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   Home  > Articles

Can Government Rescue Marriages?

By Dr Scott M Stanley & Dr Howard J Markman

New Fault, No Fault

The chief aim of initiatives to make divorce more difficult is to get couples to work harder at making their marriages work, and to reduce the degree to which society collectively thinks of marriages as disposable. As part of this movement, many state assemblies (e.g., Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Virginia, and others) are considering the reintroduction of fault into divorce proceedings, or introducing longer waiting periods and/or requiring pre-divorce counseling. For most couples, it will be "too little too late." Most people do not file for divorce or even seriously entertain the idea until the marriage quality is severely eroded. These issues can be understood in the context of our research on commitment.

Commitment encompasses two related but different concepts: Dedication and Constraint. Dedication refers to the intrinsic devotion of one to another, and it is evidenced by thinking as a team, desiring a future together, placing a high priority on the relationship, and protecting the marriage from attractive alternatives. Constraint refers more to forces that tend to keep people committed when they might want to leave: e.g., children, limited financial resources, social pressure, moral beliefs about divorce, and the difficulty of the steps to end a marriage.

Essentially, the legal steps to reintroduce fault in divorce proceedings or to increase waiting times enhance constraint commitment. Making it harder to end a marriage would very likely make divorce a less attractive option. And there is some evidence that when people perceive their options as less attractive, they are more likely to work harder at making their present relationship work. These are the intended, positive aims of such initiatives. However, such measures may actually increase resentment and the sense of being trapped. In the worst cases, such changes could help keep some marriages together that both conservative and liberals would agree are hugely destructive for adults and children (e.g., battering situations). Moreover, it is possible that such measures could have the unintended negative consequence of fewer people choosing to marry in the first place--thereby undermining the very institution the laws are designed to strengthen.

Whether or not making divorce more difficult is good family law (the issues are very complex), the superior goal would be to do all we can as a society to support and encourage increased dedication to spouses and marriage. Perhaps divorce laws are too liberal. Perhaps it should be less easy to cast off a marriage. Either way, divorce laws do not cause divorce--the real problem is the low quality marital relationships that lead to decisions to divorce. The force of law can make divorce harder, but such laws do not teach couples how to build great marriages.

Introduction

The Move To Mandate Premarital Counseling


In this article
- Introduction
- New Fault, No Fault
- The Move To Mandate Premarital Counseling
- Public Education: A Better Way That Works

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