Stress can be a huge cause of marital difficulties (LaFayette 18). One thing that has come up numerous times in research is that money causes the most stress for married couples. According to PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program), money is said to start more arguments then any other topic. Citibank also states that their research shows money to be the leading cause of divorce ("Money..." 128). Couples not having enough money or even having more money then they know what to do with can cause major friction in any marriage

There are many more reasons then the ones stated already for divorce. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers published their own findings of what they think are the most common causes of divorce on the website www.divorcereform.org. They state poor communication, financial problems, lack of commitment to marriage, dramatic change in priorities, infidelity, faded expectations, unmet needs, addictions and or substance abuse, physical, sexual or emotional abuse and lack of conflict resolution skills. The list includes many causes that other researchers state as being major reasons.

Now that people are becoming more aware of the divorce problem there are states doing things to start preventing the problem. Oklahoma has created a program they refer to as the marriage initiative. This controversial program uses $10 million in welfare money to attempt to lower the states sky-high divorce rate (Tyre 64). Oklahoma has initiated an array of social programs aimed at getting people married and keeping them that way. The reason for Oklahoma doing all this is the state has the second highest divorce rate in the country (Tyre 64).

Another quite serious cause of divorce is the divorce laws themselves. Evidence has been accumulating that no fault divorce laws further accelerated the pace of divorce ("Divorce..." 4). A 50 state survey published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family concluded that, "the switch from fault divorce law to no fault divorce law led to a measurable increase in the divorce rate" ("Divorce..." 4). The change in the divorce laws has had a large effect on older couples married for 25 years or more ("Divorce..." 4).

Because of the success of the Oklahoma programs the Bush administration has proposed setting aside $100 million in federal welfare founds for state run programs that support marriage (Tyre 64). The success has also prompted other states such as Arizona, Maryland, Florida, and Wisconsin to start similar programs.

Another cause of divorce that is common is young marriages. There are 144,000 marriages taking place each year between people ages 15 to 19. Recently that number has decline but it is still high (Garber 12-13). The rate of divorce for these young marriages is extremely high for many reason. According to Jeanne Warren Lindsay, author of the book Teenage Marriage, many teenagers jump into marriage in hopes of finding an escape from an unhappy home life. They see marriage as a chance to create a home of their own making, one much happier for themselves. Unfortunately it usually doesn't work out like that. Lindsay says that few teenagers have the maturity to really make a marriage work, especially when leaving a home so young. Lindsay states, "Each partner is developing his own identity and going in a different direction. Often they can't keep the original relationship together." This is something that young married coupl

Some common words found in the essay are:
Matrimonial Lawyers, Amato Couples, Teenage Marriage, Florida Wisconsin, Economic Research, California Divorce, , League America, PREP PREP, Marriage Family, divorce laws, divorce rate, tyre 64, divorce 4, fault divorce, fault divorce laws, rate divorce, cause divorce, getting fired, garber 12-13, causes divorce, bureau economic research, national bureau economic, prevention relationship enhancement, relationship enhancement program,
Approximate Word count = 1957
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)