in younger generations.
The phenomenon of so-called “gray divorce” is also noteworthy. Older Americans, who are living longer than ever before, are exhibiting higher rates of divorce than their younger counterparts, and more and more baby boomers are opting for divorce in a quest for happiness in their remaining years.
The reasons for the dissolution of a marriage can be singular or many. Money problems are a common issue, as is physical or verbal abuse. Sometimes couples simply grow distant and fall out of love.
When these issues crop up between parents, special actions have to be taken to protect the children. No matter what your situation is, if you’re considering divorce, then effective divorce planning may be the key to a better future.
Source: The Atlantic, “How Marital Infidelity Became America’s Last Sexual Taboo,” Hugo Schwyzer, May 29, 2013
