A Modest Proposal Paper

Introduction

The age that couples get married, and the rate of divorce are two very important factors in our society. Not only is marriage one of the largest social, and legal constructs that exists today, it affects almost every aspect of a person's life, from their finances, stress levels, and social lives. Ninety percent of people get married by the age of fifty, and of that, around forty to fifty percent of them get divorced (APA, 2015). With such high rates, divorce has become a massive problem in our society, where there is an emphasis on the importance of coming from a two parent and married household..While this is a long standing area of discussion, it is important to continue research on divorce rates, and the correlation with the age of the couple. Especially because much of the data to pull from is in some case thirty plus years and older (Kennedy 588)..

The impact of divorces on people can be seen throughout the country both qualitatively, and

Existing literature has strengthened this belief, through data and statistics available several decades ago. After conducting our own research and data analysis using SPSS, on data from the General social survey, our findings do support our theory. Using Cross tabs, we determined that out of all respondents who answered “Yes” to the question have they ever been divorced or separated, those who wed at the age of 19 and under had the highest percentage. Those who married under the age of 19 were twice as likely to answer yes to the question of divorce than those who married in their 20s, and triple the amount of those who married in their 30s. While more recent studies have shown a slight decrease in the divorce rate of those who are married early, the most surprising finding was that people above the age of thirty are starting to see a higher rate of