On behalf of Cobert, Haber & Haber Attorneys at Law posted in Divorce on Tuesday, August 25, 2015.
Divorces in New York may be more likely to be initiated by women than men, according to a new study. Researchers conducted a survey called ‘How Couples Meet and Stay Together” and then presented their analysis of the survey to the American Sociological Association. According to the study, women initiate 69 percent of divorces involving heterosexual couples.
Answers for the survey that researchers used for the relationship study came from 2,262 adults in opposite sex relationships. The survey respondents answered questions concerning their romantic relationships and marriages from 2009 to 2015. Although the answers showed that women were more likely to initiate divorces, researchers found that breakups between unmarried couples were initiated by both genders equally.
Past studies have also shown that women initiate divorces more often than men. Social scientists have long thought that women are more sensitive to problems in relationships than men are and therefore tend to leave these relationships more often. However, the discovery that men are just as likely to initiate breakups of non-marital unions shows that women must be leaving marriages for different reasons. The study’s lead author said that marriages might be complicated by outdated gender expectations that tend to upset women while non-marital unions are more flexible.
A spouse who is ready to initiate a divorce might want to get in touch with an attorney sooner rather than later. A family law attorney may be able to help a spouse to determine whether there is anything that can be done to plan ahead and simplify the process before the divorce paperwork is filed.