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Philip Cohen comments on Americans' dropping divorce rate on NPR

Divorce has become more acceptable, less stigmatized, but also less common

Stacio Brown, producer for NPR WAMU 88.5 radio program, recently produced an NPR radio program discussing America's dropping divorcing rate, inviting Faculty Associate Philip Cohen, along with Jacqueline Newman, managing partner of the divorce law firm Berkman, Bottger, Newman & Schein, LLP; and Lyz Lenz, editor and columnist at the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

At the beginning of the program, Cohen confirms the recent drop in America's divorce rate. Although 40% marriages still ended in divorce, there has been a 18% drop in divorce rate from 2008 to 2016, mostly contributed by young couples under the age of 45, as these millennials are often more selective in terms of marriage, prefer to get married later in life but to have a college degree first. People have higher income and higher education is more likely to get married but also need marriage less.

In terms of same sex marriage, Cohen points out that there are not enough strong data research-wise. States record divorce but don’t report them in a transparent and meaningful way.

In discussing the legal aspects of divorce, Cohen considers that  legal benefits/debt contribute to the declining marriage rate and dropping in divorcing rate on a marginal basis, as comparing to the cases of 2nd or 3rd marriages where these would more often be the driving forces, since people have more complicated family issues, for example, to protect the what belongs to their children from previous marriages.


The story was also picked up by InsideHook

The story was also picked up by The Trumpet