Is the institute of marriage really founded on the structure phrase “until death do us part”? Recent figures state otherwise, for one third of Australian marriages meet the dreadful fate of divorce each year.
50,000 couples are knocking at the door of divorce bureaus every year while the divorce cost of Australia accumulates to around $6 billion annually. The Sydney Morning Herald makes an astonishing rumination by suggesting in their 25th October 2010, Sunday life section that maybe marriages should come with an expiry date. As offending as it may sound to newly-wedded love birds the high rising divorce rate make this insight worthy of a second thought.
The Australian Association of Relationship Counselling hosted a national symposium in March 2011 titled “Love, Desire and Obsession. The two day event included many local as well as well-known international speakers aimed at rectifying the deteriorating relationship state prevalent in Australia. Speakers included Associate Professor of New York University of Social Work and author of best selling books about marriage and relationships; and Christopher Clulow from the Tavistock Centre in London. Key issues like binding factors in marriage and family violence were also highlighted giving unique professional insights into the discussion topics.
Relationship Australia is a federation of community based, not-for-profit organisation that endeavours in providing relationship and social support services to various regions in Australia. It has been conducting relationship surveys since 1998 giving valuable trends and statistics regarding the relationship status in Australia.
In its 2011 survey many interesting findings were made that could help in strengthening family and community relationships. Despite the increasing divorce rates, 53% of the respondents responded with spouses as the answer to the question as to who is the most important person in our life. When respondents were questioned as to what are the crucial reasons that result in partners relationship breakdown the top four reasons were financial stress, communication difficulties, different expectations and lack of trust. 71% respondents also responded that sex plays a vital role in keeping a relationship healthy. Such findings leaves one pondering as to what really effects couples relationships?
Maybe the fact that one out of every ten Australians lives below poverty line contributes in the financial stress, which has been proven to be one crucial reason for marriages to fall apart. It can easily be concluded that a sum of reasons accumulatively weaken a relationship. Whatever the case may be, such surveys are a ray of hope in giving us more information so that we can tackle the increasing divorce rate that has plagued Australia and the Western world.
Counselling takes a gigantic leap in the relationship arena. The Australian Bureau of Statistic Labour Force Survey in February 2010 shows that there has been a 28.1% growth in counselling profession, outgrowing other professions at an eye-popping 200%. It could be concluded that people today are resorting to professional psychologists and therapy to save their marriage.
What are your thoughts about the state of marriage in Australia today? Please leave your comments below.
Leave a Reply