Views on divorce divorced from reality

The divorce rate in China has soared in recent years, with the Social Service Development Statistical Bulletin of the Ministry of Civil Affairs saying that the growth in divorce rate exceeded the growth in marriage rate for first time last year. Though the rising divorce rate has many social implications, many people believe it is most harmful for divorced parents' children.

The rising number of unmarried mothers and soaring divorce rate in the United States in the mid-1970s necessitated in-depth studies on divorce and single-parent families. Divorce studies since 1980s show that children of divorced parents are more likely to develop emotional and behavioral problems, and end up as divorcees themselves. But US psychologist Judith Harris argues in a 1995 study that genes might have a role to play in the failure of marriages of single parents' children.

In their 1992 genetic study, M. McGue and D.T. Lykken found that the failure of marriages has much to do with genetic factors. Personality traits such as temperament and disagreeableness, combined with those that could undermine an intimate relationship such as alcoholism, play a significant role in the failure of a marriage.