What are irreconcilable differences anyway? An article in the Daily Mail (a UK paper) claims that British couples get divorced more from “falling out of love” than any other reason (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2031952/Fewer-couples-divorce-infidelity-main-reason-falling-love.html). Given the fast pace of modern society it is understandable that couples may not have enough or make enough time to foster their love and relationships…resulting in couples falling out of love. Whether or not as many American couples are falling out of love, they should take this as a reminder to take the time and make the effort to preserve the love that started their marriage in the first place.
It turns out, there is very little data on what causes divorce. Many books and articles on divorce cite money troubles causing significant amounts of stress in relationships, which ultimately leads to divorce. Other articles oppose this finding (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/SuddenlySingle/MoneyIsntTheCulpritInMostDivorces.aspx). The most complete study on the cause of divorce was done in 1948 which found “nonsupport” was the number one cause of divorce. A more recent study by Jan Andersen, associate professor at CSU Sacramento, found that incompatibility, lack of emotional support, abuse and sexual problems ranked the highest as causes. It seems there is a gray area between some of these problems. When does incompatibility become a sexual problem? When does nonsupport become abuse? The more I read these studies, the more I come to understand the use of “irreconcilable differences” as a catch-all.
If you want to read stupid statistics like “If you didn’t smile for photographs early in life, your marriage is five times more likely to end in divorce than if you smiled intensely in early photographs,” visit: http://www.roc4life.com/profiles/blogs/stupid-reasons-why-youll-end