Breakups & Divorce Support Group

Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse. The main causes of divorce in 2004, according to a recent study, were extra-marital affairs (27%), family strains (18%), emotional/physical abuse (17%), mid-life crisis (13%), addictions, e.g. alcoholism and gambling (6%), and workaholism (6%).

According to this survey, men engaged in extra-marital affairs in 75% of cases; women in 25%. In cases of family strain, women's families were the primary source of strain in 78%, compared to 22% of men's families.

Emotional and physical abuse were more evenly split, with women affected in 60% and men in 40% of cases. In 70% of workaholism-related divorces it was men who were the cause, and 30% women. The 2004 survey found that 93% of divorce cases were petitioned by women, very few of which were contested.

53% of divorces were of marriages that had lasted 10 to 15 years, with 40% ending after 5 to 10 years. The first 5 years are relatively divorce-free, and if a marriage survives more than 20 years it is unlikely to end in divorce.