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Census report: Divorce rates go up down south

On Behalf of | Aug 26, 2011 | Divorce

According to a recent study by the U.S. Census Bureau, marriage and divorce trends in the country have taken an unpredictable turn. Many of us have ideas about how people in different parts of the country might think and act. People in California are laid back and beautiful, New Yorkers are always on the move, Minnesotans talk kind of funny and Texans, well they like football, barbecue and some might say they have some of the strongest family values of anyone in the U.S.

The Census Bureau’s 2009 analysis of marriage and divorce in this country turn some people’s perceptions of the southern states upside down. Along with the idea of down-home cooking and church-going folk comes the idea that divorce is probably not very common in the South. But research shows that’s not true.

Not only is divorce prevalent in the southern part of the country, but the 2009 analysis shows that the divorce rate is highest in some of the southern states compared to other parts of the U.S. The reason why splits are so common in the South, however, is pretty logical.

Overall, more people in the South marry, and they marry when they are younger compared to people in other parts of the U.S. More marriages mean more possibility of divorce. Past studies have also shown that those who marry younger are more likely to divorce. Plus, people in the South have less education on average than others in the county, and studies have shown that people with lower education levels are more likely to dissolve their marriages.

The idea that a divorce rate is directly related to the strength of a person’s or people’s family values is outdated. Today is the day of the modern family. A high divorce rate isn’t necessarily a sign that family values in the South have died. It can be looked at as a sign that more people are willing to fight for the family and future that is most valuable to them.

Source

Huffington Post: “United States Divorce Rate: 2009 Census Report Reveals Startling Marriage Trends,” Hope Yen, Aug. 25, 2011

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