Texas, is not one of the states that top the list of increasing number of divorce cases in America. But that does not lead to the conclusion that the divorce rate in Texas is too low. There is a constant increase and decrease in their rates. Though, the concept of ending the married life was practiced since ages, this trend is now found to be increasing on a wider scale in most of the states.
The concept of making proper, reliable reports about the divorce rates in Texas was started from the year 1970. Given below is the table that describes the rates in Texas from the year 1970 to 2009.
| Year | Divorce Rate Per Thousand Population |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 5 |
| 1974 | 6 |
| 1979 | 6.9 |
| 1984 | 5.7 |
| 1989 | 5.5 |
| 1994 | 5 |
| 1999 | 4 |
| 2004 | 3.9 |
| 2009 | 3.5 |
Comparison of Divorce Rates of Texas
Contents
Year-wise
The year wise rates in Texas showed a constant increase between the years 1970 to 1980 and a gradual drop from 1984 to 2009. There is no definite reason for such variations and no further estimations can be made in future.
Comparison Between Marriage Rate and Divorce Rate
- In 1990, the marriage rate per thousand population was around 10.5, whereas, the divorce rate reported in the same year was around 5.5.
- In the year 2000, the marriage rate calculated per thousand population was approximately 9.4, and the divorce rate came upto 4.0.
- The reports of the year 2009 state that the marriage rate in that year was 7.1 out of which 3.3 per thousand people were further recorded under the divorce rate.
Age and Sex
In Texas as in other regions of the United States of America, it is the females who lead the list of those who decide to end their married life. The percentage of divorce of men lying in the age group of 30 to 44 is around 48, whereas, 50 percentage of women lying in the age group of 25-39 who apply for divorces. The percentage of divorce among men who are teenagers was 0.2 whereas that of women teenagers was approximately 0.7 in the year 2006. Reports of the same year states that 47.1 percentage of males who were divorced in that year belonged to the age group of 25 to 39 years.
Marriage Rate and Divorce Rate in Both the Sexes Individually
- In the year 2008-2009, the marriage rate per thousand, men were 21.5 out of which the rate of divorce came up to 10.0.
- In the same year, the marriage rate of females per thousand were reported to be around 2.4 out of which 11.9 resulted in divorce.
Divorce Affecting Children
The records of 2006 state that around 62,400 children, who were still below eighteen years, suffered when their parents get separated each other. The average count of children involved in per divorce decree in the year 2006 was approximately 0.75.
Reasons for Changing Divorce Rates
Although, there is no definite reason for the changes happening in these rates in Texas, the situations and views of different people are given below which can be an answer to this question.
- Getting a divorce has become a very simple task in recent days. Changes that have occurred in the family laws is one of the reasons for an easy end up of a marriage. One such law is a no fault divorce in which there is no need to specify the exact reason for your decision of ending your married life.
- The concept of marriage is not taken up seriously by most of the youngsters. They just decide to marry and if they dislike this change in their life, they plan to take divorce from their spouse. This generally happens amongst most of the teenagers who do not have proper understanding about marriage.
- Lack of communication and understanding between the couples result in ending the married life
- The social acceptance is one more reason for this increase and change. The attitude of the society towards this concept is completely changed, if compared to the last few years. Ending the married life has become a common task in the present days.
- The introduction of more than one marriages has also resulted in the changes in rates. An unsuccessful first marriage easily gives way to a second marriage after divorcing the first spouse and a second divorce gives way to a third marriage. Divorcing more than one spouses one after the other is also not a difficult task in the present generation.
- Women are no longer dependent on males. Everyone is independent and are capable enough to live a healthy and a wealthy life provided they possess the required skills. This independent nature has further increased the chances of divorce. Women have proved that they have an equal potential to live a lifestyle the way they wish.
- Gray divorce is also one of the factors. People over the age of 50 years surprisingly do end of marital life their spouses for various reasons.
The reason for every divorce and the change in the rate keep on changing. Every end up of marriage case that has stepped the doors of the court will give rise to a different reason for their decision of ending their married lives. This gives rise to changing graphs of divorce rate in Texas after every ten years.