TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF DIVORCE ON WOMEN
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Date
2004
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ACHARYA N. G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY RAJENDRANAGAR, HYDERABAD
Abstract
Divorce is the tragic end of a marital relationship. It is an open
indication of a rift in the family organisation, breakdown of the marital bond
and the evidence of a desire to escape from the responsibility of marriage
ties. It mearely gives a legal status to a marriage already disrupted. Divorce
has been conceptualised in terms of multiple losses – loss of valued social
role, loss of an intimate relationship, loss of an adult household member, loss
of a source of income, loss of a familiar residence and regular contact with
children.
It is impossible to pin down the causes of divorce.. In recent years the
great majority of divorces are granted on grounds of “Cruelty” a notoriously
vague term. Most of the other cases are based on desertion leaving the
reason why the husband left home. Another cause is adultery
According to lawyers causes of divorce are financial problems,
adultery, drunkenness, basic incapability, irresponsibility, immaturity, cruelty,
cultural differences, sexual incompatibility desertion and due to the in-laws
domination. According to divorcees the causes for termination of their
marriage instead of continuing it are grouped as personal, family, economic
and sex related causes. Some of the causes are non-support, drinking,
personality clashes, lack of interest in house life, gambling, unbearable
attitude of spouse authority problems, conflicting values and sexual problems.
Effects of divorce are personal effects, economical effects, emotional
effects and health effects. The severity of the effects depends upon the
problem of divorce.
An interview schedule was used to elicit information regarding selected
demographic variables. Self- esteem scale developed by Kapadia and Verma
(1985) was used to measure the self- esteem level of divorced women. The
total size of the sample was 120, 60 consisting of working divorced women
and. 60 non-working divorced women in the age group of 25 to 40 years who
having children and located in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The data
collected were subjected to correlation co-efficient and ‘Z’ test.
Major findings indicated that most of the non-working divorced women
opted for divorce in the early years of their marriage when compared to
working women. Both were staying separately from 5 to 7 years. Working
women faced deterioration in income after divorce. In case of non working
women, their income level was completely decreased after divorce.
Majority of the working women had taken divorce due to differences in
values, cruel behaviour alcoholism, suspicious nature of spouse and bad
company, where as non-working had taken divorce due to cruel behaviour,
suspicious nature, bad tamper, cold and indifferent behaviour and alcoholism.
More or less equal majority of the women were facing dowry harassment.
Majority of the working divorced women were divorced due to the reasons of
extramarital relationship of the husband, cruel nature, non-consummation and
sexual disharmony. Non-working divorced women were having most of these
causes than working women.
Age and occupation of the working divorced women had negative
significant relationship with personal related causes. Age at marriage had
positive significant relationship with personal causes. When the age of the
women was increasing the influence of the personal related causes were
increased.
Spouse age of the non-working women had negative significant
relationship with personal related causes. As the age of the spouse increased
the influence of personal related causes to opt for divorce was decreased.
None of the other variables except age, occupation and spouse age
had significant relationship with family, economic and sex related causes in
both the categories of working and non-working divorced women.
Caste of the working women had negative significant relationship with
the social and recreational effects. Type of marriage had negative significant
relationship with emotional affects. Age at the time of working women’s
marriage had significant positive relationship with the personal aspects.
Spouse occupation had significant relationship with emotional effects.
Women with spouse at higher level of occupation had more emotional effects
after divorce.
Age of the non-working women had positive significant relationship with
the health effects. Older women had more health effects. Occupation had
positive significant relationship with personal causes. Housewives were more
affected by their personal matters after divorce. Duration of divorce had
significant positive relationship with personal affects. Personal reasons was a
major cause for divorce in case of women with larger duration of divorce .
Spouse age and occupation had negative significant relationship with
economic effects. Women whose spouse was of older age and was
occupying at higher cadre had severe economic effects after divorce. When
compared to self esteem working women had high self-esteem than nonworking
women. More number of non working women were having average
level of self-esteem than working women.
Findings from the present study helped us to understand the causes
and after effects of divorce on women. It can create awareness among
parents, relatives, educators and counsellors and help them to have closer
interaction and sharing of feelings of their daughters before marriage. Giving
importance to their views about marriage may reduce divorces in future to
some extent. Family counselling centers may counsel the couple not to go for
divorce
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TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF DIVORCE ON WOMEN