Divorce in Utah State has become the issue of our high concern, as its average appears to be higher that in the whole country of the United States. In this paper, we would like to discuss divorce as an individual matter and community issue, as well as present the reasons for the high rates of divorce in the Utah State. It is a widely established fact that marriage in the young age is likely to become the main reason for divorce in the future. Therefore, the following question arises: should the young people know each other better before they get married? As far as the children become the main victim after divorce, there is a need to reconsider the concept of marriage and divorce.
First of all, we would like to say that entering a marriage is an individual issue, and people marry and divorce according to their expectations of the future benefits (Schramm, 2006). In other words, couples marry and divorce if only they believe it to be a better option within the other alternatives. Although the majority of the couples divorcing only consider personal and direct economic impact of this process, there are other costs involved, as divorce is as much a community issue as it is the individual matter. As it was cited in Schramm (2006), divorce has a profound effect on the American society:
“Beyond the negative consequences for the physical and mental health of the people involved, today’s high divorce rate seriously affects the broader social health of our nation. Divorce is not merely a personal event but, when extensive, can influence the character and tone of an entire culture” (p. 148).
As we can see from this statement, the institution of marriage is not merely a private institution because it affects the society in a much broader sense. Therefore, divorce can be seen as a community issue, as it has direct and indirect economical impacts on the individuals and society as a whole.
On the individual level, the couples undergoing divorce tend to face financial losses. For example, in order to start the process, it is estimated that the average legal expenditures reach $7000 for a couple. Moreover, about 35% of the divorcees have to change their place of living, which cannot but affect children: “The average American child in a two-parent family experiences 1.5 moves before age 15. The average child from a divorced family moves 2.5 times” (Schramm, 2006, p.138). In addition to this, divorcees are more likely to rent the housing rather than own it, which leads to additional financial losses. According to the statistics, the housing fee for a single person in the US in 1999 was $11,626, while the couples with at least one child paid $15,590 (Schramm, 2006). Decline in income is significant for the divorced women and those couples already having financial difficulties.
Although the process of divorce has a direct impact on the individuals, we should as well examine this issue on the social level, because it has an …