Divorce in Social and Historical Context: Changing Scientific Perspectives on Children and Marital Dissolution.

The article focuses on the social scientific research about divorce within social and historical context. The divorce rate spiked sharply upwards during the first half of the 1940s. During the 19th century and throughout most of the 20th century, divorces were granted only when one spouse demonstrated to the court's satisfaction that the other spouse was guilty of violating the marriage contract. Unlike institutional marriage, companionate marriage allows for an ample degree of self-expression and personal development. After declining for more than a decade, the divorce rate increased sharply during the 1960s and 1970s. The most dramatic change in divorce law occurred in California in 1969 when the California legislature threw out fault-based divorce entirely and replaced it with no-fault divorce. The growing acceptance of divorce has been consistent with a larger cultural shift that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. Contrary to trends in the 1960s and 1970s, American's attitudes toward divorce have been less positive at the end of the 20th century.