How To Decrease America's Divorce Rate

While demographers argue whether the US divorce rate is rising or falling, one thing is common in most divorce cases: pornography.

If you recognize this in your own story, healing from betrayal trauma may help.

Porn is not something that only affects the person using it. The negative impact of porn also reaches into his family, and most significantly threatens his marriage.

Related Article: How Viewing Porn Is Wounding Your Wife & Hurting Your Family

Many studies and research projects have revealed that porn is a main cause in many divorces.

Statistics

• Dr. Jill Manning, a licensed marriage and family therapist, testified before the U.S. Senate that 56 percent of divorce cases involve one party having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites.
• Lifesite News reports that Dr. Patrick F. Fagan, Director of the Center for Research on Marriage and Religion, “found that pornography use causes instability, distrust, and betrayal in marriages, severely damaging the bond between the husband and wife.”
• Dr. Fagan said,

“Viewers of pornography assign increased importance to sexual relations without emotional involvement. The emotional distance fostered by pornography… can often be just as damaging to the relationship as real-life infidelity, and both men and women tend to put online sexual activity in the same category as having an affair.”

• Recovery Ranch states that “Many national divorce lawyers are agreeing with Fagan, with a meeting survey from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers showing that more than 60 percent agreed that Internet pornography was linked to higher rates of divorce. They also agree that the prolific spread of Internet pornography during the past few years is a factor. Representatives from the association have stated that less than a decade ago, pornography didn’t appear in divorce cases.”
• The same academy stated that 68% of divorce cases involve one partner starting an affair over the internet.
• Dr. Kevin B. Skinner wrote in a Psychology Today article that

“Every year for the past decade there have been roughly 1 million divorces in the United States. If half of the people divorcing claim pornography as the culprit, that means there are 500,000 marriages annually that are failing due to pornography.”

• Millennials are also large consumers of porn, which will impact future marriages. A 2006 study found that 84 percent of people between 18-49 years of age view porn.

Related Article: 15 Mind-Blowing Statistics About Pornography And The Church

Related Article: Why Evangelical Marriages Break and How to Protect Yours

How To Avoid Being A Divorce Statistic

It seems simple. Remove porn from the equation, deal with the underlying issues and the divorce rate will fall.

However, with 68% of church going men viewing porn on a regular basis, the divorce rate even in the church is going to continue to climb. You need a process to find lasting freedom from porn and shift your focus to loving your wife.

Recognize the effects porn is having on your relationship. Dealing with your porn usage will enable you to become the husband your wife desires and deserves.

Related Article: Husbands, Here’s How To Love Your Wife Well

Stephen Waldo, the founder of Husband Help Haven, wrote

“What seems to you like nothing more than what all guys do, seems to your wife like a deeply emotional attack on her self-worth…Instead of spending time thinking about how you can justify your actions, you would be much better served by reflecting on what is missing from your marriage or your life that led you to seek comfort in pornography.”