RU The Termination of Marriage or Dissolution of Marriage Discussion

1. Read:
   • Why do Women Usually File for Divorce?
   • The Divorce Surge is Over, but the Myth Lives On
2. Watch:

• The Impact of Divorce on Children: Tamara D. Afifi at TEDxUCSB
• What’s Behind the Drop in Divorce Rates?
• Study Shows Women are More Likely to Choose Divorce
• Helping Divorced Women Start Over: Applying What I Learned

1. DQ (Discussion Question) 11: Create your initial 250-300 word post on the DQ 11 Discussion Board in response to the following question(s). Your post must include examples and information from this week’s readings that help to explain and support your statement. It also must include at least two (2) in-text citations from your textbook or any of the other course material (e.g. lectures, videos, articles, etc.) covered throughout the week.

• Discuss the process people go through when deciding to divorce. Is this process similar to ending a serious dating relationship? What is the same? What is different?

After posting, return to the board and read over the posts of your fellow classmates. Choose at least two (2) classmates and create a post responding to his/her initial post on the Discussion Board. Each response post should be between 100-150 words and must further the discussion by following the RISE Model for meaningful feedback. Review the RISE Model for Peer Feedback and the RISE Model Rubric.

1. I was lucky enough to have parents who really love each other and stayed together for over 20 years now. I haven’t seen many people in my family divorce but when they did it got really nasty between them, and it was frustrating because there are kids involved and they are seeing their mom and dad fight and eventually not live together anymore. How divorce starts is how one person starts to feel about the other.

“(1) emotional,or loss of affection and trust; (2) legal, the court-ordered termination of a marriage; (3) economic, or the settlement of property; (4) co-parental, or decisions about child custody, support, and visitation; (5) community, or the giving up of relatives and mutual friends; and (6) psychic, or the complete emotional separation from the former spouse.” (Chapter 14 Outline)

When relationships end it’s just ending communications. There’s no ties involved unless of course you live together, but most of the time relationships do get back together or continue to be on and off, but they can do that because it’s cheaper than getting married then divorced over and over again.

“One study found that the leading causes of breakup were infidelity, incompatibility, drinking or drug use, and growing apart” (Chapter 14, Outline)

Breaking up in a relationship really means that you couldn’t get used to their ways, or you just don’t like it and they won’t change.

2. Deciding to divorce is a very difficult time for many individuals who choose to do so. “Most people take two to four years to work through the negative emotions of a divorce” (Chapter 14 Outline, 2022). The process people go through when deciding to divorce is a lengthy process that consists of six stations, which can be experienced in any order. According to the book, “[o]ne scholar has proposed six stations or processes of divorce: (1) emotional, or loss of affection and trust; (2) legal, the court-ordered termination of marriage; (3) economic, or the settlement of property; (4) co-parental, or decisions about child custody, support, and visitation; (5) community, or the giving up of relatives and mutual friends; and (6) psychic, or the complete emotional separation from the former spouse” (Wahlstrom, Williams, & Sawyer, 2020). To begin with, I feel that ending any kind of relationship is due to dissatisfaction of one or both individuals in the relationship. I believe that most of these stations are also similar in the process of ending a serious dating relationship. Individuals ending a serious dating relationship or going through a divorce will undergo similar feels of falling out of love, missing what they once had together, fearing that they will not be economically stable, losing mutual friends, and ultimately only needing to care about themselves from now on out. The only differences that I can understand from ending a serious dating relationship vs deciding to divorce is the legal system being difficult and situations pertaining to child custody. most people having children during marriage, not in a serious dating relationship. Therefore, it is more likely for individuals deciding to get a divorce to have to discuss decisions involving child custody, child support, visitation rights, etc. Moreover, when deciding to divorce, you will need to participate in several actions within the legal system, whereas ending a serious relationship does not need to be involved with the legal system. In conclusion, I see many similarities and just a few small differences when comparing the process people go through when deicing to divorce and the process people go through when deciding to end a serious dating relationship.