How does divorce effects the economy of a family? Does it effect economy of the society and the country at large?

I can't really speak to how divorce affects societal economy and the country at large, but I have some interesting information on how divorce affects the economic situation of a family. In general, most professionals agree that it takes about five years for divorcing spouses to recover financially from divorce. For men, it tends to take a little less and for women, a longer time. Research suggests that while custodial parents, mother or father, receive approximately the same amount of child support, the custodial mother’s income is more negatively affected. Children often have less access to economic resources following divorce. Research suggests that women experience a significant decline in their standard of living following a divorce. (Teachman and Paasch, 1994; Tucker-Ladd, 1996) Seltzer (1991) found that about 64% of the father's paid some child support, but that rarely does the child support award cover the child’s needs. I think that the statistics speak for themselves and indicate that divorce can have a very negative impact on the economy of a family.

Since the beginning of time marriage has been a mixture of both love and economics with almost as many people down through the ages marrying for money as for love.  I remember reading somewhere a reference... keep reading →