Children Of Divorced Parents

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The idea that children of divorced parents would be the ones who would suffer, was seen as conservative thinking and many scoffed at this notion in the 1970?s. What child would want to be part of a family that constantly fought? With the accepted idea of couples counselling a few years away many saw divorce as their only option. Because of this attitude, today there are fewer and fewer people under the age of 30 who are getting married than at any other time in history. The mistakes of the past generation are well documented and most people have a rudimentary knowledge of what divorce does to people. If not from first hand experiences than from witnessing aunt's, uncles or cousins endure though a divorce. This has made an impact on many young people and has made them a bit wary about the institution. Their apprehension can be attributed to the rising number of people that divorced in the 1970?s and the effect it had on the attitude of their children towards marriage in the 1990?s.

The Divorce Act of 1968 [a law that allowed couples to divorce because of cruelty, adultery or if they have been living apart for three years] was seen by many people living in the 1970?s as a second chance for happiness, consequently the divorce rate nearly tripled. By 1970 the divorce rate stood at nearly 150 divorces per 100,000 persons, up from 55 divorces per 100,000 persons in 1965 (Canadian Dept of Justice). In 1985 when the Divorce Act was amended there was a spike of 25% in the divorce rate [see appendix 1]. Many people were waiting to for the changes the Canadian government was going to make to the Divorce Act. After the changes became law many people who had been...