Trendspotting: Splitting Pairs

By Angie Argabrite, Wednesday, June 6, 2012, at 9:01 am.

There seems to be an ever-growing number of us suddenly jonesing to have the ink dried on our divorce papers. In the U.S., the divorce rate of those over 50 is double what it was 20 years ago, while military couples are also splitting up in spades, with a 42 percent increase in divorces. Researchers say that with each subsequent month a service member is deployed, the likelihood of divorce increases. And more couples say their marriages are on the rocks because of social media, as spouses re-spark old flames; for proof, just see divorce lawyers’ more frequent use of online exchanges as evidence in court. Might there be a “divorce gene” that predisposes some to a split? Research out of Sweden suggests that among both men and women, an abnormality in a gene that affects oxytocin reception could be responsible for a lack of bonding with the marital partner—resulting in a 50 percent higher likelihood of divorce or discord. One recent—and unpopular—take is that divorce is actually good for the economy because, as the mild economic recovery of 2012 signals an uptick in divorce rates, more people will willingly live under the economic strain of singlehood. Marketers of cool things for bachelor pads, are you listening?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2012 at 9:01 am. It is filed under Brainsnacks, Social Media, Trends and tagged with America, American economy, divorce, divorce gene, divorce trends, gray divorce, marriage trends, military couples, oxytocin, relationship trends, seniors divorcing, Social Media, social media trends, Sweden. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.