Are you thinking of divorce but unsure if you can do it or not? One thing that may influence your thinking is whether or not you have seen other people go through it. These people could be friends or family members.
In that sense, some researchers say that divorce is contagious. They note that it’s easier for people to get divorced after witnessing it happen to someone else in their social circle. It makes them more likely to take that next step.
The study was carried out by researchers from Harvard University, Brown University and the University of California, San Diego. They discovered that someone who had a divorced friend was 75% more likely to do it themselves. If they had a friend of a friend who went through a divorce, even that pushed their odds of divorce up by around 33%.
What the researchers were truly examining was how social media may impact divorce rates. In a world where people have hundreds or even thousands of “friends” and connections, it is more likely than ever that they will know someone who got divorced. Even if these people never bring it up in person — and if the two don’t even really see each other in real life — they still know that divorce occurred. That could make them more likely to ask for a divorce in their own lives.
If you do decide that you want to end your marriage, make sure you think carefully about the legal steps you need to take, the rights you have and the various tools at your disposal.
