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Causes of Divorce

The document discusses three major causes of divorce: lack of communication, physical/emotional abuse, and infidelity. Poor communication in marriages can take the form of superficial conversations, one partner being silent/uninterested, or explosive arguments. Physical abuse leads to injuries while emotional abuse destroys self-esteem. Infidelity includes both sexual and emotional unfaithfulness outside the marriage and has been linked to psychological problems in divorced individuals. Overall, these three factors are cited as common reasons why marriages end in divorce.

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Coci Khoury
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186 views4 pages

Causes of Divorce

The document discusses three major causes of divorce: lack of communication, physical/emotional abuse, and infidelity. Poor communication in marriages can take the form of superficial conversations, one partner being silent/uninterested, or explosive arguments. Physical abuse leads to injuries while emotional abuse destroys self-esteem. Infidelity includes both sexual and emotional unfaithfulness outside the marriage and has been linked to psychological problems in divorced individuals. Overall, these three factors are cited as common reasons why marriages end in divorce.

Uploaded by

Coci Khoury
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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According to Tshifhumulo and Daitai (2017), “[t]he modern generation has enfolded an

obdurate culture: the flattening of marriage and the promotion of divorce. Divorce is now part of

the everyday life of humanity” (p.177). Tshifhumulo and Daitai argue that divorce is now

increasingly introduced in society through books, movies, laws and institutions due to the

amplification of divorce rate throughout the years. In fact, Sharon Price, Christine Price, and

Patrick McKenry (2010) have found that divorce rate has nearly doubled since 1960 which

means that between 40 and 50 percent of marriages today are likely to fall apart. Many studies

have been conducted to find out the reasons behind divorce. Even though there are many factors

that lead to divorce, three important ones have been looked upon which include lack of

communication, physical and emotional abuse, and infidelity.

Firstly, an important component of any relationship is communication. Loss or poor

communication will most likely lead to problems in relationships, especially when it comes to

marriage. Studies have shown that poor communication is a major cause of divorce and that there

are three types of poor communication: surface communication, having a silent, unemotional, or

uninterested partner, and explosive communication (Canham, Mahmood, Stott, Sixsmith, &

O’Rourke, 2014). Surface communication is the “absence of communication where the spouses

had superficial conversations and did not take the time to talk in depth about troubling issues in

the marriage or they let arguments fester and remain unresolved” (Canham et al., 2014). Thus,

this will lead to a buildup of problems and marital dissatisfaction. Moreover, another type of

poor communication is when spouses are silent, unemotional, or uninterested. Many couples

have reported that the reason behind the failure of their marriage was due to the spouse’s

inability to communicate, by remaining silent. For example, Linda, a participant in a study about

divorce, said that her ex-husband: “was not a communicator; he never talked . . . about how he
felt about anything” (Cohman et al., 2014). The third type of poor communication is explosive

communication in which spouses yell or scream when talking to one another. All of these types

are ineffective ways of communication that weaken marriages and eventually lead to divorce.

In addition, another major cause of divorce is physical and emotional abuse. According to

Tshifhumulo and Daitai (2017), physical and emotional abuse is “eminent when people are

unable to resolve their problems within the marriage. Thou both male and female were found to

resort to abusive behaviours, the highest rate is found in the male counterparts” (p.184). While

physical abuse is more obvious because of external injuries and bruises, emotional abuse is as

dangerous because it destroys a person’s self-esteem and might lead to depression. In fact,

emotional abuse is often linked to the manipulative behavior of a bullying spouse which leaves

the other spouse feeling helpless and inferior (Canham et al., 599).

Finally, the third cause of divorce is infidelity. Infidelity has been defined in several ways

and “includes activities such as having extramarital relationship, having affair, sexual contact,

disloyalty, oral sex, fondling, kiss, emotional attachment beyond friendships, pornography use,

internet relationships and others (Vingerhoets and Van Heck, 1990, as cited in Azhar et al.,

2018). There are different types of betrayal such as sexual and emotional infidelity. While sexual

infidelity involves sexual activity with someone, emotional infidelity consists of giving attention

and romancing someone other than the spouse. Both activities have not only led to divorce, but

also emotional and psychological distress. It has been proven that “divorced individuals who had

experienced either sexual infidelity or emotional infidelity were more likely to developed

psychological problems as compared to married couples” (Azhar et al., 2018).

To sum up, there are many factors that lead to divorce including lack of communication,

physical and emotional abuse, and infidelity. These three reasons not only end a person’s
marriage but can also have negative psychological effects on individuals. A way of preventing

divorce is through promoting better communication with the spouse from the beginning of the

relationship, and setting clear boundaries in order to achieve mutual understanding.


References

Azhar, A., Abbas, J., Wenhong, Z., Akhtar, T., & Aqeel, M. (2018). Linking infidelity stress,

anxiety and depression: evidence from Pakistan married couples and divorced

individuals. International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, 11(3), 214-228.

Canham, S. L., Mahmood, A., Stott, S., Sixsmith, J., & O’Rourke, N. (2014). ’Til divorce do us

part: Marriage dissolution in later life. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 55(8), 591-612.

Price, S. J., Price, C. A., & McKenry, P. C. (Eds.). (2010). Families & change: Coping with

stressful events and transitions. Sage.

Tshifhumulo, R., & Daitai, E. (2017). An Investigation of Major Causes of Divorce: A Case

Study of Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Journal of Sociology and

Social Anthropology, 8(4), 177-184.

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