Divorce
The divorce rate climbed sharply from 1970 to 1975 after changes in divorce laws. But then it stabilized – and now it’s declining for couples younger than age 50. In 1996, for example, 19 percent of never-married women ages 25 to 29 had been divorced; in 2009, only 14 percent of that group had divorced. For women in their 40s, the divorce rate has fallen about 5 percentage points in the same period. Marriage and divorce expert Andrew Cherlin told
CNN that marriages today have gotten more stable as couples have adapted to the reality of wives working outside the home.
