State’s Divorce Rate Falls To 24-Year Low Experts Cite Later Marriages, Attitude Change

The divorce rate has hit a 24-year low in Washington state, mirroring a national downward trend that seems to indicate people are entering marriage more cautiously and working harder to stay married, researchers say.

The state’s divorce rate peaked in 1976, with 7.42 of every 1,000 Washington residents getting divorced. By 1994, the rate had fallen to 5.49 per 1,000, according to statistics from the state Office of Financial Management.

In addition, preliminary statistics show the national divorce rate declined slightly in 1995 and is at a 21-year low, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, a federal agency that tracks divorce.

“People have seen the high cost of divorce, and divorce is not seen as positive as it once was. People have found that divorce is difficult because they have seen their friends and neighbors divorce,” said sociologist Andrew Cherlin, a prominent researcher on divorce at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Sally Clarke, a statistician at the national center, said the numbers show a change in behavior.

One change is that couples are delaying marriage until later in life. Studies show the survival rate of marriage increases with age. For example, the 1990 census found that 47 percent of teenage marriages had ended in divorce, compared with only 10 percent of marriages in which couples married after age 30.

Also, more young couples are choosing to live together rather than marry. The census found more than 3.5 million unmarried-couple households in 1993, seven times more than in 1970. Breakups of these relationships are not included in divorce statistics.

But these trends may not account for the entire drop in the divorce rate. The rate is down for almost every age group between 24 and 45, and divorce is down when married people are used as the base rather than the total population, according to the Health Statistics center.

In a statewide survey of 401 parents this summer, Hebert Research found that 79 percent believe “marriage is forever.” Nearly all disagreed that divorce causes no harm to children, and only 42 percent said divorce is “clearly an option” when a married couple has problems.

Divorce likely will be on the minds of Washington legislators next month as they take up proposals addressing the problem.

One proposal would give engaged couples the option of waiving their rights to a no-fault divorce. They could divorce only after proving infidelity, abuse or other cause. A similar measure failed in the House earlier this year on a 41-54 vote that drew the support of gubernatorial hopeful Dale Foreman, House Speaker Clyde Ballard and other Republican lawmakers.

Rep. Kathy Lambert, R-Woodinville, is drafting legislation that would require counseling before marriage. Counseling already is required of divorcing parents when they submit a parenting plan, she said.

The Washington Family Council, a Bellevue-based group that commissioned the survey of parents, also wants a requirement that fault be assigned in divorce, in addition to having children’s rights considered first in divorce proceedings.

“It’s time to relook at our divorce laws. The children are especially hurt when marriages can be broken up too easily,” said Jeff Kemp, the former Seattle Seahawks quarterback who now heads the council.

“We’re in a crisis with children,” University of Washington sociologist Debra Friedman said. “With one parent looking after their welfare rather than two parents, too many children are growing up in need.”

Friedman, who conducted a fiveyear historical study of divorce, believes parents should be held to a legal standard similar to one in place at the turn of the century.

“Don’t ask who wants the child, but who will take responsibility for the child. That’s a very different question,” she said.

Another UW sociologist, Diane Lye, cautioned against trying to find legislative solutions to divorce.

“If we restrict divorce laws, it won’t make unhappy marriages happier,” she said. “Just changing the law won’t make the problem go away. We can’t underestimate the gains of escaping very unhappy marriages.”