THE ROLE OF ITS-IE MENISFER IN MAKETAL COUNSEUNG IN: IDIVQRCE SliFUATllONS Thus“ {w ”M Dogma 0‘ EJ. D. MICHIMN STATE UNWERSITY ’ David S. Evans, 11'. - 1966 masts LIBRARY Michigan State University This is to certify that the thesis entitled The Role Of The Minister In Marital Counseling In Divorce Situations presented by David S. Evans, Jr. has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ed.D. degree in Counseling and Personnel Services M Maloygofessor / . Date ¢ ‘ 7 0-169 ROOM USE V GNU ., 24 0“ w 1109 ) W fiN‘A' [yavfl/w7 ABSTRACT THE ROLE OF THE MINISTER IN MARITAL COUNSELING IN DIVORCE SITUATIONS by David S. Evans, Jr. The increasing incidence of divorce in the United States following World War II has caused concern among judges, lawyers, social workers and ministers. Divorce in this study was defined as follows: The dissolving by the court of the legal marriage contract bringing about the separation of the contracting parties permanently with provisions for property settlement, custody of the children, support of the children, alimony and any other pertinent provisions, legally called in Michigan, "Divorce from bonds of Matrimony” (Rice, 1957). Because 79.5% of marriages in Calhoun County are per— formed by clergymen, they have been especially troubled by the fact that an average of one out of every three marriages ended in divorce in Calhoun County in the 1960-64 period. Literature in the field of counseling has a small body of writing devoted to the work of the minister in severe marital problem counseling but for the most part, the clergyman finds that writing about divorce is generally confined to theological aspects. There is little knowledge of the role of the minister either from the viewpoint of the minister or the person who has sought counsel from a minister in a divorce situation. The Subjects of ministerial premarital counseling, the pre— divorce religious life of the divorcee, and the post—divorce David S. Evans, Jr. counseling relationships have been given scant attention. The study sought to provide answers in these areas. A random sample of persons granted a divorce in Calhoun County, Michigan for the years 1963-64 was chosen to be inter- viewed. Questions in the interview sought to gain information concerning the religious background, preparation for marriage training of the divorcee, and the religious activity of the couple before divorce as well as the degree of ministerial counseling during the period of the severe marital problems. Also sought was the degree of counseling by a minister after the divorce. A sample of ministers in the county was interviewed concerning their education and training for severe marital problem counseling, the level of the marital problem counsel- ing load, and reasons ministers felt their counseling had not prevented divorce. They were also questioned as to the tech— niques they used in both severe marital problem and pre— marital counseling. From the information gathered in the divorcee inter- views, it was found that though 77.2% of the persons inter- viewed had been regular attendants at church prior to marriage, only 18.1% of the couples were regular church attendants after marriage, with 18.1% attending occasionally. When marital difficulties arose, 43.1% of the persons inter- viewed went to a minister for counsel, going primarily to seek support for their position. They reported their spouse had gone in 29.5% of the cases. They had low expectations of successful counseling results by the minister. It was found David S. Evans, Jr. that 32.5% of the divorcees had a very brief premarital interview by the minister and only 21.6% had taken any kind of course preparing them for marriage. Only one high school system in the entire county offers a comprehensive preparation— for-marriage course and that was started in 1963. Divorced persons receiving counseling amounted to 15.9% of the sample. The degree of counseling corresponded with the level of pre-divorce counseling, being both brief and discontinued early by the divorcee. The percentage of ministers trained for severe marital problem counseling beyond the level of the introductory pastoral counseling courses in seminary was 26.9%. Where they had the opportunity to counsel, ministers believed that they had received the case too late to be effective 32% of the time and they found that one or both members of the family had no real desire to work out a solution in 48.3% of their cases. Divorced persons ranked alcohol, money problems, family interference, and infidelity as principal causes of the dis- solution of marriage. Ministers ranked too early marriage, alcohol, and money problems as the principal causes of divorce in their counseling cases. Since the churches reach about 15% of the youth in Calhoun County with preparation for marriage courses, all of those clergymen interviewed favored preparation for marriage courses in the public schools, given at about the tenth grade level, as a possible deterrent to divorce. THE ROLE OF THE MINISTER IN MARITAL COUNSELING IN DIVORCE SITUATIONS B y“) X01 David S. Evans, Jr. A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION Department of Counseling, Personnel Services and Educational Psychology College of Education 1966 .29 #5383 // /Q/é 7 People in domestic discord seem for the most part never to have heard of the family service agencies or of pastoral or marriage counseling services. Or, if they have heard of them, their ideas about them are distorted or dim or downright hostile. Even if they had a perfect understanding of the services available, a large percentage of them would bypass even the best of agencies, even the friendliest and wisest of pastors, for a number of reasons. The principal reason is that they are hurt, threatened, frightened, angry, vindictive, confused, ashamed, their pride is wounded. In their overwrought emotional state, they want only one thing....And the law offers them the only remedy it knows, divorce. JUdge Paul Alexander of the Ohio Family Court Center. Cited by Haussamen and Guitar in The Divorce Handbook (1960). ii VITA David Stanley Evans, Jr. candidate for the degree of Doctor of Education Final Examination: November 16, 1966, 3:00 P.M. Outline of Studies: Major Subject: Guidance and Counseling Minor Subjects: Higher Education, Philosophy Biographical Items: Born, April 14, 1917, Portland, Maine Married to Catherine Elizabeth Cherry, September 4, 1943 Ordained as a Methodist Minister: Deacon, Kingston, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1944 Elder, Somerville, Massachusetts, May 28, 1944 Undergraduate Studies: Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1936—39, 1940-41, A.B. Degree Graduate Studies: Boston University School of Theology, Boston, Massachusetts, 1941—44, S.T.B. Degree Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, Graduate School, 1946-49 Michigan State University, Lansing, Michigan, 1957-66 Experience in Education: Instructor (part-time), Albion College, Albion, Michigan, Department of Religion, 1959—60 Instructor (part—time), Kellogg Community College, Battle Creek, Michigan, Philosophy, 1962-66 Instructor (part—time), Grand Rapids Junior College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Philosophy, 1966— Dean/Administrator, U.S. Navy Chaplains Advanced Level Training Center Chaplains Seminar, Ninth Naval District, Great Lakes, Illinois, 1964—66; lecturer in counseling, 1965 iii Ministerial Experience: Chaplain, U.S. Navy, active duty, 1944—46; reserve duty, 1946 to present Minister, East Douglas, Massachusetts; First Methodist, Jackson, Michigan (Associate); Okemos Community Church, Okemos, Michigan; and First Methodist Church, Battle Creek, Michigan (Senior Minister), 1946—66 Executive Secretary, the Board of Christian Social Concerns of the Michigan Conference of the Methodist Church, since January 1, 1966 Memberships: The Michigan Annual Conference of the Methodist Church The Michigan Association for Higher Education Kappa Delta Pi, honorary educational fraternity The National Council of Family Relations The Military Chaplains Association The Naval Reserve Association iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS An undertaking of this nature is made possible by the assistance of many persons to whom I am deeply indebted: Dr. JOhn E. Jordan whose patience and wise counsel guided me through the intricacies of research and writing. Dr. walter JOhnson whose help and encouragement in the early stages of the design of the project aided me greatly. And to the members of my Guidance Committee, Dr. John Hanson and Dr. John F.A. Taylor, whose willingness to assist I appreciate. Dr. J. F. Thaden of the Michigan State University Institute for Community Development and Services who assisted in the development of demographic material used in the study. Judges Mary Coleman of the Calhoun County Probate Court; Creighton Coleman and Harold Ryan of the Calhoun County Circuit Court, and members of their staffs, along with members of the Calhoun County Clerk's Office for their assistance in securing the data concerning divorces granted in the court. Richard Greene, Harold Lehman, and other members of the Office of the Friend of the Court of Calhoun County for help in locating divorced persons. Robert Kreiger, former Executive Secretary of the Battle Creek Family and Children's Service for his interest and advice in shaping the questionnaire. The Calhoun County Protestant Ministers for their willing cooperation in providing the data pertaining to ministerial counseling. Catherine and Warren Moore for their assistance in the reproduction of the manuscript. Elinor and Perry Warner for their assistance in processing the data from court records and the loan of data processing equipment. Those who helped in the task of tracing the respond— ents in the divorce actions: Mrs. Lucy Overhiser, Karen Zanotti, James Pessetti, and ministerial colleagues Abraham Little, Dale Crawford, David Lutz, and Wayne Groat. The Woman's Society of Christian Service and the Methodist Men of the Michigan Conference of the Methodist Church for financial assistance to meet the expenses of the study. My secretaries, Mrs. Betty Sprout and Mrs. Evelyn Downing who helped in preparation of the manuscript. My wife, Catherine, and our daughter, Sue, who assisted in the preparation of the manuscript. Vi to my wife, Catherine and our children Sue, David and Liz whose understanding has meant so much during this undertaking Vii VITA TABLE OF CONTENTS . O O O O O O O 0 O O O 0 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. . . . . . . . . LIST OF TABLES . . LIST OF APPENDICES Chapter I. II. III. THE PROBLEM Introduction . . . . . Purpose of the Study . . . Significance of the Study. Statement of the Problem Definition of Terms. . . . Limitations of the Study Organization of the Thesis REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Introduction . . . . . . . Historical and Legal Discussions 0 0 Analysis of Divorce and Attendant Problems Marriage Counseling with Reference to Severe Marital Problems . . . . The Church and Divorce Premarital Preparation as a Possible Deterrent to Divorce . . Research on Divorce. . . . Summary. . . . . . . . . . METHODS AND PROCEDURES Preliminary Investigation. Calhoun County Population Factors. Calhoun County and Selected Other Michigan Counties in Divorce Statistics Pilot Study in Oakland County. Development of the Instruments Procedure for Securing Responses Data Analysis. . . . . . . Viii 6 O Page iii XV 000001.wa [—1 11 12 27 54 71 75 87 93 95 101 108 120 122 130 132 Chapter Page IV. PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS Patterns of Response. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Outline of Presentation of Data . . . . . . . . 140 Findings Related to the General Areas . . . . . 141 First General Area——The Profile of Divorcees According to the Responses. . . . . . . . . 141 The Degree of Religious Involvement of the Divorced Persons Before and After Marriage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 The Degree of Involvement of the Clergyman as the Divorced Person Reported It. . . . . 157 Indications of Value of Involvement of the Clergyman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Post- divorce Involvement of Clergymen and Evaluations by Respondents. . . . . . . . . 171 Causes of Divorce as Reported by Divorced Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Summary of Findings of Divorced Person Interviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Second General Area-—The Role of the Clergyman in Divorce Counseling as He Saw It. . . . . 184 The Extent of Clergy Counseling in Marital Problems with a Divorce Potential . . . . . 187 Reasons Assigned by Clergymen for Failure to Heal Marital Rifts. . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Use of Special Instruments or Materials by Clergymen in Marital Counseling Situations. 191 Summary of Findings of Clergymen Interviews . 195 Third General Area—-Other Factors Involved in Divorce Situations Prior To and Subsequent To Divorce Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Use of the Premarital Interview to Evaluate the Proposed Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Divorced Persons Report of Premarital Inter— views by Clergymen. . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Indications of Participation in Preparation for Marriage Courses in Public Schools by Divorced Persons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Views of Clergymen on Preparation for Marriage Courses in Schools and Church Youth Groups. 208 Summary of Findings and Other Observations. . 212 ix Chapter Page V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Conclusions: Methodology. . . . . . . . . 222 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Implications for the Divorced Perons . . 224 Implications for Clergymen . . . . . . 226 Implications for Seminaries and Churches . 227 Implications for Public Schools and the Community. . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Recommendations for Continued Study. . . . 231 REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Table 10. 11. 12. l3. 14. 15. 16. LIST OF TABLES Rural—Urban background of husband and wife. Religious preference of wife. Church attendance of respondents (time of interview). . . . . . . . . . . Age at marriage Length of acquaintance. Length of engagement for divorcing couples. Counseling involved in Goode's sample Subjects seeking marital counseling classified by religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Percentage of families broken by divorce, or divorce and separation, by major religious groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marriage and divorce figures, ratios and rates for Calhoun County, Michigan 1960—64. . . . . Counties with less than 30% of population churched in 1960. . . . . . . Percentage of marriages 16- 18 years in Calhoun County, Michigan 1961- 63. . . . . . . . Amount of alimony collected by Calhoun County Friend of the Court 1956-1965 . . . Number of alimony checks written 1944—1965. Divorce cases percentage of total cases dis- posted of in Circuit and other Michigan Courts, 1964. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ranking of Calhoun County in selected social and economic characteristics of the population of Michigan's 83 counties . . . . . . . xi Page 39 37 37 37 38 38 39 39 93 96 98 98 100 100 102 105 Table 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. Page Percent of population that is 65 years and over in Michigan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Percentage of county churched in 1960 for selected counties in Michigan . . . . . . . . 106 Percent of people 7—15 years inclusive enrolled in school 1960 . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Rank of Calhoun County in Michigan divorce statistics 1960— 64. . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Five year averages of marriage-divorce ratios for selected counties in Michigan . . . . . . 110 Comparison of marriages and divorces per 1000 and marriage-divorce rates for the United States, Michigan, and selected Michigan counties in 1960. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Comparison of marriages and divorces per 1000 and marriage—divorce rates for the United States, Michigan, and selected Michigan counties in 1961. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Comparison of marriages and divorces per 1000 and marriage—divorce rates for the United States, Michigan, and selected Michigan counties in 1962. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Comparison of marriages and divorces per 1000 and marriage—divorce rates for the United States, Michigan, and selected Michigan counties in 1963. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Comparison of marriages and divorces per 1000 and marriage—divorce rates for the United States, Michigan, and selected Michigan counties in 1964. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Comparison of divorce rates and ratios with church membership percentages in selected Michigan counties in 1960—64. . . . . . . . . 118 Percentages of Protestant and Catholic member— ships of total population in selected Michigan counties in 1960 . . . . . . . . . . 119 Percentages of residence categories, 1963 and 1964, by cases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Percentages of residence categories by individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Table Page 31. Percentage of respondents contacted . . . . . . 139 32. Percent of grooms and brides by previous marital status and by age at marriage . . . . . . . . 142 33. Length of engagement of divorced couples. . . . 145 34. Length of engagement of divorced couples—— Burgess—Cottrell scale. . . . . . . . . . . . 145 35. Length of engagement of divorced couples-— by Terman scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 36. Percentage of marriages performed by clergymen. 147 37. Duration of marriage in Evans sample. . . . . . 147 38. Percentage of parents divorced. . . . . . . . . 149 39. Period of breakup of marriage . . . . . . . . . 150 40. Religious background of respondent and spouse . 153 41. Attendance at church as a couple by respondents coming from a church home . . . . . . . . . . 156 42. Summary of responses to questions 2-8, Section II of divorcee questionnaire. . . . . 159 43. Persons counseled by minister prior to divorce. 161 44. Basis of going to minister by respondent. . . . 161 45. Duration of counseling received by respondents and their spouses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 46. Summary of response to questions 12—22, Section II of divorcee questionnaire. . . . . 164 47. Evaluation of ministerial counseling by respondent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 48. Responses to questions 1, 2, 5 & 6, Section III of the divorcee questionnaire . . 172 49. Principal causes of divorce as listed by respondents in Calhoun County . . . . . . . . 177 50. Causes of divorce as listed by respondents by frequency and percent of total for Calhoun and Oakland Counties. . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 X111 Table 51. 52. 53. 54. Sources of referral of severe marital problem cases counseled by clergymen. . . . . . . . . Reasons for failure to prevent divorce as seen by clergymen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of percents of frequency of causes of divorce assigned by respondents and clergy— men in the sample and in Oakland County . . Marriage preparation classes given in Calhoun County. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv Page 186 189 194 204 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page A Michigan Divorce Statutes Excerpted from Michigan Annotated Statutes. . . . . . . 241 B Instruments Used in the Study . . . . . . . . . 249 C Correspondence Used in the Study. . . . . . . . 260 D Rules of the Friend of the Court. . . . . . . . 266 XV CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Divorce —— the dissolving of the marriage contract, the severing of the marital relationship with the division of the family unit has grown at an increasing rate since World War II in the United States. While it is true there was an increase in divorces in the immediate post—war years due to a number of factors including the long period of separation, hastily and ill—advised wartime marriages as well as post—war disillusionment, the ratio of divorces to marriages did not significantly decrease in the decade of the fifties. Marriages have increased with the increase in population and divorces have correspondingly increased. America, as a number of sociologists have observed, is the most marrying nation in the world. By the same account, it is also the most divorcing (Benda, 1958). Introduction With the sustained high ratio of divorce to marriage in the preceding decade, there has been increased attention paid to the problem of divorce. Moral, social, and economic implications have come under scrutiny. Attention has been devoted to the higher incidence of juvenile delinquency attributable, correlatively at least, in large measure to 1 the broken home background of the delinquents. The need for higher and higher levels of payment for child support under the Aid to Dependent Children provisions of federal welfare programs coupled with the increased drain on state and local welfare resources has caused concern. Social workers, legis- lators at all levels, and community service agencies have been studying the divorce problem. All seek answers to this growing social and economic burden. Ministerial involvement has been heightened at several points. There has been a growing concern on the part of many clergymen caused by increases in the marital counseling case load as well as post-divorce counseling. The minister also notices effects upon children and youth as he encounters them in the life of the church. The degree of involvement will vary in accordance with a number of factors in each minister- ial situation. The location of the church — downtown, suburban or rural — is of critical importance as is the theo- logical position of the denomination. This theological stand will vary from absolute prohibition of divorce on any grounds except adultery to a very permissive attitude. The training of the clergyman and his orientation to counseling and social problems will also have a bearing upon the extent of his involvement in divorce situations. The clergyman cannot help but be aware of the problem of divorce in some measure whether he comes to it through parish experience or the literature on the subject. He may seek to discover the nature of the problem, the causes for the increasing number of divorces or the impact upon the community. Through meetings with judicial authorities, other religious leaders, social workers and schoolmen, he may explore all aspects of the divorce syndrome without being able to receive the kind of answers that will increase his own effectiveness in dealing with the problem. He may come to the conclusion that he needs further research evidence along socio-religious lines to give him both the facts and the insights that are needed. Or he may turn away from coming to grips with the problem for theolog— ical or practical reasons. Purpose of the Study Because there is so little accurate information about the role of the minister in severe marital problems leading to divorce, it has been felt in ministerial circles that a study of this role as viewed by the divorced person and the clergyman would be of value. The findings would indicate the degree of involvement of the clergyman in severe marital problems leading to divorce, the religious activity by the divorced persons and the attitudes of both toward the part played by the minister. However, the problem of ministerial involvement in divorce counseling does not admit of precise delimitations. Several collateral factors must be taken into consideration if an accu- rate picture is to be given. These would minimally include the type and extent of premarital counseling received by couples, the extent of other premarital instruction, and the post—divorce role of the clergyman. These combined factors will present a much more complete picture of the roles played by minister and divorcee. It is the purpose of the present study to examine all of these factors in order to ascertain possible relationships on the part of the clergyman and divorce situations. Certain implica- tions for church, school and seminary may emerge from the findings. Significance of the Study Findings of the study may provide a more accurate descrip— tion of the role of the clergyman in divorce situations. They may provide, in addition, new information about the degree of counseling in divorce cases by clergymen and social agencies. The attitude of divorced persons toward the role of the clergy- man may give an insight into possible ways of increasing the effectiveness of severe marital counseling techniques where divorce seems imminent. The study may provide valuable information for the clergy- man and the seminary regarding the part that premarital counsel- ing played in later thinking by the potentially divorce-bound person. Insight may also be gained concerning the post-divorce supportive counseling techniques of the minister. As the plans for the study were developed through discus— sions with judges of the Probate and Circuit Courts and social workers in Family and Childrens Service, widespread interest was expressed by these individuals as to the nature of the findings. Since there are no comparable studies extant dealing with the minister's role in the divorce problem, those consulted expressed a desire and a need for such information. This interest was sub— stantiated by cooperation in the design of the study as well as in assistance with the arrangements necessary for securing the material needed for the study. More important than the personal experiences of divorced persons may be the implications to be found for the seminaries which train ministers as well as for the public and parochial school systems charged with the training of youth for adult living. The results of the study may also provide material for discussion of the role of the minister in the premarital inter- view and the training that the church needs to give in its various youth activities. Statement of the Problem In the United States today, one in every four marriages results in divorce. In Calhoun County, Michigan, over the four years from 1960—63, the rate has risen to one in three making it one of the highest divorce rate counties in the country. Accord— ing to U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare figures (1960), it also has one of the highest percentages of divorced persons residing in the county. What is the part of the clergy— man in these divorce actions? Is he deeply or only marginally involved in the severe marital problems leading to divorce? Such involvement begins with the training given the youth in the church—sponsored groups; it continues into the premarital inter- views as the marriage is planned for and consummated. When marital difficulties arise, do couples consult with their minis— ter as sermons, talks, advice of columnists and counselors continually urge? Answers to the foregoing questions should be sought from the minister as well as the individuals involved. If a divorce action should occur, what is the role of the minister concerning one or both of the persons involved? The problem is to define the role of the minister and the attitudes of both parties to the divorce toward their roles. A fact that will have importance in the findings will be the degree of church involvee ment of persons in the area selected for the study. Finally, the whole question of training of the minister on the issue of divorce will be of importance. Also, the means of imparting essential premarital information to the prospective marriage partners must be considered both within the church and through groups not active in the religious community. The problem of the role of the minister in severe marital problems leading to divorce covers a wide segment of human exper— ience. However, in the face of growing divorce rates, it has evoked little discussion among clergymen or at best, sporadic bursts of attention based more upon discussion of case histories than counseling techniques. Factual research is needed to learn the background, attitudes, and responses of both ministers and divorcees. The purpose of the present research is to help fill this gap in order that such knowledge may be made available. Definition of Terms In conducting the study, certain definitions are necessary to clarify statistics which are not always precisely set forth. Confusion may arise from varying and differing legal or socio— logical definitions. Many states, for example, count annulments in with divorces; others list them separately. Legal separations and desertions may also be included or combined in the totals. The United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare statistics now list 21 states in the "registration area" which file uniform statistical reports on divorce (1962). For the purposes of this study, the following definitions will be used: Divorce: The dissolving by the court of the legal marriage contract bringing about the separation of the contracting parties permanently with provisions for property settlement, custody of the children, support of the children, alimony and any other pertinent provi- sions, legally called in Michigan, "Divorce from bonds of matrimony" (Rice, Sec. 25.86, 1957). Annulment: The voiding of the marriage contract because the marriage has not been consummated or should not be for legal reasons such as deception by one or both of the parties, illegal conditions of marriage or other statutory provisions. Annulments are not counted in divorce statis— tics in most states though they may be included in the totals of dissolved marriage contracts (Rice, Sec. 25.83, 1957). (In this study annulments will not be included.) Legal Separation: (Divorce from bed and board.) A court supervised separation of the contracting parties with cer— tain legal provisions for custody of children, support and other pertinent details. Neither party is free to remarry as in the case of divorce or annulment (Rice, Sec. 25.87,19SD. Desertion: The failure of one or the other of the con- tracting parties to fulfill the marriage contract by leaving the home. In Michigan law "utter" desertion means the absenting of one partner from the home for a two-year period. Statistics on desertion are usually available only when the matter comes before the courts; many deser— tions are unreported because the deserted party desires no further action to be taken for any one of a number of reasons (Rice, Sec. 25.86, par. 6, #4). Reported desertions may provide information on the breaking of marriage contracts but are not reliable in a study of divorce counseling since no legal action may follow if the deserter can- not be found unless an ”Enoch Arden"l decree is granted by the court after two years. Then such action becomes a part of the statistics of divorce to be treated in that category. Severe Marital Problems: Marital problems which may be distinguished by the high degree of probability that divorce 1The "Enoch Arden" decree is based upon complete absence of one partner for a period of seven years in New York State and for differing times in other states. Its derivation is from Tennyson's legendary character who was shipwrecked for ten years. His wife, thinking that he was dead, remarried prior to his return. action will be taken unless ways are found to resolve the differences. While it is true that fifty per cent of divorce filings are dropped, either because the reality of divorce acts as a shock factor or a means of resolving the trouble has been found, the severe marital problem may be defined in terms of the potential for divorce in the thoughts and actions of the parties involved. Limitations of the Study Geographically, the study has been limited to the bound— aries of Calhoun County, Michigan. The reasons arise from the nature of the Michigan divorce laws and methods developed by previous divorce studies. Michigan statutes establish the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court over divorce actions. The court, in the lower part of the state, has its geographical limits set by the lines of the county in which it is situated. Persons seeking divorce action must have resided in the county for a minimum period of ten days and in the state one year. The county lines become the natural line of demarcation for jurisdiction and residency provisions. The example of the Christenson study in Tippecanoe County, Indiana (1956), Long in Davidson County, Tennessee (1961), and Monahan in Iowa (1959) was followed, using the geographical limits of the county or state as the boundaries for the present study. Use of either the county or state boundaries, with the legal provisions involved in these units of government, makes this decision one which provides reliable statistical data since court jurisdiction follows such boundaries. The second limitation concerns the parties interviewed. Interviews with both parties to the divorce, where both parties would consent, would prove an almost insurmountable obstacle because of the extreme mobility of divorced persons. In many instances, only one party to the dissolved marriage remains in the community for economic reasons, family ties or other causes. The matter of whether the interviewed person was the plaintiff or the defendant could not be given satisfactory random distribution. Also, the longstanding ”chivalrous" custom of allowing the woman to seek the divorce in a majority of the cases caused the question to be deemed of not sufficient merit to command special treatment. The third limitation is a religious one. The position of the Roman Catholic Church on the matter of divorce is the most fixed of all religious groups in the United States. The Roman Catholic Church maintains a tight rein on its constitu— ency in matters of divorce to the extent that the person who institutes proceedings without permission from the parish priest is cut off from the ministrations of the church by reason of the divorce. Subsequent remarriage also is forbidden. Divorce matters are handled by the priests in a manner that makes investigation unavailable to the person who is non—Catholic. Nor is the average Catholic much more receptive when an inter— view is sought. For that reason, cases involving Roman Catholic families (both persons having been church members) have been excluded except to note the frequency of appearance in the sample. 10 Selection of the two—year 1963-64 period was made in the light of the mobility factor previously mentioned. To find a representative 10%.sample earlier than the period chosen would have made the task more difficult and complicated, if not impossible. A high rate of remarriage, especially in the 21-25 year age bracket, may be observed. It usually takes place within 2-3 years of the divorce (Jacobson, 1959). There is a reluc- tance to give information concerning a prior marriage after remarriage though multiple divorcees are usually more open in their conversation. Therefore, selection of recently divorced persons is essential to the gathering of data. Organization of the Thesis In the opening chapter, the nature of the problem has been stated; a statement of the purpose as well as the significance of the investigation of the role of the clergyman in severe marital problems leading to divorce has been presented; the terms used have been defined, and the limitations have been indicated. Chapter II will be concerned with a review of the litera- ture pertaining to the problem of divorce. Chapter III will describe the methodology and procedures used to plan and conduct the study as well as the method of presentation of the data. Chapter IV will contain the findings of the study. Chapter V will contain the summary, conclusions, implica- tions, and recommendations from the study. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Introduction To understand the problems of divorce it is useful to know the literature which exists on the subject. Literature on the subject of divorce more or less naturally breaks down into two distinct segments; the first part is that body of writing which was published prior to 1945. The second part consists of the writing which has been published since 1945 which would include books, articles, monographs and also sections of other writing in the field of marriage and the family which is devoted to the problem of divorce. A large share of the writing done prior to 1945 consists of memoirs of judges who have conducted divorce hearings in a number of states, advice to couples in trouble which is largely of a non—technical nature, and a more general treat— ment of the problem in advance of the tremendous wave of divorces which followed World War II. The literature since 1945 in respect to this dramatic increase in divorces has taken on an entirely different tone. Specialists have been brought into the field to write from the point of View of psychiatry, the law, as well as family relationships. For this reason, material prior to 1945 has not been used in this 11 12 review of the literature to a large degree except to point out the difference in treatment of the subject before and after this time. In order to deal with the literature in a manner which will be helpful, the body of writing has been arranged as follows: 1. Historical and legal discussions 2. Analysis of divorce and attendant problems 3. Marriage counseling with reference to severe marital problems 4. The church and divorce 5. Premarital preparation as a possible deterrent to divorce 6. Research on divorce Historical and Legal Discussions The most comprehensive summary of divorce from the historical point of View has been written by Dr. Nelson Blake, Professor of History, Syracuse University (1962). While the volume is not everything that its title would appear to claim for it, it does give a good brief summary of the history of divorce beginning with recorded history. It may be argued that because he is teaching in the state of New York, he gives far more attention to the whole problem of the New York State divorce laws than would seem to be appropriate for a history of divorce. Probably because the divorce law in the state of New York was one of the two most strict in the country until this year (1966), the other being South Carolina, it has led to a number of subterfuges which mock the intent of the law. 13 In View of these subterfuges made necessary by the law, the attack by Blake is not without reason. The attack was con— tinued in a Time Magazine essay (Feb. 11, 1966) where the whole subject of divorce was discussed, with approximately one-half of the discussion centered on the problem in that state. The New York State approach to the problem of divorce was used as the best example, along with the state of Nevada, of the widely differing provisions of divorce laws in all of the fifty states. While the present attack upon the legal nature of divorce seeks to bring it into some kind of a standard pattern throughout the United States, the legal approach does not do anything to deal with some of the funda— mental problems of human relationships in marital strife which leads to divorce. As Blake (1962) noted in his introductory section, divorce is as old as civilization itself. The earlier characteristic of divorce was that it was primarily the prerogative of the man who could dissolve the marriage con— tract simply by stating that it was now terminated. In many of the earlier societies including Rome, Israel, China, as well as in other parts of the world, divorce consisted simply of the husband's dissolution of the marriage contract which allowed the wife and the husband of the former marriage to remarry. Divorce in Judaism took a different turn with the reformulation of the older divorce statutes by Jesus as cited in Matthew's Gospel where, upon responding to a question put by a Pharisee, He answered: 14 Have you not read that He Who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ”For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one?" so they are no longer two but one. What there— fore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. They said to Him, ”Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, to put her away?”. He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: Whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery” (Matthew 29:4—9 RSV). Paul amplified this divorce discussion to some degree in his first Corinthian letter when he stated that a Christian married to a non—believer may continue the union as long as it is satisfactory but that should it not be, he may dissolve it. The two scriptural references to divorce have caused great difficulty in interpretation throughout the centuries which have followed their issuance. The mandate of Jesus has been interpreted to mean that marriage is not to be dissolved or that it may be dissolved only for the cause of adultery. Remarriage after such a divorce would be adultery. Other interpretations have included the statement that remarriage of the injured party does not mean that the individual is committing adultery while the guilty party, if he marries again, is guilty of the sin of adultery. Adultery is here defined as sexual intercourse of a married person with some— one other than his own marriage partner or with a subsequent partner after divorce. These statements have been subject to confusion in that some have understood Jesus' pronouncements to mean that the separated partners should not marry. The opposing view is 15 the interpretation that a Christian may remarry if the marri- age was to an unbeliever. From such a view, marriage to a non—believer does not constitute a valid marriage in the Christian faith. This view has been found in Catholic doc— trine regarding the recognition of marriage performed outside of the Catholic Church until the latest Vatican Council (Blake, 1962, p. 15). It was Augustine who defined marriage as a sacrament in rather vague terms, a concept which later was strengthened by the writings of Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas, as one of the seven sacraments recognized by the Catholic church. Divorce, which had previously been a matter to be handled by the state, became the responsibility of the church as the organizational structure of the church began to be solidified with the authority of ecclesiastical bodies in the life of the communicant. There were always provisions, even in these early formulations, for remarriage under certain circumstances including infirmity, desertion by the wife, or adultery (Blake, 1962, p. 15). Since the ecclesiastical course followed the strict line of interpretation laid down by Augustine and other church fathers, the medieval courts often annulled mar— riages on numerous grounds. These might either be concerned with the nature of the contract or with the precontractual conditions which would invalidate the marriage because of concealment or for some other reason. In spite of these various provisions for the dissolution of marriage which sought to preserve the fiction that divorce did not exist, the church was concerned, until the time of the Reformation, 16 with maintaining the position that divorce as such did not exist for Christians married to Christians. Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, may be said to be responsible for the first steps in removing the problem of divorce from the purview of the church so that it might be treated as a matter of state law. When asked about the matter of marriage and divorce he answered, "This should be left to the lawyers and made subject to the secular government" (Blake, 1962, p. 22-23). It was Luther's conten— tion that marriage dealt with a number of matters of property which were properly in the realm of the government. Luther did not deny, in making this statement, that marriage was important to the church or in the sight of God; he sought to point out the fact that the whole problem of divorce was a matter which was better handled in the secular courts. Laws should regulate the matter of the provisions of divorce but they did not remove from the Christian the responsibility Which he had to live in accordance with his faith. Calvin in his ordinances provided that there were two causes of divorce, adultery and malicious desertion, with the provision inherited from the older Judaistic tradition that the adulter- er should be put to death. If this were not to be the penalty, it would probably be better if he were to be allowed to remarry. In this he agreed with Luther (Blake, 1962, p. 24). Both the Reformation and the determination on the part of Henry the Eighth to free himself of the rule of the church in his marital affairs contributed to other confusion about divorce adminis— tered in the various nations in Europe. 17 As England underwent drastic changes of government in the seventeenth century, the administration of the divorce laws became subject to the whim of the ruling power at a given time in history. Marriage law also was subject to change as Cromwell provided in his Civil Marriage Act of 1653 that all weddings should be performed before justices of the peace with registration by the civil authorities. Divorce was not similarly provided for, probably because of the sharp divisions within the ranks of the Puritans themselves (Blake, 1962, p. 31). Colonial views on marriage and divorce were largely dictated by the nature of the denomination of the colonists who settled in a specific area. In Virginia, where the Angli— can Church was the state church, the older more conservative view of marriage and divorce prevailed but the Puritans in New England maintained that ”Marriage was a civil thing and ...nowhere in the word of God...it was tied to the ministry”. If this View of marriage were to prevail then logic dictated that divorce also would be considered to be a civil matter. Thus in the American colonies the move to keep divorce in the area of civil action was given firm footing by the Puri— tan concept that marriage and divorce both were civil matters not to be regulated by the church. At a later date (1692) the Puritans did allow marriage by ministers as well as justices (Blake, 1962, p. 35). In the Colonial period, divorces might be granted by the courts in Rhode Island or by legislative bodies in Massa— chusetts, Virginia and elsewhere. The southern colonies 18 tended to permit civil marriage but, unlike the New England colonies, lodged the responsibility for performance of mar— riage with the minister or clergyman without making a provi- sion for divorce in the first formulations of marriage laws. The middle colonies tended to follow divorce customs as well as those of marriage from a number of different sources on the continent from whence their settlers had come. A study of the various colonial divorce laws indicates the seeds of fruit that still leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Americans to this day. The variations in respect to the seat of authority for divorce laws, the lack of agree- ment for provisions for divorce by courts, legislative bodies or other officials, the differing regard of the marrflage laws, all began a custom of individuality among the states which may not have been as important during a period of limited mObility of the populace but which has become far more serious in modern American life where a large proportion of the population will move from one state to another in the period of a year. In the various colonies, the laws began to be liberal— ized as the eighteenth century drew to a close. Grounds for divorce were broadened in many of the colonies as they became states. Provisions for separation, for support, as well as laws regulating other aspects of divorce became more detailed. Only the states of New York and North Carolina stood firm in holding to the older tradition based upon Biblical and eccle- siastical pronouncements that the sole cause of divorce should be adultery, with desertion added at a later date in 19 the New YOrk State law. The provisions for legislative divorce were gradually changed to place the responsibility for the granting of divorces in the state courts with New York making this legal in 1846. An analysis of the differing state laws began as early as 1851 when Bishop published a two—volume commentary on marriage and divorce laws, a procedure which has continued to the present day with little success. As Time Magazine (Feb. 11, 1966) notes: The laws that cover that dissolution (divorce) in the U.S., however, are not only widely conflicting and confusing-—a11 fifty states have their own 1aws——but are based on notions that are out of touch with the changing realities of modern society. It was the strictness of divorce laws in a number of states, especially New York State, which led to the phenomena of the divorce colonies in other states to which residents of stricter states might go to secure easier divorces with the fulfillment of a brief residence requirement. This di- vorce procedure gave rise to the term ”migratory divorce" which is used by lawyers, sociologists, and other writers. A number of states became migratory divorce havens in the last half of the nineteenth century, among them Pennsylvania and Indiana, where divorce could be secured much more easily than in adjoining states (Blake, 1962, pp. 116—129). The brief residence requirement was a characteristic of western states where provision for shorter periods of three months residence made them very attractive to those seeking quick divorces. Utah, the Dakotas, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana were notable for their brief residential requirements 20 in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Grounds for divorce were also made more liberal following the California laws of 1851 and 1874. Six reasons for divorce were included in most of the state provisions—-adultery, cruelty, desertion, non—support, alcoholism, and conviction for a felony (Blake, 1962, p. 122). In the Dakotas, the church led the fight for the restriction of migratory divorce which was successful in 1897. Oklahoma and Wyoming immediately sought to capture a share of the migratory divorce business when the Dakota laws were made more severe. The differences in state divorce laws came under attack late in the nineteenth century when the legal groups sought to gain some measure of uniformity in divorce laws. While the move was gaining for making the state divorce laws more uniform, a number of church groups sought within their own congregations to place limitations upon divorce and remarriage. In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the Protestant Episcopal Church barred remarriage of divorcees by its clergy on any other grounds than adultery. The Presby— terian Church underwent a struggle over the removal of the provision of desertion as grounds for divorce but the attempt to take out this case for divorce failed though it did indi— cate a trend in church thinking toward a more conservative position on the subject of divorce (Blake, 1962, p.139). In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt urged Congress to pass a law providing for the collection of divorce statistics in the United States. Federal legislation was enacted which made the compilation of federal divorce statistics possible 21 for the nation. In 1906 the National Congress for Divorce Laws met in Washington with 40 of the 45 states represented (Blake, 1962, pp. 140-145). Out of this conference came recommendations for a number of provisions in the divorce laws including a two-year residence requirement, adequate notice, court-appointed attorneys to represent defendants in uncontested suits, open trials before regular courts, and no remarriage for one year after the final decree, which demon- strated that the conservative faction in the divorce contro- versy had the majority of delegates voting at this meeting. Considerable discussion and disagreement was evident concerning the grounds for divorce, annulment, or legal separation. There was sharp disagreement over the proposed controls regulating migratory divorce with the result that no positive action was taken (Blake, 1962, p. 145). The model statute proposed at this conference was adopted by only three states: New Jersey, Delaware, and Wisconsin. As a result, the move to seek federal legislation controlling marriage and divorce regulations began to gather momentum. As late as the year 1947, Senator Arthur Capper attempted to introduce a measure which would standardize divorce proceed- ings under federal regulation. The Capper Bill met with no more success than any of the previous attempts. Blake (1962, p. 151) observed that one woman leader remarked at the turn of the century, ”The states that have more liberal divorce laws are for women today what Canada was for the fugitive in the old days of slavery”. Another ‘writer stated: 22 The increase of divorce is, in reality, a healthy sign, proving, as it does, that people have become less tolerant of evils which were once endured and for which divorce is the only remedy (Blake, 1962, p. 151). Reference has been made earlier in the chapter to the fact that writers prior to 1945 took a much more permissive attitude toward the growing number of divorces. Judge George A. Bartlett, former judge of the Reno Court, had this to say in 1931, ”There is no cause for alarm in the divorce increase: It is a sign of the times; in may ways it is a healthy sign“. He also went on to comment: "Better hate than sever” is some wag's formula for the religious attitude on the subject of divorce. It is the attitude that condemns married people to stay together no matter how miserable they may be; despite the fact that unhappy people are usually inefficient people, half—hearted in their work, troubled and discouraged. It is the attitude that is blind to the daily torture of constant nagging, neurotic emotion, jealousy, hate, spite, selfish- ness and fear (1931, p. 164). The judge drew upon his experience to note that sex and incompatibility were the two most important factors in the breakup of a marriage at the time of his writing, with the economic factor running a close third. He felt that money fights in the court made the most offensive of all divorce cases, the ugly emotions generated by them being the worst exhibitions of human frailty. He also concluded that money was the fatal irritant in the divorce cases which he had heard, more serious than sex or mental cruelty (1931, p. 218). The point of view of Judge Bartlett reflects a change from that of an earlier jurist, J. B. Bryce (1905), who 23 considered that most of the grounds for divorce were trivial or frivolous. He cited a number of cases which, in modern judicial procedure, would constitute mental cruelty but for which he had little use. Mental cruelty is of course a term hard to define, as may be seen by examining the views that have been expressed by English judges on cruelty, and it is not wonderful that the easy—going courts of most American states should give a wide extension to such an elastic conception (Bryce, 1905, p. 57). His observations at the turn of the century concerned the causes of divorce of which he believed desertion to be the most frequent. The percentage of divorces granted to women was about 66% of the total with the remainder granted at the request of the husband. From observations concerning the nature of divorce actions which were limited to specific courts, judges have turned to seeking means of remedying the divorce situation with the use of reconciliation agreements and other counseling procedures which attempt to stop the divorce action and bring about a restoration of the marriage. Another approach has been set forth in a book entitled The Divorce Handbook, by Haussamen and Guitar (1960). The authors have stated that the book was written to give the individual the necessary information concerning the nature of divorce, the ramifications of getting divorced, as well as some of the resources available to the individual who seeks to terminate a marriage contract. Such items as the grounds for divorce, methods of dissenting against a divorce, substitutes for divorce, separation agreements, migratory 24 divorces, and financial aspects have been presented with the advice of legal authorities to make the information accurate. The exceedingly difficult problem of children in a divorce situation was treated carefully along with the post— divorce experiences of the individual. The book was written to guide the individual through the whole divorce experience. Counseling played a part only in helping the individual to understand the divorce, to overcome the feelings of failure generated by divorce, and to be able to ”sort out feelings about remarriage". Mention was made of a number of agencies which might be able to assist in this adjustment, including the Legal Aid Society, the Family and Children's Service, the church and the courts in certain instances. It was pointed out by Haussamen and Guitar that the circuit courts of St. Louis, Omaha, Des Moines, Portland (Oregon), Milwaukee and Los Angeles have been noted for their attempts at reconciliation. That the authors do not seem to put much faith in such attempts may be gathered from their evaluation of these courts in the following words, ”But they do not always succeed in bringing couples together again" (1960, p. 44). Considerable attention was also devoted to the work of Judge Paul Alexander in Toledo, Ohio. He was the judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations, who had established a counseling facility known as the Family Court Center which employed the services of psychiatrists, marriage counselors, psychologists, a pediatrician, a nurse, a music therapist, and other operating personnel. There was 25 also a provision in the Ohio plan for investigation not unlike the Michigan presentence investigation which made allowance for a social study of any case which came before the court for divorce action. This law was passed in 1938 (Haussamen & Guitar, 1960, p. 45). Judge Alexander has been quoted as saying: Thoughtful members of the legal profession in Virtu— ally every part of the country have been increasingly appalled at the unspeakable ineptitude and downright disastrousness of the old—fashioned legalistic way of handling cases that are peculiarly family troubles. Investigations have been made, studies have been con— ducted, and with surprising uniformity, lawyer after lawyer, community after community, has come up with conclusions and recommendations in favor of the integrated family court (Haussamen & Guitar, 1960, p. 56). A second book which was dedicated to helping the indi— vidual seeking a divorce to understand the nature of the problem was written by Ernest R. Groves (1946). Unlike the Haussamen & Guitar volume, this one was more concerned with the healing of the breach. It was the author's premise that many marriage problems arose from the unreasonable expectations which indi- viduals brought into marriage. To a lesser degree than Havemann (1962), the author emphasized the differences in the expectation level of man and woman as they entered the marriage estate. Groves believed that the concept of happiness was a very vague and emotional concept at best. This happiness chimera, with ambition and the romantic fallacy, contributed to many marital misunderstandings. Also high on his list of causes of marital difficulty were in-law interference and religious complications. 26 The most difficult of all in-law complications is that which comes from the husband and wife having radical unlike religious faiths. It is a hard problem for them to work out, under most favorable conditions (1946, p. 65). But the most difficult problem of all, Groves maintained was the problem of money with its several aspects including friction over getting and spending money as well as problems arising from a wife holding a job outside of the home. Under the category of unrecognized motives contributing to the desire for divorce are the fixations, mother or father, along with the clinging to the courtship romanticism through— out the marriage and the tendency for some marriages to become “bogged down in monotony". The concluding section of this volume dealt with the points which should be emphasized if the individual decided to secure a divorce including a section on legal advice about the conditions of divorce and the final suggestion that it would be wise for the individual to seek a marriage counselor. It would be better for you to seek out some domestic counselor than to go to a friend or relative for advice. The reason for this has already been brought out in an earlier discussion. You need an impartial outsider“s viewpoint but you need even more the help of someone who has a great deal to do with the problems such as yours (Groves, 1946, p. 119). Examination of the history of divorce gives a much clearer picture of why American divorce laws and customs are as confused and varied as they are at the present time. Legal writing on the subject has progressed from the recollections of judges about the nature of divorce in a particular period to an attack both on the wide variations among states in the divorce provisions and attempts to do something about the high 27 rate of divorce through reconciliation agreements or other specialized counseling procedures done under the supervision of the court. Analysis of Divorce and Attendant Problems Literature by judges and legal figures has been confined largely to a discussion of the legal causes of divorce, those stated in the complaints presented before the court. Analyz- ing the problem of divorce has interested persons in a number of professions including psychology, psychiatry, sociology, and religion. In the field of psychology-psychiatry, a number of writers have come forth with attempts at analysis of the divorce problem as well as some suggestions for healing marri— ages that are in danger of dissolution. But not all of the factors which are discussed by these authors are purely psychological; a number of the reasons advanced for the increased divorce rate are seen to be caused by the change in the pattern of American life’in the first half of this century. Benda (1958) pointed out that: Our modern materialistic civilization exerts an almost perverted social pressure on all men and women to marry regardless of whether they are suited for it, and looks upon all single women as failures who have missed their true calling (p. 26). He also believed that the lower mortality rate in this century has caused a certain amount of stabilization of the family structure. This lower death rate has removed the vari— ety of emotional contacts present in two or three marriages in the lifetime of the individual, caused by death of the spouse. Nor can marriage itself be considered a totally "private affair" between two people who are ”in love, whatever —————1 28 that means". He saw marriage as a unique relationship of a personal nature involving the views not only of society but the civil laws and religious rites (1958, p. 27). From his studies, Benda observed that the causes of divorce have changed over the years. In the 1930's, personality factors were the major issue, such as inability to assume responsibility, lack of concern for the well-being of others, lack of regard, self- ishness, slovenliness, poor housekeeping, spendthrift tenden- cies, all traits which create frustration and hostility. He observed that in the 1940's the strong tendency was toward freeing one's self from the bondage of marital life. The basic cause was, however, psychological for: ....At the same time the fragmentations and de— personalization of all human relationships have made marriage and the family life the only areas in which people act out their emotional needs and drives with— out much restraint (Benda, 1958, p. 37). Divorce is regarded today as one of the solutions for an unbearable life situation; other methods of escape such as alcoholism, perversion, delinquency, racketeering or aggressive social behavior should be regarded as equally unacceptable. The well—known New York psychiatrist, Edmund Bergler, did not believe that the problem lay in the marriage itself but in the mental state of a high proportion of people who enter into marriage. He blamed the neurotic state of so many individuals as the major cause of divorce. It was Bergler's contention that divorce itself is futile as a solution to the problems encountered in marriage because these problems have a neurotic foundation. 29 The futility of divorce can be established clinic- ally; the second, third and nth marriages (are) but repetitions of previous experiences. The partner has changed--but that is the only difference. The institution of multiple marriage is a fiasco (Bergler, 1948, p. viii). It was Bergler's contention that ”two neurotics look for each other with uncanny regularity” which dooms many marriages to failure from the very outset even though the neurotic divorced partner believed that by securing a divorce, an un- happy chapter had been closed for him. Bergler's analysis of divorce problems had a very strong Freudian orientation as he stated that ”divorce is an unconscious alibi presented to the super ego". He believed that neurotics married to satisfy or with the promise of satisfaction of the inner wishes and defenses of the individual. It was his argument that an individual securing a divorce would sacrifice the marriage partner in order to transfer the inner conflict to another marriage partner, thus perpetuating the neurotic pattern. He answered the question, "Don't people learn from experience in marital conflict?” by saying that they do not. The unconscious unhappiness that they suffer from must be paid for with conscious unhappiness with one partner or another. Bergler believed that neurotics are incapable of tender love; the only kind of attachment that is possible in such a situation is transference to a person connected with their infantile conflicts, namely the marriage partner. Bergler's reasoning that divorce won't help was based upon this system of analysis of marriage which was summed up when he said: 30 Divorce is based on a series of illusions and fanta— sies. Illusion number one is the belief that the next marriage will be more successful. This belief arises from the fact that the neurotic divorcee, un- aware that the failure of her marriage was inevitable, considers it to have been due simply to a mistake, to be corrected the next time. The illusion is maintained with amazing tenacity. The real reason for the failure of the marriage—-the neurosis which created the failure and will continue to create new failures—-is never taken into account (1948, p. 117). Bergler devoted a large proportion of his description to pointing out a number of the illusions which people hold con— cerning the problems which divorce will solve as well as ana- lyzing the post—divorce reactions of the individual in the light of his theory of the neurotic basis for divorce. It was evident from Bergler's observations on marriage that he sided with the male partner in the divorce. His sharpest criticisms were leveled at the female partner though he did acknowledge man's infantilism as a factor in marriage breakup. His bias was evident in this statement: ”The success or failure of a marriage is mainly the wife's responsibility” (1958, p. 188). He believed that the success of the average marriage was dependent upon the shaping of the marriage by the wife who, except for the neurotic wife, he considered to be the more mature of the two. It was his firm belief that "Neurotic con- flicts in marriage should be treated psychiatrically and not in the divorce courts”. He advocated the establishment of some sort of preventive counseling which would involve indivi- duals contemplating marriage going to skilled practitioners who would be able to diagnose the problems which would be present in a marriage situation. 31 Bergler foresaw the criticism that potential difficulties in marriage might not be able to be diagnosed before the wedding. He argued that certain symptoms could be regarded as danger signals: extreme jealousy, moodiness, depression, nagging, indecision, shyness in sex, addiction to drink or gambling, aversion to marriage in general. He admitted that some person- ality defects would show up only in marriage yet he felt that an attempt to diagnose marriage difficulties before marriage would bear fruit. Still the divorce rate is climbing; more and more millions are beset by the illusion that getting rid of their husband or wife will guarantee their happi- ness (1958, p. 233). He pointed out that the public has moved from a posi- tion of vast ignorance concerning neurosis to a new View that everybody is hopelessly neurotic which he termed an exaggera- tion. Neuroses are as old as mankind itself though the mani— festation of them may differ from culture to culture. ”The number of neurotics in this country is no greater or smaller than in other progressive countries of Western civilization" (1958, p. 240). He concluded his book with the hope that psychiatric marriage clinics would become, before long, adjuncts of every psychiatric outpatient department helping to avoid a good share of unhappiness in marriage. Ernst and Loth suggested a new approach to marriage in 1951 which centered on the information to be given to people concerning the post-divorce problems. ”The system is not concerned with the reasons why a particular marriage failed or what will happen to the individuals involved in that failure 32 afterward" (1951, p.5). They argued that the grounds given in the legal language of the court for divorce were unimportant and that broadening these grounds or restricting them would be of no value unless such action was related to the reason for failure of marriages. They quoted a noted trial lawyer whose description of the average divorce proceeding was: "The ordinary divorce case is a sham battle against the little man who isn't there. Well over 95% of all cases are ultimately uncontested" (Ernst & Loth, 1951, p. 7). The authors re— affirmed the position taken by Haussamen & Guitar in placing little confidence in reconciliation agreements sponsored by the court. They felt that by the time a broken marriage arrived in this situation, healing measures could not be effective because they took place too late in the marriage difficulty. While the authors did not have a great deal of faith in divorce statistics, some of the observations which they drew from them have been reported elsewhere with about the same conclusions. It was their observation that in the lower income groups the problem of marital strain was solved by either Separation or desertion. The ratio in this category was double that of divorces. They also stated that the divorce rate tended to climb in periods of rising income when individ— uals could afford it, a conclusion which Jacobson stated in his summary (1959, p. 96). Open to question is their con— clusion that divorce is more practiced among the well-to—do than among the poor. 33 In discussing the post-divorce problems they took up such matters as loneliness: "All the disadvantages of the divorced state are intensified by loneliness. The chances of reaping the potential rewards of divorce are lost in loneli- ness." They said of frustration: ”Sometimes however the real cause of unhappiness is in themselves and no one can run away from that.” In this they have agree with the position set forth by Dr. Bergler. Other problems which occur after the divorce include the relations with the former spouse: The divorced man or woman who has established a new relationship of love and tenderness is not likely to engage in fights over the children, jealousy, angry recriminations and self-pity. Everyone will benefit (Ernst & Loth, 1951, p. 70). They found money to be crucial: ”In the negotiations leading up to the average divorce, it would appear that more time is spent on the financial settlement than on any other single subject." Children might be involved in several ways: "Divorce sometimes crucifies and sometimes saves children." Also the problems of jealousy were described: ”...the frus- trated hate themselves, the jealous must hate other people." The feeling of failure played a significant part for: The failure of the divorce to solve the problems was rated as being difficult to assess just as the final problem, success of the divorce, cannot be easily diagnosed (1951, p. 186). The authors were critical of the present divorce system which forces one party to be guilty and the other party inno- cent in the adjudication of the divorce. ”The hypocrisy of Inost of our divorce procedure, whether in lenient or rigid Estates, is probably the most damaging aspect for those who __————'7 W 34 go through the mill." A plan of action was suggested by the authors for childless couples which would provide for court supervision of the divorce proceedings to allow for the possi- bility of reconciliation. Such supervision would ascertain certain factors about a divorce such as the presence or absence of pregnancy in the wife, her ability to manage money, and the prevention of hasty or hysterical divorce petitions. It was claimed by the authors that in 95% of the cases in which children were involved, the court did not have the opportunity to consider the matter of the children and their well—being. They did not suggest that divorces involving children should be more difficult to obtain but that the interest of the children be made the first consideration in arranging for the provisions of the divorce. It is the duty of the state to provide machinery for exploring the causes and offering but not compelling remedies. It is in the interest of the state to maintain the home if possible, but also to dissolve the marriage with the least possible damage if the principals refuse to go on with it (1951, p. 255). Dr. William J. Goode (1956) maintained that most studies of the divorce problem centered too much on either the concept of divorce as an index of social disorganization or the prob- lem of achieving marital happiness. It was his contention that the problem should be approached from the standpoint of what happens after the divorce. He believed that if the con- cern was with marital happiness, then divorce was the end point. The viewing of divorce "against the backdrop of the ideal love relationship“ failed to allow consideration of what followed as a part of the entire process: 35 But divorce is an official recognition of unhappiness and it denies one basic premise of the romantic com— plex, that a couple marries because both are deeply in love and the love will, of course, continue. If the love was real, then the divorce could not have happened ....(Goode, 1956, p. 4). If it is allowed that there is some conflict in marriages in society as long as man and wife are two different persons, the important focus should be upon the nature of conflict and the maximum level at which it can be tolerated. The resolution of the conflict or the dealing with it assumed greater importance sociologically, the author believed. Divorce may be defined as one means of dealing with marital conflict, an institutionalized element of social systems. The purpose of the study conducted by Goode was to ascertain what happened after the divorce with some emphasis upon the pre-divorce patterns as indicative of the type of adjustment that might be made after the dissolution of the marriage. Goode's sample was composed of urban mothers in the Detroit area in the 20-38 year age range. The four categories of divorcees were: a) divorced two months, b) divorced eight months, c) divorced fourteen months, and d) divorced 26 months at the time of the interview. Goode stated that the sample was chosen from the lists of the Friend of the Court of the Circuit Court of Wayne County. The subjects interviewed were neither asked permission to interview in advance nor were they aware of the survey being made. He was convinced that, though this method would incur a high degree of refusals, the level would have been even higher .if the person had known what was to be the subject of the 36 questioning (1956). Each person taken from the court lists was followed up with an interview by his investigators, or the refusal to talk, or the inability to be found in the time period assigned for the study was entered on his records. Goode found that the refusals were highest in the presence of second husbands or fiancees. Because a time distinction had been made for the groups, the time pattern of the interviewing had to be made comparable; if one group had a six-months shorter adjustment period after divorce, the follow-up had to pre- serve these differences so that if a person could not be found in a reasonable time, the case was dropped. Goode defended the use of younger mothers with the thesis that the strain and shock of divorce is most felt by this group, especially since in 95% of the cases child custody goes to the mother (1956, p. 29). Findings in the social backgrounds of the couples were divided into several categories. It was found that the greatest number of divorces occurred in the families with urban background and the least in rural: Table l.--Rural-Urban background of husband and wife. Husband Wife Urban 62% 70% Small town 26 22 Rural 11 8 Total 99% 100% Goode, 1956, p. 33. Religious preferences were sought to determine the correspondence of the sample with other studies. Goode's findings for the women queried may be found in Table 2. 37 Table 2.--Re1igious preference of wife. Religion Per Cent Cases Protestant 58% 247 Catholic 32 135 E. Orthodox l 6 Jewish 3 12 Other or unknown 6 25 Total 100% 425 Goode, 1956, p. 35. Goode was also interested in the level of church attend- ance of the respondents but the questionnaire did not seek information concerning the pre-breakup church activity. He was careful to state that the question and responses referred to the period of the interview itself. His findings here were: Table 3.--Church attendance of respondents (time of int.L Catholics Protestants Other or Totals % % None4% % Weekly 49 26 12 32 Occasionally 31 48 33 41 Never 20 27 56 28 Total 100 (135) 101 (247) 101 (43) 101 (425) Goode, 1956, p. 37. Goode found that the median age at marriage of the women was 19.4 years with the mean 19.5 years. following distribution: He reported the Table 4.-—Age at marriage. Age grogp Per cent Under 15 yrs. 2% 15-19 57 20-24 34 25-29 6 Over 30 l N-425 100% Goode, 1956, p. 40. Another area of interest studied by Goode concerned the length of engagement of divorcing couples and the length of W’ 38 acquaintance though, as he noted, these two may overlap. He devised his scale for acquaintance to match that of Terman in order to make comparisons: Table 5.——Length of acquaintance. Period Terman* Goode 0—1 year 16% 30% 1—3 years 34 39 3—5 years 22 16 5 years 28 15 *Terman, Lewis M., Psychological Factors in Marital Happiness, N.Y. McGraw—Hill, 1938. In the Detroit study by Goode, a relatively short engage— ment characterized the divorced couples' courtship: Table 6.--Length of engagement for divorcing couples Never engaged 19% 0—2 months 17 3-6 months 35 7—11 months 6 12—23 months 14 24 months and over 8 Not known -2 Total 99.2% Goode, 1956, p. 78. Goode described the questionnaire as containing 27 pages, One which covered a wide range of sociological factors includ— ing economics, class differences, family approval and other Dre—marriage factors. In the marriage, the number of children, Shared activities and the inter—relationship of socio—economic factors were sought. Attention was then turned to the conflict process with questions concerning the complaints of the wife, steps toward the divorce and the whole area of counseling, agreements and approval of the divorce. In relation to the amount of LA 39 pre—divorce counseling, Goode devoted very little attention in the study, probably because, as he pointed out, ”Most of our divorcees did not receive any marriage counseling”. He also stated that most divorces take place without any contact ”with the insufficient number of counseling agencies in this country". He did classify the interview with the Friend of the Court as counseling yet this must be designated as post-divorce or post—breakup counseling since the Friend of the Court becomes involved by direction of the court at the time of the separa— tion agreement or while the divorce is in process. The statistics for the 29% of the divorcees who had received counseling were as follows: Table 7.——Counseling involved in Goode's sample. Counselor % of counseled % of sample Friend of Court 50 14.0 % Priest or pastor 5.4 Social worker 4.0 Physician 3.3 Other person Goode, 1956, p. 156 (statistics only). The advice given included ”patch it up”, 7%; ”wait before acting", 3%; ”separate for a while", 2%; ”get a divorce", 12%; and another 5% totaling the 29% who were counseled. From this result, it can be seen that the level of ministerial counseling was very low. Of interest was the relationship of religious Preference to seeking counseling: Table 8.——Subjects seeking marital counseling classified by religion. . Obtained Did not obtain (‘nnhqpl inc (‘nnhqpl 'ino‘ Total NO. Catholic 38% 62% 100% :33 NOn*Catholic 25 75 100 Goode, 1956, p. 157. 40 As Goode pointed out, "Catholics would seek aid more than non-Catholics, simply because there are greater pressures on the Catholic to avoid divorce". He also observed that the Protestant probably would be more apt to seek psychoanalytic or psychiatric assistance. The balance of the study was taken up with the separa- tion trauma, post-divorce adjustment, economic activities, social adjustment, dating and remarriage were examined, and the role of the children in divorce received adequate attention. Goode was interested in the new marriage where one existed. The final part of the volume dealt with some valuable findings encountered in the sampling technique such as tracing the respondent, refusal, and other factors. Of the sample of 892 names drawn, they had to terminate the process after two months at 433 interviews in order to preserve the time intervals pre- viously referred to. Eight of the interviews had to be dis- carded, leaving the base figure of 425. Goode reported that the refusal rate for the 537 contacts was 19% or 104. It was found that 128 cases could not be traced with an additional 45 who had moved away from Detroit. This would amount to 32% of the sample who were in a high mobility classification. Refusals followed the pattern of a member of the family refusing for the respondent (25%), skip— ping appointments, and generally not being interested. Since Goode was primarily interested in the immediate reaction to divorce as well as the more or less short-term adjustment after two years, the interviewing had to be done in a brief period under a severe time schedule. This was 41 because he was able, through several foundation grants, to hire a large number of assistants. Both in the methods used and in the observations made on the basis of the sampling of divorces secured, this study makes a worthwhile contribution. In the field of sociology, Gibson Winter sought to analyze the problems of marriage from a different point of View than the psychologists and psychiatrists. Beginning with the family he observed that it "....now impoverished of many of its traditional tasks, became the exclusive sphere of in— timacy in modern life" (1958, p. 9). Winter saw the chief problem in personal relationships as being the inability of the individual to attain a relationship of intimacy which would be creative in the marriage setting. Part of the diffi— culty, he believed, was caused by the great competitiveness of the commercial world in which men and women must struggle. Winter saw the individual caught between personal, intimate relationships at home and impersonal dealings in the world of business where a large percentage of his time was spent. According to Winter, the changing nature of life produced this inner conflict in the home; the roles played by the parents had become so changed that there was a good deal of confusion in the thinking of the parents as well as the children: Actually, the strong mother with a strong father can make a good parental combination. But a strong mother with no real father figure, except possibly a bumbling Santa Claus who fits in like an old shoe, can make a very one-sided combination. It can develop very frus- trated and angry boys. It can develop very capable but frigid women. Hence there are some who will not settle for mother rule. What other alternatives are there? We can try the rule of children. This is being exper- ienced in many homes, where parents refuse to take the responsibility for order in their own homes. Where 42 father's authority could be reconstructed in the demo- cratic way, this seems to be the best alternative but it needs much more careful interpretation (1958, p. 22). Winter saw the father's primary relationship in the home based upon money; the home has become primarily the woman's world where the mother rules and the father visits. Winter believed that to re—establish the relationship of the home, the restoration of father as disciplinarian would be the first step. The father should be both a man and a real person, some- body of stature in the home. The mother's problem is based upon the change in work contrasted with woman's work a gener- ation or so ago. The dullness compared with yesterday's creativity sets up within the home another kind of tension. With these crosscurrents at work in the home, Winter found that the attempt to establish intimacy, man's desperate need in an impersonal world, was exceedingly difficult because of his inability to sustain this intimacy even though he may have married to express both love and a desire for it. Seeking intimacy, he marries with the result that the ensuing intimacy of early married life is so intense that neither have the privacy they need for quite a while. ”If they do not share the same toothbrush, it is because the toothbrush is the last outpost of privacy” (1958, p. 78). This intimacy ultimately may be rejected in a number of ways, the first of which is divorce. Winter saw it beginning with couples simply drifting apart and co—existing, living separate lives because modern marriage sets individuals on different paths. The fragmented interests of society then produce a sort of co—existence within marriage which causes 43 the partners ultimately to drift apart, meeting only for boring meals or arguments about money. "Such an arrangement may or may not lead to divorce, but it is already a kind of spiritual divorce" (1958, p. 88). The result, as far as the family is concerned, is that each individual follows his own pursuits with the children seeking a neutral ground where they may live out their own lives in an atmosphere which may contain no real hate or no real love. In fact, it may contain no feeling of any kind. Winter observed that "couples too seldom turn to pastors or family counselors for help when caught in the web of past hurts" (1958, p. 105). They have a tendency to take their troubles to divorce lawyers but, as has been pointed out before, this occurs at such a late stage in the marital difficulty that the possibilities of solution of the problem are indeed small. Winter believed that a part of the whole problem of marital relationship was the lack of ability to sustain intimacy in the family relationship. The correction of some of the trends in family life which led to depersonalization of family relationships and the inability to sustain intimacy Which finally caused withdrawal and lack of communication, particularly in the areas where there were differences and tensions, would be necessary if family life were to be im- proved. Winter believed that in this way better family rela- tionships and fewer divorces could be achieved. Havemann(1962) centered his attention in two areas of marital conflict, the sexual differences between men and women and the problem of the different expectations which men and 44 women bring into a marriage. It was Havemann's contention that examination of the Kinsey Reports had been largely super- ficial when it came to an interpretation of the importance of the sexual differences which the reports revealed. Almost every marriage involves a disparity of sexual tension; the husband and wife who always feel like having sexual relations at exactly the same moment are rare indeed (Havemann, 1962, p. 30). Havemann argued that intelligent understanding of the sexual differences would enable the couple to make the neces— sary adjustments in their differences, thus enabling the marriage to be more satisfactory. He was critical of the heavy dependence upon marriage manuals by marriage counselors as well as persons entering into marriage. He felt that the whole philosophy of marriage manuals reduced sexual activity to a mechanical level which failed to understand the individual's need for fulfillment in other respects. When the technique advocated by the manual was not successful, even deeper frus- tration was the result. The advice in the manuals can be not only futile but harmful. When it fails to work, as it is often bound to fail, there is grave danger that Jane Doe and John Smith will stop worrying and become panic— struck instead (1962, p. 38). Havemann did not completely discount the value of marriage manuals but he did feel that a much deeper under— standing of the sexual nature of men and women was necessary to promote marital happiness. His second line of argument concerned the expectations which are brought into the marriage concerning the nature of the role to be played by the wife. In this analysis he drew 45 heavily on the contribution made by Dr. Clifford Kirkpatrick, for whom the author had high respect. The three types of marriage role expectation of the wife that Havemann described are as follows: 1. The old—fashioned wife and mother. This concept refers to the more traditional part to be played by the wife as the homemaker and the mother of the children born of the union. She does not partici- pate to any great extent in the decisions concerning the marriage. 2. The companion—wife. Havemann characterized this as being the role of the glamor girl or the good sport as portrayed in various communications media. She keeps up on all of the current trends, fads, and smart conversation. She is also able to be a good hostess. 3. The full partner. This concept is one in which the wife is a career woman who has a job which enables her to contribute substantially to the family income but with it comes the understanding that she has equal voice in the family decisions. It was Havemann's contention that a woman entering marriage must decide which of these roles she is to play. Frequently she does not consider this prior to marriage nor is she aware of the expectations of her husband at this point. Where there is a differing conception of the role to be played, there is apt to be tension as well as conflict. The differences of opinion may develop as the preference of the individual changes within the framework of the marriage, which- also produces difficulty. It was Havemann's belief that a thorough understanding of the nature of the three roles coupled with frank discussion of them by the couple before marriage would aid in creating a smoother marriage. For the marriage in trouble at this point, he believed that it was 46 essential for the couple to understand their thinking about this very important aspect of marriage (1962, pp. 66-69). Lemasters, writing in Midwest Sociologist in 1959 under the title, ”Holy Deadlock: a study of unsuccessful marriages” reported that in marriages which had been in existence in an unsatisfactory state for ten years but had not resulted in divorce, there existed considerable personal disorganization. It was expressed by such manifestations as alcoholism, psycho- somatic illness, neurotic—psychotic behavior, occupational disorganization, extra-marital affairs, and disenchantment. He found that, of the marriages that continued without divorce, most couples had been unable to work out satisfactory solutions but that contrary to expectations, the children did not exhibit the same degree of disorganization. This conclusion disputed the findings of a number of other investigators who had stated that chronic marital difficulty often did more damage to children than separation or divorce (1959, p. 87). He cited evidence that the children demonstrated a tougher emotional quality than had been understood previously, that they were not as aware of the conflict and that other contacts which they had gave them enough variety to offset the results of the conflict. The men in these unsatisfactory marriages found satisfaction in their jobs, liquor or other women while the wives found theirs in the children or work, religion, or community service. In the case of extra-marital affairs, the infidelity came after the dissatisfactions rather than being the cause of them. 47 Lemasters also observed that the disenchantment factor was high because the marriage did not go as expected, followed by attempts to make it work and then bitterness when it did not, or resignation. In Lemasters' study, it was determined that all of the individuals involved had consulted marriage counselors, ministers, and psycho-therapists whose goal was to try to aid them in establishing an adequate marriage. After expressing his wonder that the counselors had not suggested dissolution of a destructive relationship, he concluded: It would seem that professional practitioners work— ing with such couples may be reflecting a cultural bias in their counseling efforts — that the function of a counselor is to keep the marriage intact no matter what the cost (1959, p. 89). Lemasters felt that in all probability the counselor did not wish to be accused of undermining marriage but that he had not considered seriously enough the danger of serious deterioration of personality in the continuing unsatisfactory marriage situation. Of those who did not become disorganized, Lemasters stated that the reason included a differential ability to tolerate frustration, a displacement of hostility elsewhere than in the marriage setting, and the development of separate worlds. Reasons for continuing such unsatisfac- tory relationships might be found in the desire of the indi- vidual to stay with the conflict rather than admit defeat or the desire to keep a normal home for the children in addition to the hope that things might ultimately be better. Although the Lemasters study, by its own admission, 3 was not comprehensive nor was there a large enough sample 48 for him to feel that he could make generalizations, he did observe that lengthy dating and courtship would not of them— selves prevent unsuccessful marriages because 40% of the couples had gone together for three years or more and that some couples seemed to be pulled together by forces of which they had no real understanding, which Bergler has dealt with in his volume. He concluded that marital failure that was not terminated by separation affected each of the partners differently with the more severe damage being present in the male, on the basis of the disorganization statistics and that the children's adjustment in the marriages did not reflect the general situation. He concluded that this study was simply the groundwork for further investigation. Ralph P. Bridgman continued the assault of professional people on the whole institution of divorce in a series of articles in Pastoral Psychology in 1958. His summary of the divorce procedure is as follows: Divorce is essentially a funeral ceremony. The plaintiff's petition, with its assertions of inno- cence and its list of faults in the defendant, the summons, the appearance of the parties and their attorneys in court, the pleading, the decree from the bench, the signing of the papers-—all these are rituals in our culture with which the dead marriage of living partners is buried (1958, p. 16). He also claimed that the United States has the highest turnover of marriage partners of any civilized society. He saw a part of the cause as being the fact that over 40% of the divorces in the Toledo Family Court in 1953 showed that one or both partners had come from families which had had a divorce in them. He also observed that, from a study in New 49 Jersey, ten times the number of disturbed children live with quarrelsome parents as with divorced parents; that 80% of the unwed mothers in Florence Crittenden homes came from broken homes. In analyzing the church connections of divorced couples in the Toledo Court, he stated that no dependable figures were available; even less was known about the devoutness of the persons or the extent of their participation in church life though church members "tend to be persons who resolve such discord as they suffer by measures other than marriage termination" (1958, p. 19). He found that 90% of the 10,050 applicants in an area with 375 churches who had children listed a church but that only two—thirds of a sampling proved to be listed on church.rolls and of these, 14 dropped their litigation. Of the 16 who continued, only three had been active in counseling (1958, p. 19). The court counselor reported that of a sample of 31 who were consulted on their desire for ministerial counseling, 15 preferred not to talk to a minister, with ten being indifferent, and six expressing a desire for such talks. Bridgman was critical of the court system in that he believed that "in both contested and uncontested cases, divorce law and divorce court procedure penalizes forgiveness“. -His statement that partners were not allowed to show affection or interest because of spoiling the charges as well as his claim that attorneys forbade clients to see their partners during litigation may have been true of the Ohio court pro— cedure but is not in Michigan where a reconciliation attempt 50 may be undertaken without jeopardizing the status of the divorce petition. He rated the Friend of the Court program in Michigan as an outstanding example of court assistance in the matters of support, custody and visitation. Bridgman was highly critical of the Los Angeles court program which had as a part of the reconciliation agreement jail sentences if the agreement were broken because, as he stated, most jurists hold that ”this is exceeding authority”. He questioned the findings on success of compulsory counsel- ing of the California court system because systematic studies had not been-undertaken. Burns (1958) contributed a new facet to the understand— ing of divorce when he stated that some of the symptoms noted in divorced persons during the first six months to a year of their divorce included dryness of mouth, difficulty in breathing, nausea, generalized weakness, accompanied by a "pervasive sense of mental and physical malaise" (1958, p. 45). Some of this may be brought on by finding articles associated with the ex—partner, going places where they had been together, or mention of the ex-mate. There are also feelings of guilt, painful self-examination and self—accusation observed. He pointed out that: In the early months, divorcees rarely find the sense of release and freedom which they anticipated. The meeting of each new day requires an all-out effort. There is little or no zest for living....every attempt at social life is disappointing because divorced persons, so long having conformed to the pattern of married persons, are unaccustomed to the single role (1958, p.46). Some of the successful adjustment patterns included the emotional separation from the former spouse, realism in 51 evaluating the new life, and the reconstruction of a new existence not dependent upon the former mate. But this may be made difficult by the fact that the individual fails to consider the unsolved problems which remain in spite of the divorce, the inability of those who had taken sides to be of real help, the general lack of awareness of what goes on in the mind of the individual after divorce and the prevalent cultural attitude that divorce is a necessary evil. He saw many parallel reactions in divorce situations to grief situations as examined by Dr. Eric Lindemann of Massachusetts General Hospital. Reference has already been made to the Time Magazine essay, The Sorry State of Divorce Law, (Feb. 11, 1966), which stated that approximately 400,000 couples are being divorced each year, involving a half-million children, two—thirds of them under the age of ten. Six million Americans, the article stated, are now divorced or separated with half of them the children of divorced parents. The writer of the article took issue with some other authorities in stating that: Divorce or separation occur most among the poor, the least educated and the Negroes, least among the affluent (who usually get most of the publicity), the well-educated and couples with three or more children (1966, p. 26). It was also stated that 46% of the divorces involved girls who married in their teens and 74% of those who married under 25. There was an 85% prediction of success for those who married over 25. Though Roman Catholics got fewer divorces than others because of their church's proscriptions, they were "not very far behind the Protestant breakup rate because of 52 desertions, separations, and annulments” (1966, p. 26). Quoted was Dr. Lawrence S. Kubie, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland, that: Divorce is always a tragedy no matter how civilized the handling of it, always a confession of human failure, even when it is the sorry better of sorry alternatives (1966, p. 26). The Time article with its precise statistics demon— strated also that many articles written popularly are careless with their use of statistics. Chaplain W. Norman MacFarlane, writing in Christianity Today (Dec. 17, 1965), claimed that three-fourths of a million children are affected by divorce but was vague about the source of his statistics. When questioned by letter concerning them, he stated that he had received them from still another speaker and had not expected to have to substantiate them. MacFarlane's analysis was more accurate when he dealt with the conception of love in marriage, noting that it is defined for so many this day by people who have no conception of the real meaning of love. He argued that rather than depending upon many of the contemporary definitions of love as a basis for marriage, the description of it in First Corinthians was far more suitable to produce a stable and lasting union: The trouble began when we stopped listening to Solomon and St. Paul and began listening to Sigmund Freud and Hugh Hefner; when we stopped listening to Shakespeare and Robert Browning and started listen— ing to Bertrand Russell and Henry Miller; when we stopped listening to God and began listening to un— regenerate man (1965, p. 14). MacFarlane's analysis of current marriage problems in relation to divorce was subject to gross over—simplification. 53 While a reader might be inclined to agree with some of the religious analysis, the failure to take into account contem— porary psychological and psychiatric insights into the nature of man robbed his discussion of a good deal of cogency. Again, his statistic that in 95% of all divorce cases either one or both partners did not attend church regularly is not a well-grounded one, nor is his statement that in regular church families only one marriage in 57 fails. One must also question the statement that in families that worship God publicly in church and privately in the home, only one mar— riage in 500 breaks up. The author of the Time Magazine article, summing up the whole problem of divorce, made this observation: While sex, money and incompatibility are the traditional reasons for divorce, a mobile and changing urban society has loosened many of the bonds that once held marriage together, depriving men of their absolute dominance, giving women a large measure of economic independence and weakening the sense of kinship. Marriage means happiness to Americans - and its inevitable problems seem to catch them by surprise (Feb. 11, 1966). It is apparent from a survey of the pronouncements by psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists and others con- cerned with divorce that the answers are yet to be found to many of the puzzling and difficult aspects of this problem. What is evident is a new emphasis on the importance of a number of the deeper personality problems involved in divorce as well as a new thrust toward reconciliation, either under the auspices of the court or brought about by an increased emphasis on the value of counseling, for individuals who find themselves in marital difficulty. In probing the social, in... 54 psychological, cultural, and religious factors involved in marriage, those who seek the answers are trying to relate the problems of marriage and divorce to the changing pattern of American life. Marriage Counseling With Reference to Severe Marital Problems The literature concerning marriage counseling consists of texts written by doctors, social workers, ministers, coun— seling specialists, and psychiatrists. In some volumes the whole question of severe marital problem counseling is dealt with very briefly in the setting of counseling as a whole. The foregoing section on analysis of divorce problems and severe marital difficulties demonstrated that some writers sought to introduce new understandings, believing that these would assist the counseling technique of the counselor as well as the basic thinking of individuals involved in marital strife. A more direct approach, containing specific informa— tion dealing with the techniques of marital counseling, may be found in volumes and articles in various journals. Dr. William L. Carrington (1961) published a compre- hensive handbook to guide the counselor dealing with marital problems. It was his contention that marriages may sicken and die but that their sickness and death will have more far- reaching consequences in the lives of individuals than physical death. A sick marriage may produce mental illness, delinquency, vandalism, gangsterism, crime, alcoholism, accident proneness, and many other costly social disorders (1961, p. 13). He took a positive View of the prognosis for marriage counseling, 55 believing that not only might sick marriages be healed but that tragedies could be prevented by adequate counseling techniques. He noted that the earlier technique of marriage counseling was largely devoted to helping wives make the best of a difficult situation coupled with occasional success in persuading the husband to be more tolerant of the situation. Marriage counseling in its earlier form was largely the matter of giving advice. But the steep rise in the divorce rate and the large but unassessable separation rate over the last half of the century suggest that these traditional methods of counseling are not sufficiently effective in the strains of modern marriage (1961, p. 19). Marriage counseling today, he believed, is a combination of psychology, rehgion, medicine, sociology, education, psychiatry, and anthropology. The author defined marriage counseling as being a therapeutic or healing process. Giving advice is not an essential characteristic of Carrington's counseling theory. The "sick” marriage can best be healed when the partners are helped to help themselves, when the counselor can sit down patiently with them and give them the chance to ”see" themselves and their partners through the previously blinding mists of emotion, and then to apply "sweet reason" free from the distortions of upset feelings, to their common task of re-building —- or, if they see fit, of dissolving -- their partnership (1961, p. 21). Carrington also saw as a characteristic of contemporary marriage counseling the lack of interference or coercion in the counseling process coupled with a lack of judgmental action on the part of the counselor. He adopted for his basic definition the statement of Dr. Emily Hartshorne Mudd: Marriage counseling is defined as the process whereby a professionally trained person assists two persons 56 (engaged or marriage partners) to develop abilities in resolving to some workable degree, the problems that trouble them in their inter—personal relation— ships as they move into marriage, live with, or (in a small number of instances) move out of it. The focus of a counselor's approach is the relationship between the two people in the marriage rather than, as in psychiatric therapy, the reorganizing of the person- ality structure of the individual. Theoretical frame- work behind this approach presents the following hypothesis: If an individual can experience, during the counseling process, new ways of understanding himself and his mar- riage partner and more satisfying ways of using himself in his daily relationships in marriage and with his family, he should be able to apply these acquired abilities to other problem situations as these arise in his daily living (1961, p. 40). Carrington defined the three characteristics of marri— age conflict as interpersonal factors, intrapersonal factors, and environmental factors. He believed that immaturity con— stituted the largest background factor in marital disorders in spite of the fact that the presenting problem might be entirely different in nature. As intrapersonal factors, he listed a number of mental and physical illnesses which would tend to destroy the marriage. He described the environmental factors as consisting of both the physical environment of marriage as well as the social and cultural environment. Carrington was highly critical of a number of people who are involved in marriage counseling because they have ”little or no specific training in counseling or in the prin— ciples of personal or marital relationship”. He included in this category ministers, doctors, teachers, lawyers, proba— tion officers, magistrates, sociologists, welfare officers, personnel officers, military, naval and air force officers, youth leaders and others in positions of leadership (1961, p. 99). 57 The second group that he did not believe to be ade- quately qualified were those who were trained professionally in counseling and psychotherapy but without emphasis on mar— riage counseling. This group included psychiatrists, psy- chologists, social workers (especially psychiatric social workers), ministers, and sociologists with special training in counseling. Those whom he regarded as qualified were people professionally trained in interviewing and counseling in their own professional activities with adequate special training in the principles of inter—dynamics of marriage and family life. He regarded lay marriage counselors favorably as they are found in Great Britain, Australia and New Zeeland but not generally in America. Concerning ministerial coun- seling, he noted: Whatever may be thought by the minister or anyone else about his fitness or otherwise for marriage counseling, in actual fact he is generally quite unable to escape some responsibility for it, because people will come to him for help in their marital troubles and, because ministers are found in many small towns and isolated places where trained mar— riage counselors are not easily available (1961, p. 103). He believed that the minister might be in a better posi— tion to function as a marriage counselor because of his accessibility, matched only by the family doctor, by virtue of the fact that he possessed the confidence of both partners. Professionally, the minister has an important asset for marriage counseling by virtue of the conviction that economic, sexual, personal, parental, and social adjustments between marriage partners can only be adequately achieved when they are woven into a rela— tionship which is basically spiritual whether they realize it clearly or not (1961, pp. 104-105). Carrington was quite frank in stating that the minis- terial obstacles to successful marital counseling included lack 58 of time, "the essential moralism of his preaching”, the problem of his convictions balanced against the need for permissiveness in the counseling relationship. He also be— lieved that there might be a barrier in ministerial counseling because people could be unwilling to discuss some elements of their difficulty with a minister as freely as they might with a "secular" counselor. He also felt that the role of the "speaker on many subjects" usually assigned to the minister was in direct conflict with the role of the listener in coun- seling but he did not feel that that limitation applied solely to ministers. Perhaps the most difficult of all problems for the minister, reverting to the question of time and energy, is that the more successful he is in any counseling work, the more demands will be made on his time and energy and the trouble he will have in allotting it (1961, p. 106). As a result of his medical training, Carrington was more kindly disposed toward doctors as marriage counselors for he felt that many of the marital problem disorders showed up in the doctor's office before they were discussed anywhere else. He also believed that medical training taught the doctor to be able to look behind symptoms to find deeper causes and that there would be less tendency on the part of those who went to a doctor to feel intimidated about admit— ting their failures in marriage. Carrington was fair in his evaluation of the doctor's problems should he enter into marriage counseling, recog- nizing the time factor as well as the whole question of his professional orientation. He believed that an individual 59 might hold back from going to a psychiatrist because of the invidious implications concerning mental health. He saw the psychiatrist's image as being that primarily of a healer of mental illness. The same problems of time and energy were discussed by him in relation to involvement by social workers or psychiatric social workers. Carrington also offered critical evaluations of the involvement by lawyers, probation officers, teachers and other professional people who come into contact with marital stress. After examining the field, he came to the conclusion that the doctor was still the one best fitted to deal with the problem of healing marriage. Much of Carrington's discussion of marital counseling paralleled the principles of counseling set forth in most texts on the subject. He dealt with such matters as the setting for counseling, intake, rules of good counseling, advice for the initial interview and description of a number of the mental processes found in counseling such as repression, rationalization, suppression, compensation, abreaction, anxi— ety, blocking, projection, and transference. He also dealt with a number of other aspects of counseling such as insight formation, reconceptualization, sublimation, counter- transference and identification. The final section of the book was devoted to a discussion of the goals of marriage counseling in terms of his earlier definition of its nature. He maintained an optimistic point of View concerning the possibility of healing marriages. In conclusion it may be stated that with all its trials and difficulties marriage counseling is the most rewarding work, constantly strengthened by the awareness of its creative result (1961, p. 255). 60 Charles William Stewart (1961) saw the minister as the marriage counselor creating a ”helping operation” dealing with "normal people" who have marital problems but referring people with neurotic problems to psychological counselors. Suffice it to say, the better the minister is at appraising the personality of those who come for marriage counseling, the better counselor he will become (1961, p. 80). He saw the minister faced with one major difficulty in marital counseling, that of the role that he must play in the community as the custodian of values which would include the social institution of marriage. It was Stewart's contention that if the minister entered into the marriage counseling situation with this kind of a mind—set, he became more of a judge in the legal sense who would not be able to perceive the deeper problems. He defined the role of the minkster— counselor as that of a catalyst enabling people to come to new understandings of each other as well as to re—establish com- munication between the marriage partners. He also placed con— siderable emphasis on the role of the counselor in helping couples to adjust to differences in character traits found in each other as well as emphasizing personal goals rather than individual goals. Like Havemann (1962) he placed stress on the part of the counselor in helping the couples to under- stand the image and the role of the individual in marriage. In estrangement cases, Stewart felt that the counselor's role was one of using his power of persuasion to get the couples to agree to counseling, to defer final decision on breaking up the marriage, to stay with counseling long 61 enough for a fair trial of the procedure and to accept the responsibility of the decisions which they made in the coun- seling sessions. Stewart did not favor conjoint interviews with marriage partners until the very end of the counseling process (1961, p. 106). Stewart described the legal proceedings for reconcilia- tion as being divided into three major types of process: 1. The "Friend of the Court" procedure which he defined as primarily guidance after the divorce has become complete. 2. Compulsory counseling with a panel of specialists as it is practiced in California. 3. A mandatory investigation-report to the court, coupled with voluntary short-term counseling, as is done in Ohio (1961, pp. 112-113). He concluded his section on estrangement and reconcili— ation with the following observation: It would be hoped that pastors might be trained in marriage counseling to the point where they could conscientiously accept....referrals. Moreover, the socially alert minister, in a state where the recon- ciliation procedures are in need of re-thinking and reform, can make a contribution in working with others to bring the law into better accord with reconciliation counseling (1961, p. 113). Stewart also dealt briefly with the whole problem of post-divorce counseling which included helping the individual to handle such problems as a sense of failure, drastic changes in living pattern, and religious qualms. It is significant that Stewart noted that in all probability this post—divorce counseling procedure would be limited to one partner of the former marriage (1961, pp. 122—124). He also felt that a very important post-divorce counseling procedure was the assisting of children to adjust to the new situation and believed that 62 the principles of "Divorcees Anonymous” contained very help— ful ideas for people undergoing the emotional and social problems of divorce. A part of the creed is as follows: 1. Divorce is not a solution. 2. Marriage is a holy and desirable state. 3. Development of future generations of physically, mentally and emotionally sound persons depends upon the health and soundness of marriage and the family. 4. There is a spiritual power greater than man whose help is essential. 5. A willingness is needed to help others to a deeper understanding and better adjustment to the married life (1961, p. 127). Stewart recommended that ministers make use of ”Divor— cees Anonymous" where such groups exist. A psychologist, Dr. Leslie E. Moser (1962) dealt with counseling from the religious viewpoint with an endorsement of counseling as an adjunct to church work complete with church counseling centers, special training for the religious counselor, the establishment of church clinics, and the use of counseling in a number of the other areas of church acti— vity such as the church school. His volume contained a number of principles for counseling technique in such a set- ting with the use of case studies to illustrate his point of View, which was that of a clinical counselor. Because he discussed counseling in the religious setting in the light of the total picture, he devoted a very short .section of the book to marriage and family counseling. It was his contention that: 63 Many marriages fail because the husband and wife do not know how to work for a good relationship. There is no denying that a happy marriage is the result of intelligent striving on the part of husband and wife (1962, p. 195). Although Moser's clinical orientation was evident in his writing, he was also in favor of group counseling tech— niques, joint interviews and instructional methods for assist- ing individuals with marriage difficulties. However, in regard to the joint interview, he agreed with a number of other authorities in placing it late in the whole structure of the counseling process (1962, p. 192). Moser did not see a serious problem existing in the role of the minister as such in counseling situations but he believed that there would come a time when the minister would have to change his role from that of a counselor to one consistent with his calling: Even if the religious counselor is committed philo- sophically to a non-interfering role, he will find it difficult to give assent to self-determined actions by adults which do unavoidable harm to children. Here, as in other situations, the religious leader may for— sake counseling philosophy and seek divine leadership in determining a course of action (1962, p. 191). In assessing the types of problems presented by marriage counseling clients, he saw five major areas of difficulty: (a) legal problems, (b) economic problems, (c) biological problems, (d) psychological problems, and (e) ethical prob- lems. He rated economic problems as the most frequent in marriage counseling. Ethical problems involving religious conflicts arising out of mixed marriages were recognized as being the source of many marriage breakups. Moser believed that the minister is peculiarly fitted for the role of 64 marriage counselor because of the role that he plays in the lives of individuals in the community: Before the development of a professional counseling discipline, the clergy was called upon almost exclus- ively for help. Aside from parents and friends of the marriage partners there was little place to turn except to the clergy. Today, even with other resources available, the clergyman receives more requests for help than others because he is by far the most logical source of help. Marriage ceremonies are performed by the clergyman; and because of his trusted position he is consulted when some difficulty threatens the rela- tionship. He has a correspondingly strategic position for shaping attitudes of young people relative to wise mate selection and for premarital counseling (1962, p. 177). The psychiatric point of view in marriage counseling was represented by Dr. Philip Polatin who co-authored a book on marriage in the modern world with his wife, Ellen C. Philtine (1964). Their analysis of the reasons for marriage failure did not differ significantly from the foregoing summary of other authors for they saw emotional immaturity, in-laws, neuroses and psychoses, character disturbances and psycho— pathic anti-social tendencies producing marital difficulties. They also included the emotional parasite, a concept not as well developed heretofore, as a cause of marriage difficulty along with promiscuity, alcoholism, and drug addiction. Rivalry between the marriage partners and the outgrowing of one partner by another contribute as well to marriage breakup, they maintained, in addition to a number of uncontrollable causes such as financial reverses, childlessness, retardation in the child, prolonged illness, and maiming. The authors strongly advised psychiatric consultation before final decisions were made concerning divorce because 65 the dismemberment of a marriage is ”bound to cause intense pain". They have favored the divorcing of couples under certain circumstances: There are marriages in which the surgery of divorce is necessary in order to save the emotional health of the two people concerned, often of children as well (1964, p. 215). They have limited their recommendation to cases in which there exist definite problems of a psychiatric nature-— psychosis, neurosis, and severe character disturbance. The authors felt that when both partners were willing to do something to save the marriage by seeking help as to why it was in difficulty, there was hope for restoration of what had seemed to be an irrevocably shattered marriage. They recommended that the individual or couple seeking assis— tance choose a marriage counselor when an understanding of human nature or a capable job of guiding and advising was needed. Psychiatric help, or the help of a physician, was recommended where evidence of mental illness or emotional disturbance was present. No mention was made of the possi- bility of a minister acting as a marriage counselor in this volume. The closing section dealt with the problem of children and divorce, the man's side of the problem as well as the woman's, and also some discussion of the question of remarriage. Reference has been made to the work of Judge Louis H. Burke of Los Angeles County, California, who has devised the Reconciliation Agreement. In 1958, Judge Burke reported on the work of the Superior Court in reconciling marriage in a 66 book written in cooperation with the Gordons and Dr. Ever- ett L. Shostrom, his psychological consultant. In it were detailed a number of the cases in which the Reconciliation Agreement had been successful. Not all writers are enthusi- astic about the Burke method, primarily because it has as a final stipulation that the parties agreeing to the plan of reconciliation will follow the instructions of the Court on penalty of being cited for contempt if they fail to do so. Polatin and Philtine reported (1964) that Judge Burke claimed a 43% degree of success in divorce cases with 75% of the couples living together for at least a year after the agree— ment was put into effect. The book was written in popular style with many of the marriage problems mentioned above being given such titles as “A House Divided“, ”Green Eyes“, ”In-laws Are People", and "Innocents Abroad”, to name a few (1958) . The final part of the Burke account included a detailed ”Reconciliation Agreement” which contained very specific pro- visions regulating every aspect of married life in minute detail. It was Burke's contention that the main intent of the reconciliation agreement was to emphasize the face that marriage is a contract. Since the contract was in the process of being dissolved, the reconciliation sought to re—establish the terms of the contract in much more detailed terms than those by which it was originally established. The main criti- cism that might be leveled at such a procedure is that the reconciliation agreement has a coercive factor since the threat of contempt of court is constantly hanging over the parties to 67 the agreement. This may solve the problem of family rela- tionships but whether it actually assists in developing insight or understanding of the basic problems which have existed in the marriage may be open to serious doubt. The question of conjoint interviews for married couples involved in severe marital difficulty is one which is a sub- ject of debate. Most of the texts which have been cited have made mention of the fact that conjoint interviews have a part to play in marital counseling. The consensus has been that these interviews come at the close of the counseling period when both parties have been able, by a process of catharSis, to rid themselves of their primary emotional problem. After this process, the counselor sought to bring in— sight and understanding to both parties. It is at this point that the conjoint interview, according to most authorities, takes place. Smith and Anderson (1963, p. 184), believed that conjoint interviews may be able to be carried on through— out the counseling process. They noted that "Some of the advantages of a conjoint interview are for the client and some are for the counselor”. The basis of their belief in this type of interview was that by working with man and wife, the counselor could help the two relate to each other. The counselor influenced a kind of interaction between the husband and wife. They acknowledged that poor timing or mismanagement of the interview might remove all of the advantages claimed for such a procedure, particularly when the counseling process became another opportunity for "more venting of feelings and hostility than is indicated for therapeutic value” (1963, p. 185). ..L 68 It was the contention of the authors that very careful InaJiagement was the secret of success for joint interviews; tlie: description of this process of managing the interview indicated that the method was more directive than non- diareective. The technique of conjoint interviews placed a Imaczli heavier burden upon the counselor from the standpoint of’ tjhe management of the procedure as well as the setting of? tihe direction which the interview was to take. Problem solving at certain levels may be the best result of this tYPe of marital counseling. Throughout the literature concerning counseling of maliii:a1 problems, an increasing amount of stress is being Placed upon the mental health aspects of marital situations ‘flthCII contain a potential for divorce or those that actually reSultin divorce. While it is to be expected that such a Position would be strongly advocated by psychologists and psYczhiatrists because of their training in this aspect of human behavior, other people involved in marriage counseling ‘haVWE come to appreciate the importance of the mental health VieWpoint. Dr. Seward Hiltner noted: lNith the revelation by this report (U. S. Joint (Zommission on Mental Illness and Health) that 42% (of the persons seeking help on personal and marri- age problems look first to clergymen, it is clear that we have no choice but to be concerned about mental health and mental illness (1961, p. 48) . Writers with psychological or psychiatric training have Stated that treatment of deep emotional problems or those lnv<>lving mental illness should be cared for by those trained for the task. It would be the duty of the social worker or 69 minister entering into marriage counseling situations to be able to understand enough about the nature of these problems to be able to recognize them in order that referral might be made . In the presence of the rising divorce rate as well as a new tendency toward frankness about the existence of mar— ital strife which has characterized this last decade, a number of individuals have entered the field of marriage counseling principally for the purpose of earning a living. In a series of articles in the Detroit Free Press (Aug. 8-14, 1965) , reporters Glenna McWhirter and James Treolar went to a number of advertised marriage counselors in the Detroit area, posing as husband and wife. They presented a spurious malrll’:iage problem in order to test the type of counseling Which was given. In this series of articles, the reporters exposed a number of "marriage counselors" who had set them- selVes up in business with diplomas purchased from "degree mills" in order to qualify as professional marriage counsel- ors . This assortment of former door-to-door salesmen, hYPl'lotists, and other opportunists were guilty of giving advice which would be exceedingly harmful in delicate marital Situations according to experts who were consulted after these interviews (Aug. 8-14: 1965) - The reporters confined themselves to visits to those persens who advertised themselves as marriage counselors but whose credentials were suspect, with the exception of an luterview at the Christian Counseling Clinic. In this article, m' - . . . lnlsterial counse11ng was not placed in a very favorable 70 light by the writers because of the technique used in the interview by the minister member of that organization. The exposure of a number of Charlatans masking as qualified marriage counselors led to strong editorial demand for licensing of marriage counselors under standards approved by accredited psychological associations or nationally accredited marriage counseling associations (Aug. 14-15, 1965). It is to be noted that a sharp difference of opinion arises among psychiatrists concerning the qualification of doctors to do marriage counseling. The position of Dr. Harold Lief, professor of psychiatry at Tulane University and the director of the Sexual Information and Education Council of the United States, is: Most doctors...are not much better informed than the patients they counsel. To be sure they are familiar with the anatomy and the physiology of sexual organs but this knowledge is of no real use in resolving the sexual frustration of young married couples. Patients who seek the average doctor's help with such problems generally come away disappointed (McWhirter & Treolar, Aug. 13, 1965). It will be some time before the effects of the Detroit Free Press series of articles can be assessed. While the reporters were critical of one minister in a counseling center program, they did not make any attempt to seek infor— mation in depth concerning the work of the average parish minister seeking to do marriage counseling. The necessity of exposing fraudulent marriage counselors cannot be denied; the implied endorsement of marriage counselors solely on the basis of psychological or psychiatric training as being the only ones really capable of dealing with marital disorders will be subjected to sharp questioning. 71 The Church and Divorce In the section on the history of divorce, it was noted that the Biblical injunctions against divorce were given very strict interpretation by the Roman Catholic Church from the time of its organization. As Stewart noted: The Roman Catholic position is simple and clear. Marriage is a sacrament of the church and as such is a permanent institution from which believers have no recourse (1961, p. 116). Catholic canon law does not permit the dissolving of a marriage if both have been baptized but it does allow for dissolution under the ”Pauline Privilege”. Catholics who are married to non-believers may contract a new marriage provided that the former marriage is dissolved by pontifical authority. Protestantism has been sharply divided on the subject of divorce for many years with one faction adhering to the Catholic viewpoint--that divorce is not possible for the believer. Other groups within Protestantism have maintained that the dissolution of marriage is permissible on certain grounds. The underlying philosophy of this latter Protestant position is based upon the tenet that Jesus was not legalistic and that he made human integrity and spiritual values of greater importance than regulations. Many Protestant groups have subscribed to the viewpoint that a Christian marriage cannot truly be preserved by form or force, by law or doctrine, but that love alone can establish and sustain a spiritual unity (Emerson, 1961, p. 14). The Methodist Church has generally represented a middle ground among Protestant denominations. The denial of marriage 72 as a sacrament made it possible for the regulation of marri— age to be handled by civil courts. Methodist ministers are given the freedom to determine whether they believe that the divorced party will be able to make a valid marriage the next time. A number of other denominations have given their ministers equal freedom in making this kind of a decision, which does allow the officiating clergyman more freedom than his Episcopal and Lutheran colleagues. It tends to place a much heavier judgmental burden upon the minister in the pre- marital interview. The sharpest attack upon the sacramental-legalistic approach to divorce in the church has been formulated by Emerson (1961). The reasoning followed in his position was based on two premises: the first was that the individual seeking to be married again should be truly conscious of "realized forgiveness”. This was the concept that the indi- vidual, having examined his failure in the previous marriage, understood that because he was penitent he was forgiven by God for his errors. The second premise was that a dead marriage was as defunct as one in which one of the partners had died. Emerson saw marriage as a spiritual estate. If death of the physical body terminated the marriage, according to some religious authorities, the author reasoned that only physical death terminating marriage would make marriage solely a physical matter, which contradicted everything which the church has maintained concerning marriage as a spiritual union. 73 How can it be held on the one hand that marriage is a spiritual sacrament which can never be broken and on the other hand that physical death breaks the bond? The answer that God has broken the bond by taking the person in death is not sufficient (1961, p. 41). The author built his case for the validity of divorce on these two major concepts, stating that where there is realized forgiveness the individual should be allowed to re- marry when the previous marriage is spiritually dead. The principal difficulty involved in Emerson's line of reasoning is that those who interpret the Bible literally will refuse to accept the logic of this position. For those who have felt that the extreme literalistic approach to Biblical inter- pretation denies human values or prevents fulfillment of the individual under certain circumstances, Emerson's approach will provide a logical and Scripturally oriented ground for an enlightened church position on the divorce problem and the question of remarriage. Churches, in a number of instances, have sought to deal with the problems of divorce by establishing marriage counsel— ing centers. Descriptions have been written of the establish— ment of pastoral counseling centers in several communities as a cooperative effort by groups of churches (Dietchman, 1957; Chikes, Hey, Carson and Mudd, 1961). In these centers, ministers working with psychologists and psychiatrists who were members of the staff counseled with people with severe marital problems on a client basis. The plans have been Characterized by the professional approach to marital counsel- ing, the use of a fee scale based on ability to pay, and the 74 enlistment of other qualified professional persons where the problems were too severe for the qualifications of the minis- terial counselor. The reports of the several instances where this was tried indicated that such centers in urban communities filled a very definite need. In the counseling centers which have been described, it has been noted that one of the basic policies was that, while many of the cases handled were on a referral basis from local pastors, anyone might come without referral or without membership in any of the participating churches, or any church at all. These self referrals were counseled on the same basis as those who were referred (Dietch- man, 1957; Chikes, Hey, Carson and Mudd, 1961). Dealing with the individual after the divorce has begun to receive more attention on the part of writers on the sub— ject of marital problems. The central theme of these author- ities was that the task of the counselor is to assist the client to overcome the emotional problems such as the feeling of failure, the feeling of rejection, the feeling of inadequacy, and other post-divorce symptoms (Moser, 1962; Stewart, 1963; Polatin and Philtine, 1964). As early as 1958, Dr. John Sutherland Bonnell, noted New York minister, advocated certain principles for minister- ial counseling of divorced persons under the heading of ”Ministry to the Divorced”: 1. He can help each of the partners to the divorce to make the unavoidable break ”clean” as far aw this is possible. 2. Another useful contribution that each pastor can make in salvation of marital failures is to have each of the parties to the divorce accept his share of the responsibility. 75 3. An additional service can be rendered by the pastor-counselor to a degree that can seldom be attained by a secular therapist. He can assist the divorced persons to find again one's place in social life and in the service of the church. 4. Still another service can be rendered by the pastor-counselor to the divorced persons in the question of remarriage (1958, pp. 11-15). Religious writers have increasingly been struggling with the problem of divorce and remarriage occasioned by the increased number of divorces as well as the rising number of requests for remarriage by the minister. The positions arrived at by religious writers reflected to a large degree the theological position of the church group they represented in regard to the nature of divorce or its validity. At this point, religious groups show no moral consensus which has contributed to the confusion surrounding the whole problem of divorce and remarriage today. Until such a moral con— sensus is developed, the individual will have to find the religious group whose views coincide most closely with his own and identify himself with it. Premarital Preparation as a Possible Deterrent to Divorce Moser has observed that the handling of the problem of unhappy marriage has changed throughout the centuries from denial of divorce to an attempt to prepare people for marriage in such a way as to deter divorce: The original point of attack upon the problem of unhappy marriage was the elimination of divorce by legislation. The second attack was upon marriage problems per se. Now it has been demonstrated beyond question that success in marriage depends upon proper planning for marriage and upon proper 76 selection of the marriage partner. Accordingly, emphasis has been extended to the area of premarital counseling (1962, p. 179). W. Clark Ellzey, writing in the Christian Century, strongly favored premarital education as a means of working toward fewer unhappy marriages and consequently a lower divorce rate. He stated that: Marriage is the one enterprise that we expect 93% of our people to enter and to be one hundred per cent successful in and with less education and train- ing than are required for almost any other serious human venture. Since it is so easy to get married, our concern about marriage seems largely a matter of "locking the door after the horse is stolen” (Apr. 3, 1963, p. 424). The basic question as far as he is concerned is this: Can we think of divorce with an open mind? That means also can we think of marriage with an open mind? Obviously it is unintelligent to become wrought up about divorce so long as we are uncon- cerned about marriage (Apr. 3, 1963, pp. 425-426). He objected to the point of view that even though the marriage ceremony contains the words "those whom God has joined together let not man put asunder”, society thus has made God a party in many instances to a tragic mistake. Contributing to the unfortunate preparation for marriage, he believed, were such factors as over-anxious parents push- ing their children into adult relationships too quickly, lack of knowledge of the techniques of successful marriage and the philosophy of the trial marriage-—the idea that if the marriage does not work out, a divorce will be secured in order to try for better luck with a new partner. Ellzey believed in the remedial approach to divorce by the use of counseling techniques, the increased understanding 77 of the factors involved in divorce and the broadening knowledge of methods of treatment for problems leading to divorce. He also believed that a necessity existed for various educational techniques in the public school system to prepare persons for intelligently undertaken marriages (1963, p. 426). A statement in the Methodist manual for ministers who are engaged in premarital counseling illustrates the nature of the problem of trying to do in a few minutes what has needed to be done for a much longer period: Starting education for marriage at the time the couple sets the wedding date is a very late begin- ning indeed. Education for successful home life really begins before the infant is born and con— tinues with the first growing awareness of the child. He is too young to understand words in his first days and weeks of life, but it is never too young to "feel" the emotional atmosphere that enfolds him. In fact, the most formative period of his life is from six to twenty-seven months, when he forms his attitude toward life by the treatment he receives (1958, p. 19). The manual also pointed out that most couples who come to the minister to plan the details of the wedding are "in a star—studded, romantic obsession”. They are planning to undertake the complex and delicate matters of marriage with a deplorable lack of realism and understanding (1958, p. 24). There has been a growing concern not only among minis- ters but among schoolmen about the problem of education for marriage. Since the public school reaches almost every young Person in the community, the value of having preparation for marriage courses and emphasis in the school system is seen by Inany educational authorities. The procedure for conducting 78 such courses was described in several articles giving some guidelines for the establishing of such courses (Brumbaugh, 1962; Oakes, 1963). Brumbaugh advocated the use of team teaching in courses which would assist in the preparation for marriage of the young persons in school. He suggested an integrated program which would use topics in English compostion classes dir- ected toward subjects which would be valuable for instilling insight in the minds of the class. Homemaking teachers work— ing through the Marriage and Family Living courses would have an opportunity to instill certain principles. Placing in the library materials which would assist the students in learning about principles for successful marriage would be of value. Call it team teaching or whatever you will, but pupils might work more purposefully if we as teachers broke down the traditional departmental walls and worked together for the good of the student (Feb. 1962, p. 81). Oakes has suggested a much more elaborate plan based on certain techniques developed in the Hayward Union High School in California. These guidelines set forth the follow— ing principles for teaching courses in family living: 1. Birth control and the use of contraceptives are not to be advocated or denounced. 2. There should be no discussion or teaching of sex techniques. 3. Teachers should avoid using personal examples (self or family). 4. Diagrammatic drawings of and vocabulary lists concerned with the reproductive system should not be duplicated and distributed. 5. Points which are commonly regarded as so personal in nature as to be embarrassing and which are of 79 minor importance or irrelevant to the course should be avoided. 6. Mock weddings are not compatible with the intent of the course. 7. Use of "sophisticated” humorous anecdotes is not appropriate. 8. If a question box is used, no promise should be made to answer all questions placed in the box. Students should understand that only those ques- tions appropriate to the classroom situation and the subject being studied will be answered (Feb., 1963, pp. 108-109). Oakes did not lay down clear guidelines for the nature of the information imparted in the course. He advocated the use of a detailed course outline for new teachers teaching the family life program as well as briefing by outside con- sultants. A follow-upvstudy with graduates undertaken by the high school showed that the family life program received more votes than any other course “mainly because it fulfilled a need. This need was not filled by the home, or by friends, or by any other agency" (Feb., 1963, p. 109). Oakes con- cluded that ”a little preparation, seasoned with a sprinkle of caution and good judgment, can result in a significant service to our future parents” (Feb., 1963, p. 109). A study done by Rosenstiel and Smith for the state of Illinois in 1958 showed that 40% of the responding high Schools had a course in family living reaching 7% of the Students in these schools. Of the students, 90% were seniors 1Mith the remaining 10% falling in the Junior and Sophomore (”iissifications. The classes were conducted largely by teaxzhers who had majored in Home Economics, using a regular text: in most of the instances. Community reaction was 80 reported to have been favorable to these courses with very few indifferent or unfavorable responses. In almost half of another series of responses from high schools in Illinois, it was indicated that home and family living topics were incorporated in other courses (Feb. 1963, p. 110). Force (1964) asserted that “The responsibility of the school in educating for family life is no longer a matter of debate". She cited the 1960 UNESCO report which stated that the school must understand the role of such a task cor- rectly. The principle of school—centered educational programs of this nature began as far back as the Hoover Conference on Child Health and Protection in 1930. In the Children's Charter which was developed as a part of the conference, the following statement appeared: For every child such teaching and training as will prepare him for successful parenthood, home-making, and the rights of citizenship; and for parents, supplementary training to fit them to deal wisely with the problems of parenthood (Force, Feb., 1964, p. 99). The 1960 White House Conference on Children and Youth also endorsed the concept of family-life education which included sex education, preparation for marriage and parent— hood as well as the importance of family life. The courses ‘would run from the elementary school through high school. The author noted that in spite of the national and lhlternational endorsements, the role of the school was "far frwm Hmuoa mo N mouo>wm amuOH 4000 0000 y¢onmoma .muusoo cmwwnowz umcuo pom uwaouwo :0 mo vmmommwp momma Hmuou mo mwMucwoumm mommo mouo>wmuu.m0 manma 103 On the eastern edge is the city of Albion, home of Albion College. There are two colleges located in the county, Albion and Kellogg Community College, a two-year junior college in the city of Battle Creek. All three cities have industrial enterprises of national scope. Outlying areas in the county are agricultural. Battle Creek has for many years been influ- enced economically and culturally by the presence of large numbers of federal personnel in a succession of agencies located at Fort Custer and the Federal Center in the city. The Wolverine—Federal Insurance Complex, a center of national insurance activity, has contributed substantially to the economic well—being of the community. In any study of this nature, a part of the process must be the checking of a number of factors to determine whether there are significant features which might be isolated as contributing to the condition being studied. For purposes of comparison, the suggestions made by Dr. J. F. Thaden, of the Institute for Community Development, Continuing Education Service of Michigan State University, were followed. Taking into account a number of demographic factors, the suggestion was made that the statistical comparisons could be made with selected other counties. They were arranged in these categories: 1. The neighboring counties: Berrien, Hillsdale, Jackson, Ingham, Kalamazool 2. Highly industrial areas with high mobility factors: Genesee, Macomb, Muskegon, Oakland, Wayne0 3. Industrial counties and others with a high church membership percentage: Kent and Ottawa.. In several of the nearby counties the low percentage of church membership factor was found (Hillsdale, Kalamazoo). 104 To these were added several others in the high or low categories for comparison (Cass, Dickinson, Lake, Manistee, Menominee, and Saginaw). One commonly expressed statement about the divorce rate in Calhoun County has been that the high percentage of Negro population has influenced the divorce pattern. The statement about the Negro proportion in the county dOes not have validity. The county ranks ninth from the top in the state with a 7.4 percentage of non-white population, but it is 2% below the average for the state. These statistics are subject to dis- tortion due to the fact that the highest percentage of Negroes is located in the Detroit—Flint area. For contrast there are vast areas upstate and in the Upper Peninsula which have almost no Negroes. In percentage of foreign born, the county is quite low, 63rd of 83 at 2.9% contrasted with the state average of 6 . 8%. Calhoun County ranks 13th in population, 138,858 in 1964 according to Michigan Department of Health unpublished figures. Table 16 shows the ranking of the county in several important aI‘eas (all standings begin with the number one position as the highest) . Though 63rd in percent of 18 year olds and under, it is only slightly below the state average of 37.8%. In the 18‘64 year old category, it ranks ninth at 54.5% in comparison with the state percentage of 54.5. In the percentage of elderly (65 and over), the figure of 8 - 9% places Calhoun County 65th from the highest at 19.1%. The lowest is 4.3%. Comparative percentages for neighboring Counties as well as a number of highly industrialized counties 1 s shOWn in Table 17. I"" —'—_—_—_————__’—=——————— 105 Table 16.--Ranking of Calhoun County in selected social and economic characteristics of the population of Michigan's 83 counties. (Counties are arrayed from the highest to the lowest for each) Calhoun Calhoun Mich. County Co.rank Percent non-white 9.4 7.4 9th Percent under 18 years old 37.8 36.6 63rd Percent 18-64 years old 54.0 54.5 9th 18 years old and over; percent male 48.9 49.3 50th IPercent 65 years old and over 8.2 8.9 64th I?opulation per household 3.42 3.28 63rd I?0pu1ation in group quarters-% 2.1 3.2 18th I?ercent foreign born 6.8 2.9 56th I?ercent native of foreign or mixed parentage 17.5 8.8 76th IPersons 25 years old and over; Median school years completed 10.8 11.2 9th I?ercent completed 4 years of high school or more 40.9 43.7 10th Females 14 years old and over in labor force 32.7 37.9 4th Chivilian labor force - percent IJnemployed 6.9 6.1 48th Employed persons; percent in mfg. 38.0 36.4 24th hfieciian income of families - 1959 $6256 $6376 9th Percent of families - income Ilrlder $3000 15.7 14.2 7lst Percent of families with income ()1? $10,000 or over 17.4 16.5 9th Pereent rural non-farm 21.0 28.5 9th Peli‘cent rural farm 5.6 6.6 63rd Percent of 14-17 year olds in school 90.1 89.7 55th PerCent of males 65 and over in labor force 26.2 26.6 38th \ U'3- Census, Pop. of Michigan tables 13, 35, 36, 37, 45, 91. ...IIIIIll-—___ 106 Table 17.--Percent of population that is 65 years and over in Michigan. County Percent Calhoun 8.9 Berrien 9.0 Genesee 6.2 Hillsdale 11.6 Ingham 7.4 Jackson 9.0 Kalamazoo 8.3 Kent 9.2 Macomb 4.3 Muskegon 7.3 Ottawa 8.1 Oakland 5.5 Wayne 8.0 U. S. Census 1960. Though detailed attention has been given to the ranking 'of the county in percentage of church membership, the relation- ship to the selected counties may be seen in Table 18. Table 18.--Percentage of county churched in 1960 for selected counties in Michigan. County Percent Calhoun 27.4 Berrien 35.8 Genesee 31.6 Hillsdale 22.0 Ingham 37.0 Jackson 39.0 Kalamazoo 29.7 Kent 45.9 Macomb 55.6 Muskegon 33.8 Ottawa 56.6 Oakland 43.5 Wayne 53.0 Michigan Council of Churches 1960—61 survey. In the matter of education, the county has a slightly hig’her average than the state. Calhoun County's median school Years completed is 11.2; the state figure is 10.8. The residents of the county who have completed four years of high 107 school or over amounted to 43.7%, ranking it tenth in this category. The state average is 40.9%. The county ranks 55th in percentage of 14-17 year olds in school with 89.7%. It is 90.1% for Michigan as a whole. The percentage of 7-15 year olds in school is higher at 96.7% which places Calhoun County 63rd, 2.8 percentage points from the leader. This comparison of the county with selected neighboring counties and highly industrialized counties may be seen in Table 19. Table l9.—-Percent of people 7—15 years inclusive enrolled in school 1960. County Percent Calhoun 96.7 Berrien 97.0 Genesee 97.0 Hillsdale 98.1 Ingham 98.1 Jackson 97.2 Kalamazoo 96.8 Kent 97.6 Macomb 96.5 Muskegon 97.9 Ottawa 97.3 Oakland 97.4 Wayne 96.9 U. S. Census 1960. Calhoun County economic factors show a pattern near 111163 average for the entire state with two exceptions. Calhoun 1151s; an unemployment rate of 6.1 which is lower than the state 5>€Elrcentage of 6.8 but high in terms of federal standards. qiflfiare are 37.9% of the women over 14 employed in the labor force, the fourth highest percentage in the state and 5% above the state average. 108 Median income of families is slightly above average at $6376. Percentages of families below the $3000 annual income or above the $10,000 level are slightly off the state ;percentages. The county does rank high in two categories, ,Eflacing ninth of the 83 counties both in median income and families in the $10,000 and over classification. Reference was made to the industrial composition of ‘the county. In the category of rural non-farm residents, 'the county ranks ninth with 28.5% This is 7.5% above the IMichigan average. The percentage of rural farm dwellers is near average at 6.6 which gives it the rank of 63rd in 'the state. Examination of the various demographic rankings and 19ercentages leads to the conclusion that the county ranks «above average in some categories, below in others. The two Inost important variations appear to be the low percentage <3f church affiliation and the higher percentage of women ‘employed in business or industry. Economically, the county 'has a high degree of stability derived from the presence of the two large cereal plants (Post Products Division of (Seneral Foods Corporation and the Kellogg Company) and the Federal Center. The high unemployment percentage cited from tflne 1960 census shows a drop in 1963—64 as the county's EEmployment situation improved. Calhoun County and Selected Other Michigan Counties in the Divorce Statistics The preliminary investigation has shown that the rattio of marriages to divorces in Calhoun County had fallen 109 during the 1960—64 period. While increases in the popula- tion had held the rate per 1000 of divorces relatively constant, the ratio of marriages to divorces, though fluc— tuating, was dropping, indicating an increasing number of divorces. Trends in the nation and in Michigan were differ— ent. The national ratio rose from 3.2:1 in 1961 to 3.8:1, the last year for which figures are available. In the state, 1961 was the low year with a 4.1:1 ratio which climbed to 4.6:1 in 1964. In both instances the increase was one-half a unit, whereas in Calhoun County the drop was from 3.0:1 in 1962 to 2.6:1 in 1964, close to the previous low of 1960. ‘While the trend at the national and state level has been to increase the ratio, the county trend has been to narrow the gap between the two figures representing a high level of divorces granted. Calhoun County has stood at or near the top of the counties with the highest number of marriages to divorces in the 1960—64 period. Its ranking among the 83 counties for that period is as follows in Table 20. From the tables it can be seen that Berrien, Genesee, Ingham, Jackson, Kalamazoo, and Oakland Counties have been Inear the top on a number of occasions; only Jackson County Tuas been so consistently close to the top of the rankings VVith Calhoun. Taking the five year averages of the marriage-divorce riftios and the rate per 1000, the rankings are substantially the same (Table 21) . 110 Table 20.--Rank of Calhoun County in Michi- ggn divorce statistics 1960-64. M-D Rate per Year Ratio Rank 1000 Rank 1960 2.7:1 2nd 6.7 lst 1961 2.9:1 3rd* 6.0 2nd 1962 3.0:1 3rd# 5.6 4th 1963 2.9:1 3rd 6.2 2nd 1964 2.6:1 lst 5.6 5th@ *tie with Oakland Co. #tie with Ingham Co. @kie with Berrien Co. Michigan Department of Health Annual Statis- tical Reports 1960—1965. Table 21.--Five year averages of marriage—divorce ratios for selected counties in Michigan. Aver. M-D Aver. Rate County, Ratio Rank per 1000 Rank Calhoun 2.8-l 1st 6.0 3rd Genesee 3.0:1 3rd 5.7 ——— Ingham 3.3:1 ——— 6.1 2nd Jackson 3.0:1 3rd 6.4 lst Kalamazoo 3.0:1 3rd' 5.8 --- Oakland 2.9:1 2nd 4.8 ——- Michigan Department of Health Annual Statistical Reports 1960—1965. Another approach to the problem of analyzing the high divorce rate in Calhoun and other counties is to examine the proportion of church membership of the counties under study. To the original twelve counties selected as a basis of compari- son, six more were added because of the wide differential in church membership. Cass (17.2%) and Lake (17.8%) with their very low level of church membership were included, along with counties with varying characteristics possessing a high degree Of membership, Dickinson (66.8%), Manistee (72.8%), and Saginaw (57.9%). 111 Examination of these counties grouped in three classi- fications -— 15-30% of residents holding church membership, 30—50% and 50-75% membership, revealed some observable patterns. In the first group, the average marriage-divorce ratio was 4.3:1; in the 30-50% group it dropped to 3.5:1, but jumped to 10.7:1 in the 50—75% group. From the sample counties examined (Tables 22—28), certain general characteristics began to emerge. Those rural—agriculturally strong counties which have a high percentage of church membership have an extremely high marriage to divorce ratio. High church membership percent- age alone will not ensure this for a number of the high membership level counties demonstrated a consistently low-medium ratio: Saginaw, 4.6:1; Cass, 4.2:1; Berrien, 5.2:1. In contrast, a number of counties in the 15-20% church membership range exhibited a low medium ratio, counties that are primarily agricultural: Hillsdale, 6.0:1; Cass, 4.2:1; Lake, 4.2:1. The counties with high mobility and a heavy industrial concentration demonstrate an average low ratio regardless of church membership percentages. These include Calhoun (2.8:1) and Kalamazoo (3.3:1) from the 15—30% membership category; Genesee (3.0:1), Ingham (3.3:1), Jackson (3.0:1), Muskegon (3.2:1), and Oakland (2.8:1) from the 30—50% church member— Ship classification. Macomb (3.1:1) and Wayne (3.3:1) are from the 50—75% group. It is evident from this examination of the averages that the rural areas will have a higher 112 ratio, the industrial areas a lower one regardless of the percentage of church membership (Tables 22-28). Use of the ratio method of comparison as the most important statistic in the analysis of divorce figures is preferred by Jacobson because, as he stated, if there were no marriages, there could be no divorces (1959). Another of his observations concerning the divorce rate appears to be subject to some modification under present circumstances. He had noted that the divorce rate pattern followed the business cycle closely in that with better economic conditions, more divorces were obtained (1959). In Calhoun County by contrast, the rate has risen with reasonable consistency, a pattern that reflects the growing economic stability of the county after the 1961-62 slump, substantiating Jacobson's thesis. However, in Calhoun County there has been a change of one whole unit in the marriage-divorce ratio between 1964 and 1965. In 1964 the ratio was 2.6:1 on the basis of 1341 marriages and 544 divorces. In 1965, according to the preliminary figures issued by the County Clerk, the totals are 1501 marriages and 451 divorces, for a 3.6:1 ratio. In spite of a most prosperous year, the sharp change in the ratio would appear to deny the principle stated by Jacobson. One factor which can offset the economic influence is the selective service activity. 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.woma CH mmflucsoo cmmflaoaz Umuomamm Unm cmmflnoflz ~mmumnm UmuHGD map How mmumn mouo>HU I mefiHHmE flaw oooa me mmUHO>HU wcm mmmMHHHmE mo comflummfiou II.mN magma Table 27.-— Comparison of divorce rates and ratios with church membership percentages in selected Michigan counties in 1960 — 1964. Divorces per 1000 1961 1962 1963 1964 Ave. 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 Ave. Marriage & Divorce Ratio 1960 % Ch. Memb. Unit 4.6 4.4 4.4 1 3.8 1 3.7 1 4.0: 3.9:1 45.9 3.7:1 Michigan 5.6 6.0 5.6 5.1 6.2 2.6:1 5.6:1 3.9 6.7 2.9:1 5.4:1 3.0:1 5.1:1 1 4.7 1 2.8:1 2.9:1 5.0:1 2.7:1 4.9:1 27.4 Calhoun 4.9 35.8 17.2 Berrien Cass 4.9 4.2 3.6 1.8 5.7 1 1 3.2:1 1 4.7 1 1 4.1: 3.8 5.7:1 2.8 5.7 3.7 2.6 6.0 4.0 6.0 1 8.5: 6.2 5 .1 66.8 Dickinson 2.8:1 3.1:1 31.6 2.9:1 Genesee Hillsdale 5.3:1 3.4 1 1 4.5 3.0:1 2.8:1 2.9:1 7.6 l 3.4:1 6.9 1 3.4:1 5.7 22.0 6.6 6.1 6.1 6.3 1 2.7:1 3.1:1 3.4 37.0 Ingham 7.0 6.4 6.2 5.0 3.1:1 2.7:1 1 3.2:1 2.7 2.8:1 2.9:1 .1 39.0 29.7 Jackson 118 5.8 3.9 3.7:1 1 1 4.1 1 4.6: l 5.4:1 2.8:1 4.1 1 12.7 5.1 l 4.3:1 45.9 Kalamazoo Kent 2.8 17.8 Lake Macomb 3.8 2.8 1.9 4.2 3.0:1 9.4 3.5:1 2.7:1 3.5:1 5.2 55.0 72.8 73.6 11.6 1.9 1.7 l 1 3.5:1 2.9:1 1 1 4.5 1 13.5 3.5:1 2.8:1 6.3 1 1 Manistee 4.6 13.2 1 12.7: :1 15.4: Menominee 5.4 4.8 5.4 4.8 3.8:1 3.1:1 2.8:1 2.9:1 3.6:1 2.6:1 33.8 Muskegon 4.8 43.5 Oakland Ottawa 2.3 2.8 4.2 2.3 l 1 5.7. l 1 3.6:1 6.1: 1 1 7.7 1 7.2 1 6.3 56.6 57.9 3.8 4 1 4.4: 4.5: 3.9 3.5:1 :l 4.2: 4.0 Saginaw 4.8 4.7 5.1 3.3:1 2.8:1 3.1:1 53.0 Wayne — 1964. 1960 1962. Michigan Department of Health Annual Reports, Michigan Council of Churches Survey, 119 Ahaco mmusmflm Xv .moma >0>H3m monousnu mo HHUGSOU ammHQUHS .vmma I mmHDmHm coflumHsmom Spammm mo usmEuHmme cmmanoflz m.mo m.¢m nmm.mam m.ma omm.mm¢ o.mm hma.maw.a Amm.omo.m masmz v.0m w.hm hmm.oo m.om cam.am 0.5m hem.ama ooa.aom Bocammm m.o¢ m.hH hom.mma n.mm mmv.>na m.m¢ Nmm.oom mmm.omm Unwaxmo m.m m.m 05¢.m H.Hm mmm.om 0.0m www.mm mah.mm m3muuo o.ov m.ma mnm.om m.o~ mov.om m.mm Hmo.om mwm.mwa commxmsz m.mm o.m¢ mmh.aa o.mm mnm.m w.mn mmo.mH oom.vm mmcaaocmz o.m¢ h.mm 0mm.© H.hm mom.h m.Nn mma.¢a 00¢.ma mmumflamz v.¢o m.mm vom.mwa m.ma mmm.om ®.mm www.mmm wom.mo¢ QEoomz o.m¢ n.m New H.m Hmw m.ha m¢m oom.m mxmq b.0m m.oa oma.ao H.mm mmm.moa m.m¢ mo>.ooa hma.mwm usmM m.¢a m.m n©¢.h v.0N mmm.mw h.mm mo¢.om Nan.moa OONmEmHmM 0.0% o.mH Hmm.om v.mm hmm.om o.mm m>¢.am gmm.ama comeMb H.Hm m.HH vam.v~ m.mm mom.mm o.hm mna.mn mmm.aam EmamcH o.m m.a nmo H.0N omm.o o.mm m¢0.h Nwh.¢m mampmaaflm o.mm ¢.wa mmm.am m.ma 0mm.m¢ o.am mmm.om mam.¢hm mommcmw N.Hm m.o¢ Omh.m m.mm moa.m m.oo www.ma oom.mm comcHMUHQ m.om m.m mom.a m.MH fima.m N.>H mmm.o ooa.mm mmmo m.HN o.h MNH.HH N.mN hmo.av m.mm omm.mm mom.m¢a cwHHHmm m.am 0.0 mmm.m ¢.Hm man.mm v.5m bwo.mm wmm.mma soonamo ¢.mm m.v~ mmm.mam.a m.ma oam.omm.a m.mv www.mmm.m «ma.mwm.h cmmHSUHE .QEmZ .no mUHHonumo .noHS :H .mom cmfiom .mom mpcmummuoum .mom QHQmHmQEwS coflumasmom was: .ojm m0 .x. m0 .x. no # m0 .x. m0 # «o .x. £0550 amuon. 1] .omma Ham» CH mmaucsoo Gmmasofiz pmuomamm CH coaumasmom Hmuou mo mmflnmnmnfimfi oaa0£umo 0cm ucmummuonm mo mommucmoumm II.mN magma 120 A second factor to be considered is that 1965 marked the beginning of the high number of World War II babies who now are of marriageable age. The wave of youth that has been sweeping through the school systems now is making itself felt both on college campuses and in several aspects of community life such as marriage, purchasing power used for homes, cars, and other activities. These current factors have an influence upon the rate per thousand of divorces and marriages as well as upon the ratios. Though the numbers of either may rise, the population in— crease keeps the rate fairly stable and has a tendency to lessen the impact of the increasing quantity of divorces or marriages in a given year. Calhoun County has had a consistently high number of divorces per thousand in the past five years. It has also had a low ratio of marriages to divorces in that same period. Its ratio ranks among the lowest in the state's 83 counties. At this point it would appear that there are several contri— buting factors which would include a high percentage of women in industry, a rising rate of teen age marriage, the fact that it is a largely industrial county and has among the lowest percentage of church membership in the state. Presence of these factors in the composition of the county indicate that the climate for divorce is favorable. These findings agree in essence with the literature on the subject. Pilot Study in Oakland County Reference has been made in the foregoing discussion to the Oakland County pilot study of the facts involved in fi"' 121 divorce cases in that county beginning with the year 1958. For a three year period, parties to the divorce were asked to give the essential details from which a summary was prepared by the Friend of the Court. The instrument devel— oped for use in the Oakland Circuit Court (Appendix B) is one which requests extensive personal information from the individual filing, much of which is not germane to a study such as the one undertaken in Calhoun County. A number of the questions asked in the Oakland instru— ment in the section devoted to biographical detail were used as a model for Section I of the Calhoun County divorcee interview sheet. Those questions pertaining to more detailed financial description of the person's situation were not of interest in this study. Another section of the Oakland blank which was helpful as a guide was the one asking the person to state the reason for the divorce. There is a place provided for the interviewer to make his observations of the case. Because the Oakland County questionnaire was developed for use in a court setting, the phrasing of the causes for the divorce action has a strong legal flavor. For that reason, many of the underlying emotional or personality prob- lems are not indicated in the terminology. Use of such causes as ”assault", "alcohol”, ”Madam X", and ”Mister X” are a good example of such orientation. The cause most frequently cited in the statistical summary was that of ”Mental Cruelty" which is a legal generality for the stresses 122 and strains of marriage which lead to divorcez. Another form of it is the term ”incompatibility”. A number of the terms would have to be changed to ones indicating more counseling insight of they were to be used in the present study. One of the chief values of the examination of the Oakland questionnaire was the use of certain sections as a model with essential modifications in the light of counsel- ing theory. An additional value may be that such a study, undertaken in a Circuit Court in Michigan under the auspices of the Friend of the Court, implies court sanction to such studies there and elsewhere. Without any question, it made the Calhoun County study easier to undertake; the precedent had been set within the court system. Follow-up studies in Calhoun County, done in the office of the Friend of the Court are a possibility in the future if informal conversa— tions with the two judges, Creighton Coleman and Ronald Ryan, are an indication of their official attitude. Studies in other counties may also be considered in the light of the Oakland Study. The high degree of importance given to precedent in court circles makes the Oakland Study one of major value. Development of the Instruments Careful examination of the Oakland County Friend of the Court administered questionnaire gave help in deciding 2One Michigan divorce lawyer has caustically defined it as "failure to pass the butter in the presence of two witnesses” 123 both what was wanted and what was not essential to this type of instrument in Section I. In both instances there were facts which would be of value and which would enable statis— tical comparison. In other respects there would be a wide divergence in the direction taken by the questions asked. In Oakland, the emphasis was on biographical data including names of relatives, places of employment as well as definite financial details. The study for Calhoun County would involve much more subjective material concerning the feelings about counseling by a minister, where it was present, value assigned to counseling, premarital instruction by the minis— ter, along with data about church attendance. With these counseling information objectives in mind, an instrument which would elicit such information was designed. Secondary consideration in the design was to enable some comparisons with the Jacobson (1959), Christensen (1956), Goode (1956), and Oakland (1958—1961) studies. Statistically, it could then be determined to what extent the profile of the divorces in Calhoun County corresponded with or differed from other data. Section I of the questionnaire for the present study (Appendix A) deals with the general biographical and statis- tical data of the courtship period, duration of marriage, and other essential data. Some information on the family back— ground of the couple is sought, particularly with reference to the presence or absence of divorce in either family or Whether either member of the lately dissolved marriage had 3been previously married. In addition to the information pr 124 gained, Section I serves the purpose of establishing the interview by the use of questions and answers which are less apt to have a heavy emotional burden. To plunge directly into the questions concerning the breaking up of the marriage would be too abrupt. A number of persons cautioned against alienation of the person being interviewed by seeking to deal too quickly with responses having an emotional content. The second section of the instrument deals with the most important aspect of the questionnaire, the role of the minister and counseling in the period of breakup. The ques- tions seek to learn the feelings of the respondent about the involvement of the minister if he was consulted. There is also an opportunity to determine the reaction of the respond- ent where the other partner was the one who went to the minister. In the event that neither one went, there is a place for discussion of the feelings about the value of any other form of counseling such as the Family and Children’s Service of the United Fund. In designing the questions for this section, several difficulties had to be dealt with if the desired information were to be gained. The first concerned the role of the minis— ter. Avoidance of the use of such counseling terms as ”permissive", ”directive”, ”reprimanding”, ”authoritarian”, or "non-directive” was imperative. To have used such terms would have entailed descriptions which might have been comprehended poorly or not at all by the respondent. Familiar expressions which would be grasped but would also assist in the evaluation were sought. 125 The treatment of the causes of divorce provided another possible difficulty. Beginning with the Oakland list of causes, a number of others were included, some of which sought to express the existence of more basic personality defects. If the respondent did not have the insight to check any of the causes indicating personality defects, there were always the classic legal phrases which were listed in the bill of complaint. By placing several blank lines at the end of the list, the person was given the opportunity to phrase the cause in a way that might be more satisfactory to him than any of those listed. To avoid possible embarrassment, it was decided to let the subject check off in order of importance the causes which he assigned to the severe marital strain leading to divorce. The limitations of such a procedure were acknow- ledged. The individual without counseling training or in- sight might believe that a given behavior pattern such as drunkenness, infidelity or excessive gambling along with some others were the true causes of the divorce. It would take a high degree of training coupled with thorough explor- ation to determine that these were symptomatic of severe personality deficiencies, immaturity or strife caused by the changing need systems of one or both of the parties. In the checking of the card or filling in one of the Iblanks, there might be some insight into the degree of per- <:eption the respondent had of the true causes. In contrast, .it might show only the tactics that were used by one of the rmarriage partners to precipitate divorce. 126 The questions in the post—divorce and premarital sections of the instrument were designed to avoid the danger of losing the interest of the person being interviewed before the desired information had been gained. While these two sections (III and IV) have important elements, they are less critical to the overall objectives of the study. If there had been ministerial involvement prior to the divorce, it was desirable to learn whether it continued after the divorce in a supportive role or in some other manner. The subject's feelings about this continuing counseling would be of importance. If there had been no followup, the reason would be important also. In the section on premarital preparation (IV), the nature and duration of ministerial instruction would give a better picture of the possible needs in this aspect of the marriage-divorce problem. It was recognized that in this section, both in regard to the ministerial instruction and the involvement of the couples in church life, the information would be less accurate because of the time elapsed. In this part of the questionnaire the same difficulties were found in definitions as had been encountered in Section II. Questions concerning religious activity had to be carefully phrased if the information was to be precise. "Regular attendance", ”occasional attendance”, the minister's ”talk— ing about" marriage, the question of arrangements contrasted with true premarital counseling all had to be carefully defined with words or figures that left little room for misunderstanding. 127 The degree of participation in the church by the couple or by one of the partners alone would have important bearing on the conclusions to be drawn. It would help in the evaluation of Section II. If couples showed little participation either before marriage or after, could the work of the minister be expected to be as effective? As Duvall pointed out, a premarital course cannot guarantee the success of the marriage venture (1965). Church attendance may be regarded in the same manner. The progression of the instrument is intended to be psychological rather than historical. Moving from the intro— ductory phase containing the questions of a factual nature, it develops the main purpose of the interview-—to learn of the ministerial involvement in the breakup of the marriage and the respondent's feelings about it. Concluding questions deal with the follow-up counseling if such existed and finally the matter of the preparation for marriage along with several questions about church attendance before and after the divorce. Church attendance may sometimes be a more sensitive subject than the divorce itself. In the test interviews, those questioned found the progression to be helpful. The questions asked the ministers were designed to fill in the other side of the counseling situation in marital strife, the minister's view of "severe marital problems leading to divorce". The questionnaire begins with factual questions about training, duration of pastorate and other useful data. This is followed by the questions concerning 128 the number of severe marital problems counseled and the evaluation by the minister of his success or failure to "prevent" divorce. In dealing with the 1963—64 period of counseling which matched the time period from which the divorcee sample was chosen, a problem was anticipated regarding the ministerial counseling data. It was recognized that the average minister does not keep detailed records of his counseling cases. He may not feel that it is necessary because his work differs from that of a social worker or a clinical counselor. He may believe that the pressure of time coupled with a shortage of trained, discreet secretarial assistance make such record keeping far more time consuming than the values to be derived justify. Or he may believe that the problem of security creates too much of a risk. Many church members have the notion that as officials of the church they have the right of access to the minister's records because they consider them to be the property of the congregation (a view not infrequently extended to his private life as well). They have little compunction about reading through his files. Therefore, he may keep an appointment book but not case histories. Some seminaries advise strongly against the keeping of detailed historbs. In View of these facts, it was recognized that the data gathered from a majority of the ministers would be on the basis of mental recall. While such a method might not be completely accurate, it would provide a satisfactory summary of the severe marital problem cases leading to 129 divorce. The relatively small number of cases that he would handle annually would also facilitate accurate recall. One sensitive part of the ministerial questionnaire was the point where he was asked to evaluate the degree of success he believed he had with such cases. In the instances where they failed, he was asked why, in his opinion. Re- liance had to be placed on the conscientiousness of the minister and his fairness in making such judgments. It was believed that in cases of over evaluation of his efforts, the under evaluation by the more humble members of the clergy would strike a balance. Paralleling the sections of the divorcee question- naire, the ministerial instrument takes up the matters of premarital preparation and the questions concerning the possible need for other means of education both religious and secular. The decision to use the same type of checklist card for the causes of divorce in the judgment of the ministers was made in order that there might be a comparison of the frequency of selection of the several causes or ones added from their own experience with those on the divorcee cards. As before, it was recognized that the reasons assigned might be the surface manifestations of deeper personality problems less easy to classify or categorize. Blanks might be filled out to accommodate counseling insights. 130 Procedure for Securing Responses The method selected for gaining the needed responses for both the ministers and the divorced persons was the direct interview. By use of the interview method, questions could be amplified, if needed, and opportunity would be present to gain some knowledge communicated by expressions or attitudes. By use of detailed questionnaires, the inter- views were given the desired structure for gaining the infor- mation sought. For the persons who had been divorced, the method of selection was by random sample. With the permission of the judges of the Circuit Court, lists of the decrees granted in the 1963-64 years were scanned. In each of the years, the name of the parties granted the divorce were selected on the basis of every tenth case. The list of divorces granted is kept on a chronological basis at the Calhoun County Clerk's office. To allow for the possibility that there might be a large number of persons who could not be found, some additional names were selected on the same basis using the 5th, 15th, 25th case, etc. Addresses were given by the Calhoun County Friend of the Court's office where it had records for the decrees. Where there were none, the telephone directories for the cities of Battle Creek, Marshall, and Albion were consulted. If the names were not listed there, city directories were used. The interviewers used were chosen on the basis of education, experience, and interest in the study. Because the Judge of Probate, Mrs. Mary Coleman (wife of the Circuit 131 Court Judge) has been most interested in the work of the study, she consented to write a letter of identification to be carried by the interviewer if the person from whom an interview was sought should be suspicious (Appendix C). Choice of the ministers to be interviewed was limited at one point because of the necessity of their having been counseling in Calhoun County in the 1963-64 period. This ruled out a number of county clergymen now assigned to pas- torates. By choosing the men from the Battle Creek churches located where there would be the highest potential divorce counseling load, a denominational cross—section was obtained. A sample of suburban ministers and some from the areas outside of the three major centers,Battle Creek, Marshall, and Albion, were added. To ensure enough interviews for an adequate sample, a 20% sample was selected. A letter was mailed out in advance announcing the study with a statement that an appointment would be sought soon to ask the questions (Appendix C). It was requested that the minister begin to assemble what information he might have available on divorce counseling cases. As noted in Chapter I, the selection of only one of the parties to the divorce might tend to give a distorted picture but the mechanics of seeking out the second party made the task impossible with the resources of the present study. It was observed that the Christensen (1956), Goode (1956), and Monahan (1959) studies did not attempt this either. 132 Securing some of the data for Chapters I and IV was made possible by work done by Dr. J. F. Thaden of the Michi— gan State University Demographic Institute and members of the Michigan Department of Health statistical division who supplied the 1964 data on population, marriages and divorces which has not been published. Data Analysis The nature of the responses determined the method employed to analyze the data. In the first section of the divorced person questionnaire, the answers are largely numer- ical in nature, capable of being reduced to statistical results. In some instances the figures gathered may be compared with those gathered from the Census of the United States (1960), the Jacobson study (1959) or the Michigan Health Department reports (1960—64). Some of the responses may be reduced to percentages of the totals gathered and the percentages com- pared. The same general procedure will obtain for the answers in Section III. Answers in the second section of the divorced person questionnaire will have to be treated analytically because there will be indications of emotional content, or lack of it, and value judgments of the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of ministerial counseling. There will be some use of descriptive statistics in this section as in the others but the more subjective analysis will be the rule for this section. In the analysis of the responses by the ministers, the same general principles will apply: The descriptive statistics 133 will be used to describe the responses in the first part of the questionnaire. Analytical techniques will be employed to describe the answers where a judgment is called for by the question or where the response contains names of mater— ials used in counseling. Analysis of the cards used by both the ministers and the persons who have been divorced to ascribe reasons for the breakup will be done statistically. It should be noted that on the cards, the respondent was asked to rank at least three causes in order of importance. Other questionnaires such as the Oakland County instrument do not require a preferential ranking nor is one indicated in the United States Census or Michigan Health Department analyses of causes. In the latter two, the presumption is that the cause listed is the one upon which the suit was based. Therefore the compar— ison on a percentage basis of the causes of divorce will not be especially valuable under these circumstances. Inferences drawn on this basis would not be firmly grounded. There are some elements of the investigation which will yield statistical information on the basis of success or failure of the interviewer. The failure to locate some cases listed by the court docket, the refusal of some respondents to answer on the basis that no minister was involved and the number of cases which were not interviewed because the parties had been Roman Catholic church members will comprise statistic- al data of importance to the conclusions to be reached as a result of the study. 134 Treatment of the data will be by the use of descriptive statistics and the analysis of some of the responses on the basis of their content and the insights gained through coun- seling techniques will be the method to be followed. CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS It was noted in Chapter III that the method of choosing persons to be interviewed was by random selection of divorces granted from the Calhoun County Circuit Court docket for the years 1963 and I964. Every tenth case was selected, which gave a 10% sample but because of the probability of not being able to find a sufficient number of persons from the 10% sample, further selections were made on the basis of every fifth case. This gave a total of 86 cases in the year 1963 and 71 cases in the year 1964. Patterns of Response The supposition that there would be difficulty in locating a sufficient number of cases from a 10% sample chosen in this manner was borne out as the interviews were sought. The list of cases for the sample was taken to the office of the Friend of the Court where addresses, if known, of both parties to the divorce were entered. Where the Friend of the Court had no entry for one of several reasons, the city directories for Battle Creek, Marshall, and Albion were consulted as well as the telephone directories. Table 29 shows the breakdown by residence or non—residence of the 157 cases by year. 135 136 Table 29.——Percentages of residence categories, 1963 and 1964, by cases. Total Category 1963 % 1964 % Sample Total % Unknown 38 44.0% 18 25.4% 56 35.6% Moved 4 4.4 3 4.3 7 4.5 Split* 12 13.9 9 12.7 21 13.4 Answered 1? 19.7 27 38.0 44 28.0 Refused 9 10.4 10 14.0 19 12.1 Roman Cath. 5 5.8 3 4.2 8 5.1 No Action** 2 2.3 -- -— 2 1.2 Remarried -- —— l 1.4 l .6 TOTAL 86 100.0% 71 100.0% 157 100.0% * Cases with one party moved, one unknown address. **Notation on Circuit Court docket. From Table 29 it can be seen that there was a much higher percentage of cases unknown by address in 1963 than in 1964. The choice of these two years, as was stated in Chapter II, was dictated by the fact that Michigan State health statistics and other statistical analyses of population, divorce and marriage figures, various indices of economic factors and the like, would not be available for comparative study later than the year 1964 at the time this investigation was undertaken. The responses of the cases involved has been broken down into a number of categories. These included both those Where it was known that they had moved and those that had no known address, either through any of the usual sources of listing addresses or because they had moved without giving any forwarding address. The category which is listed as "Split" refers to cases where one partner had moved and the other partner could not be traced for lack of address. In the sample for 1963, there were two cases which bore the notation "No Action Listed" by the Circuit Court docket. This refers to the fact that the divorce was ready to be granted but that 137 the final details of the decree were not worked out for that year. In the year 1964, one case was encountered in the sample where the couple had remarried after the granting of the divorce decree. Analysis of the sample by cases demonstrated several trends in divorced family patterns. It is apparent from the sample taken, either by each year or as a whole, that the longer the period of time elapsed since the divorce, the more difficult it is to locate either partner to the divorce. «Cases were listed as "unknown address" only when neither party to the divorce could be found or both parties were lanwn to have moved but left no forwarding address. Where it was found that the one partner had moved to a known address ibut.the other partner's address or location was unknown, these Icases were classified as "split". In these three categories, it will be noted in Table 29 that the 1963 totals are signifi- cantly higher than those for 1964. Almost twice as many cases were unknown in 1963 as in 1964. The percentages of families that had moved was not greatly different but the percentage where one partner had Imvved and the other had an unknown address was again higher. There was a greater availability of persons who would Efllswer for the year 1964 than in the year 1963. Twice as Tminy could be found who would talk although the refusal rate fOr'the two years is not significantly different. In order to demonstrate the mobility characteristics aridother factors involved in seeking out former marriage Partners now divorced, the results of the investigation have 138 been analyzed in terms of the number of individuals involved in the sample. These figures may be found in Table 30. Table 30.—-Percentaqes of residence categories by individuals. Total Category 1963 % 1964 % Sample % Unknown 89 51.7% 52 36.7% 141 44.9% Moved 25 14.5 27 19.0 52 16.6 Armed Service - 1 .5 1 .6 2 .6 Answered 17 9.9 27 19.0 44 14.0 Refused 9 5.3 10 7.0 19 6.0 Roman Cath. 10 5.9 6 4.3 16 5.0 Not contacted* 17 9.9 17 12.0 34 10.9 No action 4 2.3 -- -- 4 1.3 Remarried -- -- 2 1.4 2 .7 TOTAL 172 100.0% 142 100.0% 314 100.0% *Other partner in divorce action. It can be seen that, in terms of individuals, over half of the 1963 sample could not be located and over one-third of the 1964 sample were likewise unknown, giving an overall per- centage of 44.9. If the figures for those who had moved with addresses known is added to this total, it will be found that nearly two—thirds of the 1963 sample were either in the category of being unknown as to their present location or classified as having moved; in the 1964 sample, 48.5%»of the individuals were in these two categories. The total for the sample for both figures, including the individuals for each year in the armed services, comes to 62%. Thus nearly two- thirds of the individuals involved in divorce actions in the sample for the years 1963 and 1964 were not available for questioning. Of the total sample, 20% were contacted with 14% answering and 6% refusing. Because the decision had been made to contact only one party to the divorce, the category 139 "not contacted" appears in Table 30, representing the in- dividual who was the former partner in the marriage. The only available study which could be used for com- parison of success in securing responses or refusals to answer is the study made by Goode (1956). It will be seen in Table 31 that there is a significant difference in the percentage of answers and refusals in the present study and that done by Goode. Table 31.—-Percentage of respondents contacted. Categogy Evans Goode Answered 69.9%. 81.0% Refused 30.1% 19.0% The one factor which is significant in comparing the two studies is that the investigation done by Goode in the city of Detroit was done during a period much closer to the time of divorce in 75% of his cases. Only in his fourth category, the cases studies after 26 months had elapsed since the divorce was granted, was there an elapsed time span comparable to that of this study. In his first three cate- gories, Goode sought to question persons whose divorces were only two months old, eight months old, and fourteen months old. In this investigation, some of the divorce actions had taken place within a twelve-month period but for the most part they represent divorce actions granted for a much longer period of time than those represented in the study done by Goode (1956). It would appear to be true that the availability 140 of the individual after divorce as well as the willingness of the individual to answer is in direct relation to the time elapsed from the granting of the divorce decree. Outline of Presentation of Data The data will be presented in three sections. The first section will deal with the profile of the divorcee as drawn from the information given by the respondent. An analysis will be made of several factors in the courtship and marriage situation and the data will be compared with census figures and data from other studies. The value judg- ments concerning the role of the clergyman, where counseling by him was present in the pre-divorce action, will be analyzed. Reasons for failure as seen by the respondent and the causes of the divorce action will be dealt with. .The second section will deal with the role of the clergyman in divorce counseling as he himself evaluates it. The claims of the clergyman concerning his success in those cases which did not eventuate in divorce as well as his reasons for failure where divorce followed, will be analyzed. The third section will deal with the problem of the premarital interview and premarital training for couples preparing for marriage. Also, this section will deal with the problem of premarital preparation in the public schools. The findings in the sections will be discussed at the end of each section. 141 Findings Related to the General Areas First General Area: The Profile of Divorcees According to the Responses Analysis of the responses for age at marriage shows that the mean age of marriage for males was 22 years and the mean age for females was 18 years in the 1963-64 period. There were two lS-year-old marriages which were performed by order of the Probate Court because of premarital pregnancy. Of the males in the sample, 72.8% had not been married previously; 27.2% had been, of which one indicated two pre- vious marriages. For the women, the percentage not previously married was 86.3% with 13.7% indicating a previous marriage. None of the women indicated that they had been married more than once. A comparison (Table 32) with the figures cited by Jacobson (1956) for the year 1948 shows that in the Calhoun County sample, there is some reflection of the changing patterns of marriage and divorce. For the men, the propor— tion of men not previously married begins to drop in the study made 15—16 years after the figures reported by Jacobson. The present study indicates that in the under 20 age category, the Calhoun County percentage of men not previously married is 5.5% lower than that reported by Jacobson in 1948. There is less significant change noted in the 20—24 age category with 3.3% being the difference between Jacobson's figures and those found in Calhoun County. There is less difference in the 25429 year grouping for men. The Calhoun study did not provide sufficient numbers for comparison above this level. 142 .ucmwowmmsmcw me mum: mHQEMm "mafia: mmumowwcH+ "mouaom I wqma umom obu mom .m.D* .AemaHV coaaouae -- a.ee -- e.a~ -- m.m~ +AHV m.ee o. e.ae -I a.mm eeIoe II w.n¢ o. n.5H II H.mm +AHV o.m¢ c. q.w II o.o¢ aMImm +ANV H.m¢ o. o.w II m.m¢ +AHV w.Hm o. «.m II w.¢o «MIom 0.00 o.o~ o. m.m m.mm H.wo m.¢a o.¢H N.N H.H n.mw N.¢w aNImN H.~H o.m o. H.H m.ww m.¢w o.oH n.m II N. «.mw H.0m «NION ¢.N w.H o. H. 0.0m H.wa «.5 m. II o. w.N¢ m.¢m ON Hope: mcw>m dwdm mcm>m .m.D mam>m .m.D wcm>m .m.D mcm>m .m.b mcm>m .m.D poouo>fim to30pH3 meawm poouo>wo tosopwz mawcwm 0&4 mmHmm 260mm nnwmwwm«uuwa um wwd ma tam msumum Hmuwuma mmmwmummmmmmtwub tam mawwwmnmwnwflwo HomII.NWdWWMMW —i—— 143 For the women, the pattern in Calhoun County more closely corresponds to the 1948 figures reported by Jacobson. In the under 20 age category, only 1.5% less of the women had previously not been married in Calhoun County than Jacobson reported. In the 20-24 age category, the not pre- viously married percentages are identical. Beyond that level, the Calhoun County figures are not large enough in number to allow comparison. It is in the columns in Table 32 indicating the percent- ages of men and women who had previously been divorced prior to the marriage and divorce in this study that the changing patterns begin to be seen. In Jacobson's 1948 figures, it may be seen that a low percentage of males and females had previously been married before. The pattern of earlier marriage and earlier divorce may be inferred from the Calhoun County statistics 15-16 years later as it is seen that a higher percentage of both males and females indicate a prior marriage. For the men, 6.5% more under 20 had been married before than in 1948. In the 20-24 year group, the difference is 6.6% but in the 25-29 category, the difference becomes negligible. For the women, the differences are also seen at the younger end of the age scale. In the under 20 group, 1.6% more of the Calhoun County females had been married than Jacobson found. In the 20-24 category, 2.1% more women had been married previously than reported in 1948. In the 25-29 year old group, there is a much larger percentage of pre- viously married reported in Calhoun County but there may 144 be some distortion of the percentage because of the nature of the sample. The comparison with the Jacobson statistics indicates the changing pattern of marriage to the extent that the increasing youth of the couples with the tendency to shorter marriages produces more marriage partners with previous marital experience. The report of the Calhoun County Clerk in 1964 had indicated an increasing percentage of marriages in the teen age range. The present sample also begins to reflect this, especially in the 1964 segment, where there is a higher percentage of marriage on the part of females below 20 (63%) as contrasted with the 1963 sample of 30%. The age of males marrying has continued to remain at a higher level, as indicated by the median of 22 years. Goode had shown in his study (1956), both in his own statistics and the statistics cited from Burgess and Cottrell and Terman, that length of engagement was a decisive factor in breakup of marriage. Goode found that the highest per- centage of marital breakup occurred for engagement periods from three to six months, as did the present study. This may be seen in Table 33. When the statistics for the sample were arranged according to the scale developed by Burgess and Cottrell, in Table 34, the highest amount of breakup occurred in the 3 to 23-month period. Table 35 shows that the highest breakup occurred for the present sample on the Terman scale in the 3 to ll—month period as it did for 145 Goode, but for Terman the highest percentage of breakup occurred in courtships lasting 1 to 2 years. Table 33.--Length of epgggement of divorced couples. Evans Goode Length # % % Never 11 25.0 19.0 0-2 months 4 9.0 17.0 3—6 months 20 45.4 35.0 7—11 months 1 .9 6.0 12-23 months 8 18.1 14.0 Unknown — -— .2 TOTAL 44 98.4 99.2 Source: Goode (1956). Table 34.-~Length of engagement of divorced couples-- Burgess-Cottrell scale. Burgess- Evans Cottrell Length # % % Not 11 25.0 6.0 0-2 months 4 9.0 14.0 3-23 months 29 65.9 62.0 24 months / -- -- 18.0 TOTAL 44 99 . 9% 100 . 0% Source: Goode (1956). Table 35.—-Length of engagement of divorced couples--by Terman scale. Evans Goode Terman Length # % % % 0-2 months 4 12.1 15.0 15.0 3-11 months 21 63.6 35.0 35.0 1-2 years 7 21.2 38.0 38.0 2 years / 1 3.0 11.0 8.0 TOTAL 33 99 . 9% 99 . 0% 96 . 0% Source: Goode (1956). In discussing the matter of engagement with the respondents, it was often found that there was a large amount of confusion in the minds of the individuals concerning 146 engagement and acquaintanceship. It was frequently necessary to clarify this point with the respondent, especially in View of the fact that 25%»of the sample were not engaged formally. The Calhoun County sample showed the highest percentage of breakup where the acquaintanceship period was three to six months. It was difficult in many cases to get ac— curate descriptions of acquaintanceship and engagement periods because in a large number of instances the individuals indicated almost identical times for engagement and acquain- tanceship. For the 0-2 months period, 9% of the sample re- sulted in divorce; for the 3-6 months period, 45.4% of the marriages broke up. The next highest interval was the 1-2 year period of acquaintanceship showing 18.1%.of the mar- riages in the present sample had resulted in divorce (Table 33). There was very little evidence of the so-called "migra- tory marriage" in the sample since 77.2% of the couples had been married in Michigan and 9% had been married in Indiana at Angola. Of the Michigan marriages, 51.3% took place in Calhoun County. Only 9% of the marriages occurred in the north central states area and 4.4%.were performed elsewhere in the United States. Of the 13.4% represented in these last two groups, the indications were that these marriages took place at the home city or locale of the bride or groom. In 79.5% of the marriages, a minister was the Officiant; 20.5% were performed by a justice of the peace. This percentage 147 compares favorably with the percentages reported by Jacobson for the state of Michigan in the years 1939 to 1948 (Table 36). Table 36.--Percentage of marriages performed by clergyman. Area 1939 1940 1948 1963-64 Michigan 89.2% 88.1% 81.7% --- Calhoun Co. --— --- --— 79.5% Source: Jacobson, p. 47 (1956). Answers of the respondents indicated that the median period for marriage was six years with the mean 6.5 years. Two marriages were reported of one month duration with the majority of the marriages appearing in the two to five year and the six to nine year categories, as indicated by Table 37. Table 37.--Duration of marriage in Evans sample. Period 63 64 Cum. 63-64% 1-11 mos. - 2 2 4.5 12—23 mOS. - 5 5 11.3 2-5 yrs. 5 10 15 34.0 6-9 yrs. 7 3 10 22.7 10-15 yrs. 4 5 9 20.4 15-20 yrs. 1 1 2 2.3 20-25 yrs. - 1 1 2.3 25-30 yrs. - 1 1 2.3 The average number of children issuing from these marriages was 2.2, with five marriages having no issue. Of the 18 individuals reporting previous marriage, there was an average of one child per marriage brought into the new union. In discussing family income with the respondents, one very notable trend was evident. Men generally were 148 able to give the amount of income at the time of the break- up of the marriage; women rarely knew with any degree of accuracy the amount of family income at the time of breakup. In the majority of instances, women had to es- timate the family income at the time of separation and di- vorce. The average income per week for the sample families at the time of divorce was $114.76. This figure included the wife's earnings where she worked. An indication of the changing pattern of marriage may be seen in that the 1963 sample showed 58% of the women worked at the time of mar- riage dissolution, contrasted with 33.3%.reported working in the 1964 answers. The mean age at marriage for women in the 1963 sample was 20 years. In the 1964 sample, the mean age for women at marriage had not dropped but the larger percentage of females in the 15-17 year old group (i.e., ll) contrasts with the same group for the 1963 sample (i.e., 5). The percentage of males and females who came from broken homes varied with the sex of the marriage partner and showed some indication of the influence of the earlier marriage rate for the 1964 sample in the case of females. The 1963 sample for males indicated 23.5%Ihad come from homes where divorce had been present. The 1964 sample showed 37%.with a 34% average for the entire sample. For the fe- males, the 1963 sample showed 29.4% had come from homes in which divorce had been present. The 1964 percentage was 22.2 with the overall sample percentage 25% (Table 38). Since the females in the 1964 sample married earlier, the 149 possibility of divorce on the part of parents was lessened. In the Toledo, Ohio, court counseling center, Bridgman had found that 40% of the families had divorce in the family background (1958). Table 38.--Percentage of parents divorced. 1963 1964 Sample Yes No Percent Yes No Percent Yes No Percent Man 4 13 23.5% 10 17 37.0%» 19 30 34.0% Wife 5 12 29.4% 6 21 22.2% 11 33 25.0% The educational background of the respondents and their spouses was near the level of the high school graduate. It was found that 52.3%.of the sample graduated from high school. Of the remaining 46.8%, only two indicated trade school training with seven persons having had some college, of whom three received a degree. The average grade level, exclusive of the technical and college group, was 11 for the men and 11.2 for the women. Because of the emotional factors involved in questioning respondents, those gathering the information were instructed not to ask whether premarital pregnancy had been involved in the marriage. The interviewer was to indicate on the blank if such appeared to be the case. In a number of instances, the respondent would check off that item on the causes for divorce card. Using these sources, it was determined that 26.5% of the marriages had been performed when the bride was pregnant. 150 The second major area in which the respondents showed a large degree of vagueness concerned the question about the period of the breakup of the marriage. Three of the respondents indicated that the breakup period lasted only one week. Table 39 gives the percentages of respondents for the periods of breakup according to their estimate. Table 39.--Period of breakup of marriage. Length 1963 1964 Total 0-2 mos. 3* 4 7 3-5 mos. - l 1 6-11 mos. 2 3 5 12-23 mos. 3 7 10 2-3 yrs. 4 9 13 3-6 yrs. 2 4 6 7 yrs. * 2 — 2 *All indicated 1 week duration. Factors which influenced the divorce according to the replies of the respondents in Section I of the questionnaire would appear to be the early age of marriage, particularly on the part of the female partner, the brief period of acquaint— anceship prior to marriage, and the short period of engage- ment. Goode had observed: The studies that have compared couples with respect to length of engagement do agree roughly with one another that a short period of being engaged is asso- ciated with marital unhappiness (1956, p. 78). The relationship between short acquaintanceship or short engagement and marriage is confirmed in this sample. The fact that a number of adjoining states have almost identical laws providing similar waiting periods has made migratory marriage unimportant as a factor according to the 151 information received. In all probability, the use of Angola, Indiana, which had formerly been a "marriage mill" before the standardizing of marriage laws in this area, indicates the desire of the couple to be married elsewhere if there is premarital pregnancy, or it may represent elopement. The high percentage of working women as shown in the sample may also be considered a factor in divorce for there is a greater feeling of independence. The conviction that the individual does not have to put up with unhappiness in marriage because economic dependency does not exist appears to be important. It was pointed out in the analysis of the 18 Michigan counties that divorce was much more preva- lent in those areas which were heavily industrialized. The fact that Calhoun County is heavily industrialized would seem to bear out the contention that there is a relationship between a woman working and the readiness or willingness to secure a divorce. The Degree of Religious Involvement of the Divorced Persons Before and After Marriage. Although a total of 35 couples had been married by a minister (79.5% of the sample), examination of the answers given in Section III to the questions concerning religious involvement of the individuals after marriage shows a differ- ent picture than prior to marriage. The questions sought to gain information about the religious background of each member of the couple and their religious activity after marriage. Post-divorce religious involvement also was sought. 152 Goode, in the Detroit study (1956), sought only to learn of the religious activity of the respondent at the time of the questioning. No attempt was made to learn anything of the religious background except whether it was Catholic or non- Catholic in nature. While he acknowledged that "The background factor of religion is also related to the duration of marriage" (1956, p. 104), Goode did not concern himself with the frequency of attendance at church prior to divorce or any of the other religious factors which might have had a bearing upon the life of the couple. Goode did state that as far as Catholics were concerned, the frequency of attendance increased the duration of the marriage but for Protestants, a very small decrease in duration might be seen in 1956. Answers to questions concerning church relationship of the divorced person and the spouse may be found in Table 40. It appears from the results of the questions in Section IV, Nos. 1-5, 13 and 14, that a high percentage of the respondents came from a church home, defined in the questionnaire as one in which at least one of the parents was active in the life of the church. In the sample, 58.1% stated that they had come from a church home with 31.9% answering that their home back- ground contained no church activity. Of those who had come from a church home, all indicated regular church attendance (at least two Sundays a month) in addition to four who did not come from a church home but who attended regularly as a child. Thus 77.2%.of the sample claimed that they attended church regularly while 18.1% said that they attended occasionally. Only two stated that they did not attend at all as a child. 153 .A< wwwcmmmH cowuomm moms Nm.mm 0H Nm.ao mm NH oH NN.N H H II NomDOQm N<.o~ m Nm.mq om 3H 0 No.3m ma m o chon pcouu< .¢H II II No.mo mm ma 0H NHHm 04 NH.wH w m m Nmaamcowmmooo NH.wH w d a mkaumaswom "mamsoo m mm tcmuu< .mH - - NN.NN en a a Ns.mN a m m Necesso damm se.NN m NH.me an an m Nm.ms ON NH a endgame sousso Ne.ON a Na.mH N m N se.me wN NH NH Newsauamm omsoam .m -I - NN.eN NH O m so.ma mm 5N NH Namasms soasso NN.N H Ne.me a m N No.4w am NN on Newsauasm .e NN.NN oN sm.aN NH 8 m Need as NN.NN w e N NsNHmaoaasooo Nm.aN NH N e NstaHsmmm "sousso tcmuum mmsomm .m I- -- Nm.a N N - Need as en.we w m m seessoaasooo NN.NN em HN Ne Nanseeswmm "tawno m mm nousso pcmuu¢ IN - _ - N.NN «N w e NH.me om a4 NH Nessa nausea .N x qo-moaN N .uoa soda meme N .uoe coma modN rsoaummso ZZDZMZD oz mmw .omso.m tam uc06a0.mwh mo pcsounxomb muowuwammII.oq THAMH 154 The answers which the respondents gave concerning the church attendance of their spouses consisted of their recollec- tion of what their spouse had said about attending church. They reported that 15 attended church regularly for a percent- age of 29.5 with eight going only occasionally, for a percent- age of 18.1. Thirteen were reported not attending at all as a child. Ten respondents said that they did not know about the church attendance of their former mates for 23.7%. In answer to the question concerning baptism, the respondents showed a high level with 37 having received the sacrament for a percentage of 84.0. Only six reported that they were not baptised for a percentage of 13.6. One could not recall whether she was baptised. The same high level of church participation is demonstrated for the respondents, with 33 claiming church membership (75%) while 11 stated that they were not members of any church for a 25% total. The persons interviewed reported that in 28 instances the spouse had re— ceived the sacrament of baptism (63.6%). Seven were reported as not having been baptised (15.9%) and the respondent did not know in nine instances (20.4%) whether the spouse had been baptised. Of those who had been married to the persons answer- ing the questions, it was recalled that 20 had been members of the church (45.4%), 19 had not (43.1%), and in five instances the subject could not remember or did not know whether the spouse had been a church member (11.4%). It is apparent from the answers given as to whether the individual and the spouse attended the same church that in only a small number of cases was this true. Six of the couples had 155 attended the same church (13.6%). Of those who mentioned church membership, ten said that they did not go to the same church, for a 23.7% figure. It might be assumed that the high level of church member- ship shown by the respondents before marriage would lead to the same high degree of church activity after marriage. The disparity between the church membership of the respondent and the spouse (33 vs 20) would indicate that the same level of church membership for the respondent would probably not obtain in the marriage because of the lack of interest of one partner in 13 of the instances. Another factor to be considered is that many children are taken to church by their parents but when old enough to make their own decisions, they often decide not to continue church activity. This would seem to be borne out by the answers given to the question as to whether the couple attended church together. Only eight of the couples indicated a consis- tent church attendance (18.1%). Another eight indicated occasional attendance (18.1%) but 28 or 63.6% said that they did not go to church at all as a couple. Of this 28, there appeared only two statements in the answers that work conditions prevented church attendance by one or both of the individuals. The respondent was then asked the question as to whether he or she attended church alone in the absence of the spouse. Fifteen reported that they attended church alone (34.0%). One reported that the spouse had attended church alone, for a per- centage of 2.2. Twenty persons answered that they did not attend church alone (45.4%) and for nine the answer was unknown (20.4%). 156 .For the spouse, the answers followed the same general pattern with 27 reported as not attending church alone (61.3%) and 16 being reported as unknown for a percentage of 36.3. In analyzing the answers of those who attended alone, 13 of these were women (86.6%) and the single spouse attending alone was a woman. Since the sample was composed of seven men (41.1%) and ten women (58%) for 1963 and 12 men (44.4%) and 15 women (55.5%) for 1964, the percentages of church attendance do not follow precisely the pattern of the percentages of women answering in the sample. Table 41 compares the attendance at church as a young person with the attendance as a couple. The responses were arranged by sex and by the answers given concerning post— nuptial church attendance. Table 41.-—Attendance at church as a couple by respondents coming from a church home. ¥ Church Home Attended as couple. 63 64 Tot. 63 64 Tot. Percent MEN 4 9 13 2 5 7 53.8 WOMEN 7 8 15 5 4 9 60.0 TOTAL ll 17 28 7 9 16 57.0 It may be seen in Tables 40 and 41 from the religious participation responses that there was a high degree of reli- gious "dropout" on the part of many of the respondents after they were married. In the survey of religious backgrounds it was found that two of the marriages were mixed Catholic-Protestant with the parties married by a justice of the peace rather than by a priest. One marriage was mixed Protestant-Jewish with the 157 marriage performed by a justice of the peace. Two marriages involved members of Seventh Day sects, one Seventh Day Adventist and one Seventh Day Baptist partner married to Protestants of other denominational background. Both of these marriages also were performed by a justice of the peace. The Degree of Involvement of the Clergyman as the Divorced Person Reported It As JacObson observed (1956, p. 55), the customary person to perform marriages is the minister with the exception of the state of Nevada where the largest percentage is performed by judges. In the sample, it was shown that 79.5% of the marri- ages were performed by clergymen and 61.3% of the persons married in Michigan were married in Calhoun County. Only 31.8% of the men involved in the breakup of marriage went to a minis— ter and 43.2% of the women sought help from this source. It is also evident from the answers of the respondents that women were much more concerned with seeking counseling from any source than were men. In the sample, one man sought assistance from Family and Children's Service while seven women did so. Unless the couple went to a counselor together, the respondent usually did not know whether there had been counseling of the spouse prior to the breakup of the marriage. Goode, in the study of Detroit divorcees, had reported that for the entire sample, only 29% had ever consulted any marriage counselor. In this category his questionnaire had listed the Friend of the Court as a counselor. Of his sample, 14%-had talked to the Friend of the Court, with 5.4% consulting a priest or pastor, and 4.0% a social work agency. In Calhoun 158 County (Table 42), it was determined that 43.1% of those inter-‘ viewed had talked to a pastor concerning their marital problems. Respondents indicated that 29.5% of the spouses involved had been counseled by a minister of their own church, representing 13 individuals. Only one indicated that she had talked to the minister who had performed the marriage who was not of her own church, at the time of the marital breakup. Eight respondents indicated that they had had their spouse go to the same minister (18.1% of persons counseled). This low figure, in comparison with the number of respondents who went to the minister of their church for original counseling illus- trates one aspect of counseling pre-divorce persons. Unless the couple goes together, there is the feeling on the part of the second person to go to the minister that the counselor, having already heard one side of the story, would presumably be biased in favor of that side. It has been the experience of the writer in a number of cases that contact with the second person in the marital difficulty, even within the context of the church family, is made much more difficult when one partner has already dis- cussed the marriage problem with him in advance of the second person. No other counseling source except the Family and Children's Service was indicated as being consulted by any respondents in the survey. This would include the three psychiatrists who are practicing in the Battle Creek area as well as several psycho- logical counselors attached to the Veterans Administration Hospital at Fort Custer (just outside of Battle Creek) who are available for private counseling. The responses to the question 159 .HNmNV macs emeaeNesN HHs aH NN.NN OH N a Nm.e m m o NwsNHemssoe amsNem-m4 am No.am eN mN HH NH.wH w a a NdoN>Nmm aHNsaN oN ooIes aN NN.N H o H NH.wH w e N reads ease as or seesaw-04 aH Nm.NN N N e NN.NN NH 8 a NewsstaHe resend uses-m4 as Nw.em mN NH NH Nm.aN NH a e smumNst on om seesaw-m4 ea Nw.em mN eH a NH.me aH NH 8 NaauwNeNs oN owINs 4 N Hsuoe eeaN meaH N Hsaoe eeaH meaH msNHemssoo oz was .mnamccowumodw mmouo>wp mo HH .oom .wIN mcowummnq ou momcommmu mo kHMEEDmII.Nq meme 160 concerning the Family and Children's Service Agency of Calhoun County indicated that eight persons (18.1% of the sample) had gone to see the Family and Children's Service counselor. Two of these had gone on the basis of a referral by the minister. The remaining six (13.6%) reported that going to the Family and Children's Service Agency was their own idea. The degree of refusal of counseling was not clearly indicated by the respondents. Sixteen of those interviewed (36.3%) said that they did not refuse counseling whereas three admitted that they had refused (6.8%). Respondents reported that in six instances (13.6%) their spouse had refused to be counseled. In nine instances they reported that their spouses had not refused counseling (20.4%). Table 43 deals with the pre-divorce counseling by a minister in the sample. Taking the number of men (14) coun- seled and the number of women (19) together (33), it may be seen that of the 88 persons involved in severe marital strife which led to divorce in the sample, the percentage receiving any ministerial counseling was 37.5. While this is a higher overall percentage than Goode reported (29%), the figure demon— strates that advantage is not taken of counseling by ministers as Goode had observed (1956). Since this study was concerned with pre-divorce counseling primarily, the counseling of the Friend of the Court was not considered. In examining the whole matter of counseling by the minister in divorce situations, the question was asked of the respondents at whose suggestion they went to a minister. Information was sought as to whether there had been referrals 161 Table 43.--Persons counseled by minister prior to divorce. 1963 1964 Sample Men Women Men Women Men Women Yes 5 7 9 12 14 19 % 29.5% 41.1% 33.3% 44.4% 31.8% 43.2% No 12 10 18 15 30 25 % 70.5% 58.8% 66.7% 55.6% 68.2% 56.8% by lawyers, doctors, or other professional people. In the sample, no such referrals appeared as Table 44 shows. Table 44.--Basis of going to minister by respondent. qfi_ Question Lawyer Court Friend Relative Other Own TotaI 4. Done at suggestion 0 _0’ 2 3 3 ll 19 of? Of the 19 cases that indicated they had gone to a minister, eight went on the basis of their own initiative with five going at the suggestion of some member of the family and two by friends. One individual reported that the couple had not sought the minis— ter but had been called upon by a theological student in training who was the brother of the husband. This woman indicated that he had scolded or rebuked her (the only one so to report in the sample) and as a result she had refused further counseling. It is in the ninth question that the results are clearest concerning the extent of the counseling by the minister as shown in Table 45. In the sample, four respondents reported that they had had single sessions with the minister, five reported two sessions, four reported three sessions and one reported four sessions for the shorter duration counseling. A total of 13, or 29.5%, had 162 Table 45.--Duration of counseling received by respondents and their spouses (Sec. II, Questions 9 and 10). SESSIONS MORE THAN 4 l 2 3 4 l— 2— 4- 6- lZ-(mos.) Resp. Respondent 4 5 4 l 1 l 0 1 2 l9 Spouse 1 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 2 19 explored only briefly the matter of marital discord. For the longer duration, one respondent reported one month's contact, another reported two months, one respondent reported six months and the remaining two indicated that they had been in counseling for a year. In these latter cases, both indicated that it had been a counseling situation without regularly scheduled sessions. For the spouses of those who answered the counseling questions, two were reported to have had single sessions, three were reported to have had two sessions, and two reported three sessions for a total of six or 13.6% who had short—term counsel- ing. One reported a two-month's counseling period for the spouse. Two others reported that their spouses had been in counseling with them for the entire year as noted above. The same short-term pattern was evident in the reports of the eight who had been to Family and Children's Service.. Five of the respondents had single interviews, one had two interviews, and the third one had three interviews. The only notation of evaluation for Family and Children's Service coun- seling was the comment of one that she had stopped going after the first interview since the counselor did not tell her what to do. It might be noted that the staff of the Family and Children's Service during the 1963-64 period was very strongly 163 committed to non-directive counseling. With a large turnover of the staff in 1964, the philosophy at present has not yet been established. The reports of the respondents about the type of counsel- ing done by the minister vary widely with an almost even division at some points and unanimity of viewpoint at others as seen in Table 46. Respondents felt that the minister supported their position in half of the answers; they believed that he did not support their position to an equal degree with only one report- ing that she could not distinguish the minister's attitude. On the matter of the minister telling the individual what to do, twelve of the respondents felt that he had not told them what to do, indicating considerable non-directive counseling. Seven believed that the minister had given them specific instructions as to what they should do. As has been noted, only one of the 19 interviews reported any scolding or rebuking and this was a situation in which the counselor was related by marriage to the respondent. As to whether the minister had helped the individual to decide the course to take with direct advice, the division of opinion was almost even with nine believing that he had not helped them decide and ten feeling that he had. It would appear that the answer to this question indicated that the minister acted as a catalyst in the counseling process more than actually advising the individuals as to the course they should take. Sixteen of the respondents reported that the minister did not recommend divorce and three that he did. 164 NH -- N N N NH oH H Nmsonmoa oaHoN-NNN NH I NH NH N N o N NmNmHNons omo-oNN NH - N N - NH oH N NmoooNHo soNa ooHNmHNaNINHN NH - NH o o N N N NomsNaNs omN>sNs saossooom-NNN NH -- a o N oN N N NoeHooe soN aNom-NNN NH II NH oH N H H o Nossoou so eHoom-eNs aH - NH N o N N N Nos so oars NHoH-NNN NH H a o N a N a NsoN sNNa dogma-NHN womaoamor .Nso .NoN eoeH NoNH .Noe soaH NoaN soomNaHs No oNom oz NNN .muwmccowumosu moouo>wt wo HH .oom dNNINN mcowummsw cu uncommon mo mumEEDmII.o¢ mmeH 165 Those who consulted a minister believed, in retrospect, that the minister had done all that he could, except two who felt that he might have done more for reasons which will be stated in the evaluating comments. The largest number of those interviewed felt that the minister had done all that he could to prevent a breakup of the marriage. Two of the 19 respond— ents answered that special materials had been used in the pre-divorce counseling. Of these, one said that the minister had used the Bible (the Ten Commandments) and the other, a special manual developed for people with severe marital diffi- culties. The belief on the part of many ministers that joint sessions are of some value is indicated by the fact that eleven of the respondents reported that they had had joint sessions with the minister as a couple. Three others reported that the minister had sought to have joint sessions but that the spouse had either refused to show up for the interview or had refused to see the minister when he went to the home in order to seek a joint session. The evaluation of the usefulness of ministerial counseling is indicated by the figures in Table 47. Table 47.--Evaluation of ministerial counseling_py respondent. Question Helpful Effective No value Hindrance Unk. Resp. #ll—Value of couns. 10 3 4 l 1 l9 In Table 47 ten respondents reported that the minister's counseling had been helpful with three stating that it had been 166 effective in helping them deal with their personal problems. Five felt that there had been no value to the counseling and one reported that the counseling had actually been a hindrance (the report concerning the brother—in—law). Indications of Value of Involvement of the Clepgyman In seeking to learn the evaluation of the ministerial counseling as the respondent saw it, the first question asked the reason that the individual or the couple had gone to a minister. Answers in this category fell into three main groups, the first being that the minister represented the one person that the respondent felt he or she could turn to. Answers here tended to be very simple: ”Felt that he was the only one to turn to.” ”Best thing to do.” ”Felt he could help.” The second viewpoint was represented by statements that the respondent believed the minister might be able to do some? thing constructive or therapeutic in the situation. Answers were: "Wanted to discuss the problem and see if he could tell me what I should do." ”See if they couldn't get us back together." "Wanted to help repair the marriage.” l'Thought he could bring us together-—didn't want to lose everything.” ”Felt he could patch things up.” The third area of opinion concerning why a person would go to a minister contained a number of varying responses 167 indicative that the individual believed that by conforming to certain accepted patterns, he or she would at least have fulfilled the necessary steps and protected himself should things fail to work out. Representative of this point of view were the comments: "For advice-~the common thing to do." ”No other counselor." "To see what he would advise me to do." "In lieu of family counseling service." Two indicated a feeling of need in their reasoning: "I was still in love with my wife and trying to save the marriage." "Because we were having problems." One respondent honestly stated that he went to the minister for a sounding board. Another seemed to indicate this by saying that she talked to the hospital chaplain during the period of divorce but that no attempt was made to have any discussions by the chaplain with her spouse. One respondent indicated that there was a religious problem involved. She had gone to the family minister because she wanted to become reinstated in the church. This was a premarital pregnancy case where the couple had been married in Angola, Indiana, and the respondent wanted to become active in the church community after the birth of the child. She reported that her husband refused to have anything to do with counseling. As it has been shown, the majority of the respondents felt that the counseling done by the minister was "helpful" 168 but "helpful” in this context would appear to mean aiding the individual to get through the period of marital strife and divorce rather than preventing divorce. Comments of the respondents concerning the counseling attempts show a wide range of reaction to counseling. Those Who refused counseling include the young woman whose brother— in-law scolded and rebuked her, causing her to reject help and the young woman who reported that she had a "mental block against advice" because of ”emotional immaturity" and thus turned away from counseling when it was offered ot her. Many of the respondents who answered the questions about counseling did not indicate why the minister's counseling was not helpful in saving the marriage because they could not analyze the reasons in their own minds. Often they would simply shrug and say they could not answer that question. Some were quite frank in their evaluation of the situ- ation, indicating that counseling could not overcome the obstacles which were present in the marriage. This was evident from such statements as: "We were just plain sick of each other and didn't see any other way to fix things except by divorce." ”Counseling does no good when only one party will go--husband refused counseling.” "Husband refused to cooperate." "Because the other party (husband) would not help or cooperate." "Nothing could help us." Of the three who were critical of the minister, much reference has been made to the involvement of the 169 brother-in—law who was studying in seminary and the antagonism which he aroused with his highly directive technique. One couple reported a difficulty which was described in the Treolar-McWhirter Detroit Free Press series (1965). The availability of counselors was extremely limited, they re- ported. One couple tried to go to Family and Children's Service but could not get appointments at the time of their greatest need. They turned to a minister in lieu of this agency although the family had very little church orientation on the part of either husband or wife. The respondent db— served that the minister was also "too tied up at the time to give us much attention". She reported that there had been two conjoint sessions but stated that the husband was unconcerned. This was the couple who returned to the min- ister who had married them in another city. One male respondent whose wife also went to the same minister and who said that the counseling was of no value, reported that the minister "didn't understand the depth of the problem". This couple went only two times jointly and ”the minister did as much as could be expected". A number of the respondents felt that the minister had done all that he could in one or two counseling sessions. Answers varied from highly affirmative to highly negative evaluations. "He didn't see you soon enough or know either very well.” "Tried to get the three together but couldn't." (Presumably minister and marriage partners.) "Couldn't have done more for me." 170 "We didn't want to do too much." "Everything was done to try to see things through." "He couldn't make us stay together." "The situation was beyond help." "Couldn't have done much more." "Can't change a whole personality." (Referring to spouse.) "He worked very hard with us." "He wanted us back together." Indications that the respondent understood the limi- tations of only one party going to the minister may be seen in the comments: "All he had to go on was what I had told him." "Because of the circumstances." (One party counseling.) There is apparent in the answers of the respondents a sense of resignation. Almost 25% of the ones who saw a min- ister went hopefully with a desire that something could be done. The remainder went either because it was felt that it was the thing to do or it was the final effort to get assistance in straightening out or correcting a severe marital problem. Entering the counseling situation was this latter attitude, the respondents indicated that the minister had done all that they could have expected since the level of expectation appeared to be rather low. From the counseling reports, it is apparent that only three of the 19 cases handled by ministers were given extensive counseling with two receiving counseling for an intermediate duration. 171 Post—Divorce Involvement of Clergymen and Evaluations py Respondents The part of Section III dealing with involvement of the minister after the divorce produced varying evaluations. The respondents were asked to reflect upon their experience of the divorce and to consider what might be their course of: action should marital difficulties arise in the future. Table 48 indicates the pattern of responses by the persons who have been divorced to questions one through six with the exception of the evaluative parts of questions five and six. The number of persons who had gone to a minister for counseling during severe marital problems in 1963 were eight and four of these continued in counseling for a brief period after the divorce. In 1964, eleven persons went to a minister for pre-divorce counseling with three returning afterward for counseling, of which it will be noted that two went back to the same minister and the third one went to another minister.- Of the seven who were counseled after the divorce, two reported that the counseling was informal in nature with help being given either by telephone conversation or in occasional encounters at places other than the office of the counselor. Two were in formal counseling for a period of several months and three reported that they had had brief formal counseling sessions, one having one session, another two sessions, and the third, three sessions. Where the persons could characterize the nature of this counseling, five of them said that it had been to 172 Nuoumwcfia m cu Ne.NH N NH.N e N N Na.oe NH NH o ow oo osoHuH oaHasr .e Nuoumwcwa m ou ow NN.e N NN.N a N H NN.Ne HN NH N .aHaNa oNesouo aH NH .N Nmouo>wt -- - NN.N H H - No.NH o N a -osa as oso deem .N Noouo>HtIumom you I- I- No.eN NN eN NN NN.NN N N s -mHsHs a Na ooHomasoo .N N N N .Noe soaH NoNH N .uoe soaN NoaN soHomoso stezmozz oz NNN ouwmccofiuwoDWIooouo>wo can we HHH cowuomm No a m mm .H meowumosw ou momcommomII.w¢ manta _ _ ruflh_1 173 rebuild their life after the divorce and another stated that the counseling was supportive in nature. It was in the matter of whether the individual would return to.a minister for counseling should this problem arise again that some of the variations were found. In answer to the question as to whether the respondent would advise a friend in the same difficulty to go to a minister, a similar diversity of opinion existed. The responses for question five (Table 48) concerning going to a minister for counseling should the severe marital problem situation arise again showed that 18 or 40.9% of those interviewed would go to a minister again if the need arose. Of these, six had received post—divorce counseling. Four said that they would not go to a minister if they were in the same kind of situation again. Five, or 11.4%, indicated considerable uncertainty as to whether or not they would return. It is possible to find in the answers of these indi- viduals some evaluation of the part played by the minister in severe marital problem situations. Answers ranged from a blunt "It doesn't do any good" to go to a minister for counseling to much more optimistic viewpoints: "They have a greater understanding." "Talking with the minister gives you backbone and strength.” "Get most honest help here." "That's the one you should turn to." "Probably, because I wouldn't know where else to turn." 174 "Try and work things out." "I couldn't keep it inside myself." Occasionally there appeared a new religious insight which had been gained in the divorce experience: "One needs the help of religion-—my mind is getting clearer. Before I knew right from wrong but couldn't do it." "Definitely, I feel I have learned by past mistakes. My present husband and I attend church regularly." Reference is also made in some of the statements to the value of counseling which the individual experienced: "Because they are a real source of help and comfort." (From one who had been counseled after divorce.) "Because, if like before, he wouldn't tell me what to do and he might help to talk to the husband." (No post-divorce counseling indicated.) Occasionally there is an indication of some uncertainty about going again to a minister as the individual tried to project himself or herself into a repetition of past experience: "Probably--it would depend on the circumstances." "Probably—-this divorce was suggested by an ADC case worker. Marriage too far gone to go to a minister." "I've never thought about it since I haven't thought about getting married again.” The hopeful outlook may be found in such statements as: "I think enough of this marriage to try to hold it together." "If I loved her." In some instances, the person being interviewed said that he would recommend that a friend go to a minister but gave no additional information for their reasoning. On —7——— ‘ 7‘” 175 occasions it paralleled the reasoning in the answer to the question of their own possible counseling with a minister. Uncertainty sometimes marked a response to this question (6): "Depending on the problem" "Either that or a marriage counselor.” The recommendation of a friend's visit to a minister reflected some hope that, where failure had been present in their own experience, the friend might be able to find help and the solution of the problem by talking to a minister: "We all need someone to turn to when we need it." ”To try and work things out." It is apparent from the evaluative answers given that the reasons for consulting a minister if trouble should again arise are largely subjective in nature, related to the in— dividual need for emotional support. The degree of pre-divorce counseling (37.5%) is followed by post-divorce counseling of 15.9%-with most of these persons returning to the minister who had originally coun- seled them in the pre—divorce period (13.6%). Only 2.3%.went to another minister. It may be observed that the percentage returning is close to the percentage who had received the longer counseling (11.3%). It would appear that a person who had had only a brief contact with a minister during the pre—divorce period would not be likely to return for post- divorce counseling. 176 Causes of Divorce as Reported by Divorced Persons Causes of the divorce as seen by the respondent were obtained by use of a card (see Appendix D) given to the indi— vidual at the close of the interview with the request that the principal causes of divorce be checked off. The respondent was also asked to rank them numerically in order of importance. In most instances the first three causes were given but occasionally the individual went as high as six. On a few cards only one cause was listed. The findings are divided into two sections with Table 49 indicating the principal cause for the 44 cases and Table 50 listing all causes checked. In comparing the results obtained in the present study and those reported by the Friend of the Court for Oakland County, it was possible to make comparisons. The Oakland County study had taken from the divorce complaints the listing. The total of cases in the Oakland County study was 1,638 for the 1958-60 period. The total of the causes listed in the report totaled 5,414, an average of three specifications for each case. Since the Oakland County figures were not ranked in order of importance, the Calhoun County figures have not been weighted when tabulated for purposes of comparison. For the purposes of this study, the causes of divorce or grounds will be classified in two major categories. The primary causes will consist of those actions or factors which create marital strife: money, family interference, religious differences, too early marriage, premarital 177 Table 49.--Principa1 cause of divorce as listed by regpondents in Calhoun County, Cause Number Percent Rank .Assault 1 2.2 Jealousy 2 4.4 4 Desertion 1 2.2 Alcohol 10 22.7 1 Sex problem 1 2.2 Family inter- ference 6 13.6 2 Money 6 13.6 2 Infidelity 6 13.6 2 Too early mar~ riage 3 6.8 3 Too short court- ship 2 2.2 4 Premarital sex 1 2.2 *Stubborness 1 2.2 *Incompatibility 3 6.8 3 Would not say 1 2.2 Total 44 99.1 *Added to card by respondents. 178 Table 50.--Causes of divorce as listed by respondents by frequency and percent of total for Calhoun and Oakland Counties. Percent Cause Frequency Percent Rank Oakland Co. Rank Assault Jealousy Desertion 7 12. 6 5 Non-support 6 2 8 2 5. l. 5. 10. 11. 1 7 \l Alcohol 1 Sex problem Job—jumping Family interference 10 Money 13 1 Relative differences 6 Infidelity 11 Too early marriage 11 Too short courtship 3 Gambling 3 Children too soon 3 Mental cruelty 15.3++' 8 Mental 1.4++ Premarital sex 3 2. *Stubborness *Immaturity *Too many outside children *Incompatibility *No communication *Death of child *Long work hours *Embarrassed by stupidity *No affection for son *Preferred others *Gone all the time *Health *Sick of each other Total 12 UTNVCDNG b0 U1 HONU'IKOOr-‘NNNNN U1 N \DN\J\I NNNCXJOO-DOVI—IO‘IKOJ-‘w-Dkfl 0060wa wwafiONNmMN-DVOVUT 1—'I—‘ \I\JDJ I—‘I—‘l—‘OH 0.... \l\l\l\l\l \ll—‘I—‘l—‘HI—‘H 1—‘\I\J\J\J\l\l 98. 90.4 +Average of two items: Madam X = 10.3% and Mr. X = 7.8%. ++Legal terms listed on Oakland form; not used in Calhoun study. *Added by respondents to cards. 179 pregnancy, and too short courtship. Secondary causes may be defined as those actions which grow out of personal conflict within the marriage: infidelity, alcohol problems, sex pro- blems, assault, desertion, non-support, job jumping, and gambling. The secondary causes or factors represent the individual's response to the marital problem or his attempt to deal with it by escape. The principal cause is that one ranked first by respondents in the present study. Examination of Table 49 indicates that of the principal causes of divorce, the one most frequently ranked first by respondents was "alcohol" (22.7%) closely followed by three others, "family interference”, "money", and ”infidelity". Each of these represented 13.6% of the rankings. "Too early marriage" received three answers as the principal cause for a total of 6.8% representing a degree of insight and ac— ceptance of responsibility. The fact that incompatibility received the same amount of emphasis should be discounted, it would seem, because this is one of the popular legal terms which is used to describe the failure of the couple to get along without any specific description of the reasons. This was found to be written in on the three cards. It had been left off purposely because of its non—specific nature. Too short courtship recieved a low number of responses (2, for 4.4%). Individuals involved in this type of marriage usually assign the cause of breakup to some aspect of be- havior which may be a result of a short courtship but is not recognized as being the product of it. 180 Table 50 shows all of the causes for the Calhoun County cards scored together but not weighted. The relative position of some of the causes assigned by the respondents changed from the prinicpal rankings. Where "money" had been one of the three causes that rated second on the principal scale, on the combined scale it became first followed by alcohol problems. On the combined scale two items appear equally important in third place, "infidelity" and "too early marriage", followed by "family interference”, "sex problems", and "assault" in that order. It would appear in considering the combined causes assigned by the respondents that money, as has been observed by a number of divorce counselors, is probably the most serious cause provoking marital breakup. The growing seri- ousness of the drinking problem is seen in the high position of alcohol on both scales--first in the principal cause and second in the combined causes. The lack of agreement on the part of counselors about the importance of sex in marital difficulties was borne out by the fact that sex problems were listed fifth in the combined scale by the respondents. Some insight into the basic causes of marital diffi— culty was demonstrated by a number of those checking the cards when they admitted that they were married too young. Although not recognized by the respondents, premarital pregnancy is an important factor (Christensen, 1956) with 25% of the marriages that failed being contracted with the bride pregnant in the present study. 181 When the percentages for Calhoun County and Oakland County were compared, there were some differences but these did not appear to be significant. A fraction of a percent changed the relative position of one cause over another but the figures generally corresponded quite closely. Oakland County causes, it should be noted, were the complaints drawn up by lawyers in the so—called "adversary system" of the law for presentation in court. Therefore, as Table 50 shows, assault ranked high in the Oakland County causes, followed by sex problems, alcohol, infidelity, family interference, and money. The low ranking of money on the Oakland scale might be attributed to the desire on the part of the plaintiff to make as strong a case as possible based on the more traditional legal grounds for divorce. In the ranking of causes in Oakland County, 15.3% of the respondents blamed ”mental cruelty". This category was not included in the Calhoun County list because it is a legal term, non-specific and general in nature, rendering it of little value in dealing with the causes of divorce from a counseling point of View. The study demonstrates that there was a low degree of counseling in the Calhoun County divorce cases interviewed. Cause cards checked by the persons interviewed tended to reflect the fact that there appeared little insight on the part of the divorcee as to the primary causes of divorce as differentiated from those causes which were secondary or arising from basic difficulties in the marriage. 182 Some allowance should be made for the fact that the Calhoun County respondent could indicate the assigned causes of the breakup of the marriage independent of the legal language of the petition for divorce. But if money pro- blems, family interference or personality defects caused one or both of the marriage partners to seek refuge in alcohol, the affections of another person or gambling, there appeared little insight at this point. Elements which aggravated the marital discord were ranked in equal amounts between primary and secondary factors. The lists of causes on the cards and the additions made by the persons themselves indicated a high degree of severe personality problems and interpersonal stress. Al- though Michigan law regulating divorce is not as strict as that of many states like New York and South Carolina, it is more stringent than that of Nevada or some of the other states bidding for the divorce traffic. There was little evidence of a casual changing of marriage partners. Both in the checking of the cards and in the tone of the inter- views, there was the indication that these unions had been dissolved because of serious difficulties, brought on in many instances by severe personality and interpersonal problems. To say that they could be dealt with on the basis of from one to four interviews or even in a short period of one to three months would be to disregard the basic nature of human behavior as well as the limitations of counseling. When the figures for the respondents reporting the degree of counseling by clergymen for those whose marriages were 183 ending in divorce are contrasted with the ranking of the problems which they assigned as the causes of divorce, it may be seen why the majority of cases handled by clergymen did result in divorce. In only two cases where the counseling lasted for an extended period might it have been expected that different results than divorce could have been the product of that counseling. From both the statistical re- sults of the study of counseling as reported by the respon- dents and an examination of the causes given by them, it would appear that the individuals involved in these types of problems went to the minister as a last resort or with a low expectation of his being able to succeed in saving the marriage. Summary of Findings of Divorced Person Interviews In considering the whole pattern of divorce, ministerial counseling, and the demographic factors in Calhoun County, the high rate of divorce would appear to be caused by a number of factors both demographic and psychological. The demographic factors include: 1. The high industrial level in Calhoun County. 2. The large number of women working. 3. The low percentage of church membership or affiliation. 4. The low level of church attendance on the part of those whose marriages resulted in divorce. Psychological factors involved include: 1. The substantial number of men and women Whose parents had been divorced, which established an acceptance of divorce in the minds of many of the individuals whose own marriages ultimately resulted in divorce. 184 2. The short period of courtship which failed to allow adequate knowledge of each other. 3. Too early marriage, which caused problems when the process of maturation and the change in need systems brought about conflict and a desire for a different marriage partner. That the minister was not any more successful in marriage counseling may be attributed to the fact that the majority of those who went to him did not stay very long. Also, there was little contact prior to the divorce counseling with the minister. There was not the ability on the part of the counselor or the client to establish rapport prior to the marital difficulty. Lack of desire on the part of one of the individuals involved in marital strife to find a solution is evident from the large number of indi- viduals who went alone to see a minister rather than with the marriage partner. The short duration of the counseling where the individual did not return after the first or second contact made the possibility of success remote. Second General Area -— The Role of the Clergyman in Divorce Counseling as He Saw It. The sample of ministers was drawn from a cross-section of those having downtown parishes, suburban parishes, or parishes which contain small town and rural memberships. The principal limitation here was that in selecting minis— ters who had done counseling in the period 1963-64, a number were not available through transfer. Some ministers who had counseled in one of the two years but not both could not be used. The average age of ministers in this sample was 185 47 years with an average ministry of 6.8 years in a parish in Calhoun County. In answer to the questions about seminary training, 22 ministers reported that they had graduated from seminary (84.8%). Four had completed college work but had not had any seminary training except in special courses given summers or by correspondence (15.4%). Of the ministers questioned, eleven stated that they had had training in the area of severe marital counseling problems (42.3%) with 15 answering in the negative (57.6%). Of those who had had this special training, four reported that they had received it in seminary (15.3%) while seven had had graduate training in dealing with severe marital problem counseling (26.9%). Of these seven, four re- ported that they had had clinical training in addition. The questionnaire sought to determine the source of marital problem cases which were handled over the two—year period by ministers. In answering, the ministers showed that almost half (47%) of their cases came from their own parish. In this instance "parish" was defined as one or both members of the couple belonging to the church. Table 51 shows the sources of severe marital problem cases as the ministers reported them. The ministers reported that the ”walk-in" cases comprised 17.8% of their case load or 59 in number. These were found in the downtown church areas where persons would stop in to talk with the minister about a severe marital problem, sometimes "shopping" for advice or seeking counseling on an impulse when passing by the church. It can be assumed that in these instances a single 186 contact or a very few contacts resulted since the ministers reported that most walk-in cases did not return., Table 51.—-Sources of referral of severe marital yproblem cases counseled by_clergymen. Source Number Percent Parish 158 47.0% Walk—in 59 17.8 Referred by: Member of parish 80 24.1 Other clergy 3 .9 Court 3 .9 Doctor 2 .6 Police 1 .3 Legal aid 2 .6 Constituent 6 1.8 Other 17 5.1 TOTAL 331 99 .1% The ministers reported that the referrals to them were mainly from members of the parish who suggested to friends or acquaintances experiencing severe marital difficulty that they consult their minister. Eighty were reported to have done this (24.1%) with a small number being referred by other clergymen, the court, doctors, the police, the Legal Aid Society, or constituents of the minister (those not belonging to the church but attending the church). Seventeen of the cases (5.1%) were not classified as to source in the reports by the ministers. 187 A number of the cases were referred to other counseling agencies, principally Family and Children's Service. Of the 74 cases the ministers reported they had referred, the reasons assigned by them for referral were lack of time to handle the problem as it should be (15 cases or 20.2%). problem too deep for the training or the experience of the minister (48 cases or 64.8%), and the fact that the person was a non—member (7 cases or 9.4%). In two instances, the minister stated that lack of progress or cooperation caused him to refer the case and in another the need of different viewpoint, which he felt to be essential, was the reason for his referral. Ministers reported that they had referred only 22.3% of their cases for a total of 74 out of 331 cases. The Extent of Clergy Counseling in Marital Problems with a Divorce Potential The report of the Circuit Court Clerk for 1963 and 1964 had stated that there were 427 and 548 divorces granted respectively, for a total of 975. The court estimates of the number of divorces granted as against the number of divorces filed for is 50%, which means that for the period under investigation there would have been approximately 1,950 divorce petitions filed in contrast to the 975 granted. These figures in addition to the few suspended action cases--approx- imately 2,000 cases in the two-year period--were severe mari- tal problems which involved some legal action. There is no way of calculating how many other severe marital problems existed which never resulted in legal action. Ministers re- ported that they had handled 331 cases involving severe 188 marital problems in this sample during this period which, if only the cases which resulted in some legal action are counted, would give a percentage of 16.5. However, this percentage cannot be relied upon since, as has been noted, many other cases of severe marital problems did not result in legal action. The only measure available as a result of the study is the claim of the ministers, according to their recollec- tions, that 111 of the 331 (33.5%) cases that they classified as severe marital problem cases did not result in divorce at the time of the inquiry. Most ministers were frank to state that in a number of instances they could not say whether the couple had continued to live together or whether they had sought a divorce because they had moved from the area with the resultant loss of contact. Their best esti- mates, as they gave them in the questionnaire, were that one-third of their cases were successfully treated so that divorce did not result. These were the persOns with whom they still had contact through the parish or the community. If the percentage of Protestant membership for the county (18.4%) is applied to the number of severe marital problem cases which resulted in legal action, the figure of 368 results. Based on the reports of the ministers that approximately one-half of their counseling cases with severe marital problems came from the parish, it might be assumed that approximately 750 of the 2,000 severe marital problem cases were counseled, if only briefly, by ministers during that two-year period. Continuing the projection, if one-third 189 of their counseling was successful, approximately 250 marriages which fall into the category of sufficiently severe marital discord to result in a divorce filing may have been ”saved" by ministerial counseling. There is no evidence for the number "saved" which never reached the filing stage. Reasons Assigned by Clergymen for Failure to Heal Marital Rifts It was acknowledged that to ask the minister why he did not succeed in his marital counseling where he knew that the couple had secured a divorce was to deal with a sensitive area for some. The interviews did not appear to evoke unduly sensitive or defensive responses at this point for most min- isters were quite candid in their admission that they were unable to save the marriage in 62 cases for the reasons in- dicated in Table 52. Table 52.——Reasons for failure to prevent divorce as seen byiclergymen. One Too No desire Order of TOO party deep to solve ranking late refused problem One Both Total First 10 9 4 6 2 31 Second 5 8 3 4 1 21 Third 3 2 2 2 1 10 In the distribution of answers given by clergymen, the two most frequent reasons given were that the contact made by the person or couple was too late for help to be rendered or that one party refused to be counseled by the minister. High in the order of causes was the fact that the 190 problem was too deep to be solved within the context of ministerial counseling at that time. Where the minister was able to counsel with both partners, the most important cause of failure assigned by him was a lack of desire on the part of one of the two parties to work out a solution. In some cases he found neither party interested in maintaining the marriage. One of the ministers stated in a very resigned manner, "We always get them after it is too late“. In ranking the causes for failure, the most frequent cause assigned by clergymen was entering the situation too late (32%), followed by the refusal of one party to counsel (29%). Other reasons in order of frequency were: too deep a problem to be solved in his judgment (12.9%), and no desire on the part of one party to counsel (19.3%), with a small number of the cases having neither party desirous of finding a solution (6.4%). The answer of the minister that in 48 cases he referred the problem to other sources be— cause it was too deep for his training indicates a recog— nition on his part of limitations in his training and ability. Ministers advised divorce in 13 instances and advised against it in 17 according to their reports; in the remaining instances they took no position. Only one indicated that he had advised separation rather than divorce. Many of the ministers, when asked the question concerning whether they had advised divorce, were inclined to be defensive. The majority of those who advised divorce were ministers who had had advanced training in severe marital counseling. Where 191 there was less training or no special training indicated, a larger degree of defensiveness and haste to assure the inter- viewer that divorce was not advised was observed. Use of Special Instruments or Materials by Clergymen in Marital Counseling Situations In response to the question concerning the use of special material, only 23% of the clergymen indicated that special tools were used to seek to help the individual in his understanding of the problem which ultimately led to divorce; 77% of the ministers indicated that no special materials were used. Of those who used special materials, three said that they used ”Alternative to Divorce”. Two indicated other material without naming it. One minister reported that he used Harmonypin Marriage and With This Ring, A number of ministers, when queried about the use of materials, asked the interviewer about the titles of possible material, especially "Alternative to Divorce”. Information concerning the source of this manual was supplied to the minis— ter as a part of the interview or it was mailed to him as a follow-up. That many ministers were not acquainted with "Alternative to Divorce" or other material developed to help in divorce counseling indicated the lack of preparation for severe marital problem counseling which has been encountered in earlier questions. Examination of the results of the interviews with clergy— men show that although in the sample 84.6% of the clergymen interviewed had been graduated from seminary, less than half of them reported that they had had any training to assist them 192 in dealing with severe marital problem counseling. A number had said that they took the prescribed pastoral counseling courses in seminary which had touched briefly on the area of severe marital problem counseling but that these courses dealt with the principles of counseling in the more general sense. When the large number of untrained ministers who serve small churches while working full time in businesses, trades, or industry is considered, the degree of training of clergymen in severe marital problem counseling is even more limited. In the sample, only four (15.3%) had had any clinical training in severe marital problem counseling. Reference has already been made to the high percentage of cases referred to other counseling agencies because the minister felt that the prob- lem was too severe for his level of training. This was an acknowledgment on the part of ministers that there is a need for a greater degree of training in this area if the minister is to be of service to those who come to him. While he may assume, as the sample shows, that half of his severe marital problem cases will come from his congregation, he must also be aware of the fact that many other people turn to him for help because of his position in the community and his avail— ability. Reference has also been made to the fact that frequently the person with a severe marital problem cannot obtain help from other agencies in a reasonable length of time. It has not been uncommon for a person seeking help with problems needing counseling to learn that there may be a six to eight week waiting period before he can be counseled on a regular 193 basis at Family and Children's Service. A shortage of staff and an exceedingly heavy case load has created this condition in spite of the attempts of the agency to secure additional help to cut down the waiting period. The minister, regarding his role in severe marital problem counseling which led to divorce, saw himself entering the scene too late in many instances, or faced with the inability to contact the second party to the problem. He found himself confronted, on the one hand, by personality problems too deep to be solved within the present context of counseling or with problems too deep for him to handle with his training, making referral necessary. In few instances did the clergyman refuse to counsel with people because they were not members of his congregation. In the instances where referrals were made because of lack of time on the part of the minister, it was usually stated that he did not feel that he could give these persons the amount of time necessary since they were not mem— bers of his own congregation. He felt very keenly that his responsibility to his congregation had the first claim on his time and resources. In order to learn how the ministers ranked the causes of divorce in order of importance, they were asked to fill out the same card as the divorced respondent. Table 53 shows the divorcee percentages already listed for the Calhoun and Oakland studies, with the third column as the clergymen ranked them. In their experience in the cases that they had counseled which resulted in divorce, they found that too early marriage was most responsible for divorce, followed by money and alcohol 194 Table 53.--Comparison of percents of frequency of causes of divorce assigned by respondents and clergymen in the sample and in Oakland County. % % % Cause Respondent Clergyman Oakland CO. 12. 5. 1. Assault Jealousy Desertion Non-support Alcohol Sex problems Job-jumping Family interference Money Religious difference Infidelity TOO early marriage Too short courtship Gambling Children too soon TOO many children Premarital sex Premarital pregnancy *Stubborness *Immaturity *TOO many outside children *Incompatibility *NO communication *Death of a child *Long work hours *Embarrassed by stupidity *No affection for son *Preferred company Of others *Gone all Of the time *Health - *Sick of each other 1 +No marital goals —- l +Personality maladjustment --- 1. 1 l l w'NH'OHwONI—‘UII—JIDU'II—alwI—a |||%O\Ul\OU1l—‘\INNN\J IDNNOooo-bxouI—IO‘xxO-Dw-Dm I\I\I\I\I\I\I\I\I\IUI\I\I\IN\IImNNwwmxowmI-AI—Iwoom-L‘ I N \II-DNII—INO‘xLomwh-‘w'wI—INIO‘IN .L.\ +Refused to accept --— +Lack of love --- +Psychic problem -__ *Added to card by respondent. +Added to card by clergymen. @Average of Mr. X e 7.8% and Madam X = 10.3% #Listed as mental cruelty on the Oakland form. 195 problems which ranked second, sex problems were third, and too short courtship and jealousy fourth. To the cards they added "no marital goals”, ”personality maladjustment", ”refusal to accept each other unconditionally as persons”, ”lack of love", and ”inability to handle the unconscious". The differing percentages between the two divorcee studies and those of the minister appear to be the product of counseling insights brought to bear on severe marital problem situations by the clergymen. It may be noted that the clergymen avoided com— pletely the designation "incompatibility" which had ranked high on the Oakland County percentages and fairly strong in the answers given by Calhoun County respondents. They did rank "alcohol” high on the list, the sole cause or grounds in the secondary classification which they selected. Summary of Findipgs of Clergymen Interviews It will be seen in Table 53, from the results of answers given by ministers on the cause of divorce cards, that those causes which were classified as primary including money, too early marriage, too short courtship, family interference, jealousy, and premarital pregnancy ranked high by the ministers ——higher than the general ranking by the respondents who had secured a divorce. With the exception of alcohol, the secondary causes of divorce which are usually considered grounds for divorce in the legal terminology ranked lower on the scale of ministerial ratings than on the scale of divorcee ratings. And once again, the difference between causes of divorce and grounds for divorce becomes apparent as the trained insight of the counselor is brought to bear upon the situation. 196 Evidence gathered in the interviews with clergymen indicates that while the average clergyman could expect at least half of his divorce interview clients to come from his own congregation, he could also expect an equally large number to appear before him at the behest of friends or simply because his door was open to all who came seeking help. It is also evident from the interviews that more than half of the clergymen did not have adequate training to deal with these severe marital problems. It is also significant that in this study there is evidence that other professional people recognized this ”blind spot" in his training since referrals from other professional people were insignificant in number. The factors causing him to refer a large percentage of his cases were the lateness in receiving the case, the sever— ity of the personality problem and the refusal of one of the individuals to come to counseling. Third General Area——Other Factors Involved in Divorce Situations Prior To and Subsequent To Divorce Actions. . In the area of premarital preparation, clergymen demon- strate a good deal more competence and a much wider use of material than in the severe marital problem counseling area. In the sample, 88.4% of the ministers interviewed (23) stated that they did not require this type of counseling. Of the 23 responding affirmatively, 20 indicated definite time periods or number of sessions for their premarital counseling. Seven indicated that they required at least one hour of counseling with four of those indicating that in all probability the 197 counseling period would last close to two hours. Eight indi— cated that they required a minimum of two hours of counseling in two separate sessions before marriage, with two of those indicating that the sessions might well be one and one-half hours apiece. Two responded that they required three sessions of one hour apiece. Only one required four sessions but three required five one—hour sessions and one, six one—hour sessions. A large share of the ministers said that they used special books or manuals as a part of their premarital counsel— ing. Eighteen indicated that this was a part of their regular counseling procedure. Eight stated that they did not rely upon such materials, preferring to discuss various aspects of marri— age with the couple very much in keeping with the types of answers they received during the counseling sessions. In discussing premarital counseling with the ministers, it was clearly emphasized that the questions did not refer to the discussion of wedding arrangements. The responses sought ‘were specific in reference to premarital counseling in terms of discussion of readiness to marry, problems which may be encountered in marriage, and other elements of marriage which are of concern from a counseling standpoint. Ministers were asked to give the titles of some of the materials used in their premarital counseling. Their responses indicated a wide range of materials which included the follow— ing titles: Books: Bowman, Henry —— Marriage for Moderns Butterfield, Oliver -— Sexual Harmony in Marriage Hine, James R. -— Grounds for Marrigge 198 Lewin, S. A. and Gilmore, John -- Sex Without Fear Pastor's Guide to Premarital Counseling —— The Methodist Church Stone, Drs. Hannah and Abram -- A Marriage Manual Wood, Leland Foster -- Pastoral Counseling in Family Relationships Manuals and Questionnaires: "Marriage and Counseling Kit" (Interstate Printing Co.) "Marriage Prediction Schedule" (Family Life Institute) "Marriage Role Expectation Inventory" (Family Life Institute) "Personality Inventory” (Family Life Institute) "Report of the Commission on Marriage and the Home of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America" (1948) "Sex Knowledge Inventory” (Family Life Institute) Pamphlets: "It May Be You" "Sex and the Church” "What Makes a Happy Marriage?” "Your Money and Your Marriage" (Money Management Library) Use of the Premarital Interview to Evaluate the Proposed Marriage A number of ministers indicated that they had devised a format for their own interviews but had not developed any printed material or special tools which they could give to the couples seeking to be married. It would appear that the minis- ters in the sample have become increasingly convinced that premarital counseling, especially with the use of such materials as personality inventories, compatibility charts, and sex know— ledge inventories, has an important part to play in helping the couple to understand themselves and to evaluate their readiness for marriage. Most persons coming to a minister to consult him about marriage usually have set the date of the wedding and have worked out a large number Of the details of the proposed wedding. The use of special tools as well as the structured interview for premarital counseling does offer an opportunity for the couple 199 to think seriously about some aspects of marriage which they might have taken for granted. If counseling can be achieved through the use of materials, the clergyman being interviewed felt that some of the assumptions which couples bring into marriage might be dealt with prior to marriage. They hoped to eliminate some of the pressure points in marriage or at least to help anticipate them. Divorced Persons Report of Premarital Interviews by Clergymen While the questioning of ministers demonstrated a high percentage of premarital counseling other than concerning the arrangements for the marriage, questions addressed to the persons who had been divorced revealed quite a different pattern. In Section IV of the interview with persons who had been divorced, the question was asked whether the minister had discussed other matters than the arrangements for the wedding itself. Of the 44 persons interviewed, 35 had been married by a minister with the remaining nine being married by a justice of the peace or a judge. Of this group which had been married by a minister, 21 (62.3%) said that they had not been counseled prior to marri— age, leaving 16 who had. Of the 16, twelve answered that the minister had discussed other details of the marriage than the technical arrangements. The interview consisted only of discus- sion of the plans and arrangements of the ceremony itself for the other 25. Thus 32.5% of those who had been married by a minister were counseled in marriage by him while 67.5%Iwere not. Only two of those counseled could remember any special material being used as part of the counseling process. One reported that 200 a marriage manual had been used; the other could not recall the type of material given in these sessions. Analysis of the responses about the number of sessions indicated that eleven had a single session of about an hour's duration. One answered that the premarital counseling con— sisted of two one-hour sessions. Most of the persons inter- viewed could recall very little in the premarital interview except that at least part of it was taken up with the discus— sion of the arrangements for the wedding. They recalled some marriage counseling consisting of brief discussion of the prospects for the marriage and problems which might arise after the wedding being given. It is evident that if the session lasted only an hour, not very much time could be given to any semblance of premarital preparation. In fairness to the clergymen, it should be stated that Michigan law makes him an Officer of the state in the per— formance of marriages. In many instances, the persons coming to him will be unknown to him as members of the congregation or worshippers in his church. He will be confronted by these strangers who have made all of the arrangements outside of the church for the wedding, with the attendant festivities. They will come to him to complete the arrangements including reserving the church, establishing the time, and other details of the wedding. They will be seeking to learn what is expected of them in order to have a church wedding. Unless he is willing to run the risk of alienating the couple or losing them com— pletely by insisting upon a longer series of interviews and counseling, he will probably complete the arrangements, trying 201 to get in as much premarital counseling as the brief time permits. Many ministers have learned that to insist upon a longer period of counseling means that the couple will go elsewhere to find someone who will marry them without this requirement. There is also some division of opinion among ministers, discovered in various church meetings, whether it is worth the risk of losing a couple to insist upon a long series of premar— ital interviews. There are ministers who feel that a contact is being established through the wedding for relationships within the church setting after marriage. These opinions were reflected informally in the conversations which were part of the interviews. This rather optimistic approach does not take into account the fact that many couples come to the minister poorly prepared to embark upon the career of marriage, impatient to get the formalities out of the way so that they may do so. Although 79.5% of the couples in the sample were married by a minister, only 18.1% attended church with any degree of regularity after they were married and another 18% attended occasionally. Answers to questionnaires have shown that, of the 37 couples married by a minister, 15 of them went to a minister when marital difficulties became serious. Four who consulted a minister were married by a justice of the peace. Taking into consideration the low percentage of regular church attendance after marriage by the couples as well, this optimism that the marriage ceremony can aid in establishing a church relationship seems scarcely warranted. 202 Of the sample only one person reported that she had gone for counseling to the minister who had married her when the marriage was in trouble. A part of this difference between the person who performed the wedding and the minister to whom one or both of the couple turned when marital difficulties arose may be attributed to the fact that the minister who per- formed the ceremony may have been transferred to another church in the intervening period. It would appear from the sample that there was an attempt by most clergymen to establish some kind of a counseling relationship, however brief, with the couple. On the part of the divorced person, it appears that the majority of them did not receive sufficient premarital counsel— ing to cause them to establish any kind of a relationship with the minister who married them or with any minister or church after the marriage. It has been said that many children are taken to church school and church until they reach the conclusion of their high school education. This factor would affect the baptism, membership, and attendance figures in the answers given by the respondents. It appears that it is a factor which shows up negatively in answers involving attendance at church by the individual alone or with the spouse after the marriage. The very low figure here (18.1% attendance regularly) indicates a breaking away from the church and its relationships sometime after the individual was capable of making his own decisions. The level of premarital involvement and preparation for marriage of the divorced persons has been shown to be low; the involvement 203 of the individual after marriage with the church was also low as was the degree of involvement with counseling agencies when the marriage became endangered. Indications of Participation in Preparation for Marriage Courses in Public Schools by Divorced Persons. In the section devoted to the review of divorce litera— ture and premarital instruction in the public schools, a number of references were cited showing that school systems in New York, Illinois, and Ohio have made use of special courses titled "Home and Family Living" or ”Preparation for Marriage" given sometime during the senior year in high school. The question- naire sought to learn from divorced persons the level of preparation for marriage education represented in the sample. It is interesting to note that this level as reported by the respondents was about the same as the level of regular church attendance. Seven of the respondents indicated that they had taken a course in Home and Family Living prior to marriage for a percentage of 18.9. One individual reported that he had taken a course in college on preparation for marriage, bringing the overall total for those who had taken such courses to 21.6%. Only two of those questioned reported that their spouse had taken a Home and Family Living course, for 5.4%. Table 54 deals with the types of preparation for marriage courses offered in Calhoun County high schools. From the table, it may be seen that there are several schools which offer nothing. Other schools offer the courses with limited avail- ability, accounting in part for the low number of persons who have taken the courses according to responses in the present sample. 204 Table 54.--Marriage Preparation classes given in Calhoun County. Voluntary Grade High School Course Offered or Required Offered Albion Yes/girls Voluntary 12 Battle Creek Central No -- -- Harper.Creek Yes/all Required 10 Marshall Yes/girls Voluntary 12 Pennfield Yes/girls Voluntary 12 Springfield Yes/both Voluntary 12 Lakeview No -— —- Of the schools offering these courses which are titled "Home and Family Living”, it may be seen that the offering is limited to girls with the exception of Harper Creek and Spring— field. Albion High School formerly had a course for senior boys but has discontinued it in the last several years. Penn- field makes provisions for boys only by giving two lectures at the tenth grade level in the physical education classes informing them about the problems and dangers of venereal disease. The Home and Family Living course offered at Springfield follows the form of many of the courses of this kind offered in public schools. Since it is open to boys and girls alike, the subjects dealt with are general and seek to give guidance in the areas of personal grooming, religious concerns, and discussion of the choosing of a marriage partner. Since the course is voluntary and offered at the senior level in high school, it does not cover any significant number of seniors r-—,;r<:--_"—r -_—. . *v—z— 205 in the graduating class. The writer has spoken to this class which generally numbers in the neighborhood of 30 to 35, approximately 20% of the graduating class. The course offered in the Pennfield High School, limited to girls, is given at the 12th grade level. It is entitled "A Home and Family Living Course" and follows the pattern of the Springfield course as outlined above. The areas listed for discussion are some sex education, discussion of racial differences, premarital advice, description of religious differ- ences (given by visiting clergymen), courtship values, and relations with in—laws. It is conducted under the direction of the Home Economics Department on an elective basis as a part of the senior curriculum. The course offered at Marshall High School for girls only is also comparable in curriculum, the provision for election Of the course, and the grade level at which it is given. The Albion High School course is conducted in the Home Economics Department, limited not just to girls but to those in the Future Homemakers Club at the 12th grade level as an elective. The most progressive course in Calhoun County is offered at present in the Harper Creek High School. This program, begun three years ago under the title of "Social Health Series", is required for all tenth graders and meets once a week. Among the subjects covered are smoking, drinking, early marriage, narcotics, a health department film on venereal disease, and attention to family living and family relations. The course is offered in cooperation with the County Health Department 206 nurse, the educational consultant for the high school, and some outside speakers including clergymen are used. There is also some work being done with a limited number of students in the homemaking classes. Officials of the Harper Creek system say that plans are being made to expand the course for the 1966-67 school year making use of the resources of a number of added school departments including biology, health and physical education, social studies, and homemaking. No courses at present are being offered in the Lakeview school system nor are any in the Battle Creek public school system with the exception of a course entitled ”Consumer Economics" which is designed to help youth prepare for wise use of income in the home. The Battle Creek public school system had a course in Home and Family Living which was quite extensive during the administration of Superintendent Rogers but since his departure this subject has not been taught. More will be said about this situation in the concluding chapter. On the basis of information gathered from the seven school systems in Calhoun County, it is observed that three high schools offer Home and Family Living courses for girls only on an elective basis. The fourth one offers it on an elective basis for girls but concentrates it in the Future Homemakers Club. The two largest high schools in the area do not offer any courses in the field. One school offers a course which is required of all tenth graders. Therefore, the fact that so few in the sample had taken Home and Family Living courses follows from the degree of offering from Calhoun County school systems. 207 Examination of the questionnaires also shows that only two of the marriage partners of respondents were reported to have taken a home and family living course. Of the 88 parties to the divorce, only ten or 11.4% had received any kind of preparation in the public school system in a formal class experience. Since the Harper Creek program did not begin until the fall of 1963, reflection of that course would not be seen in the divorce statistics since the first graduates to have com— pleted such studies would not have left the high school until 1966 unless they had dropped out and had been married secretly by order of the Probate Court. It would be a valid assumption that all of the home and family living courses, with their minimal emphasis on prepara- tion for marriage in the critical areas of human relationships, reach no more than 15% to 20% of the high school graduates in Calhoun County in a given year. Protestant church membership in the county has been shown to be 18.3%. Based on the assump— tion that one-third of the Protestant members are active, according to most estimates on the part of churchmen, 6.1% of the youth of the church are being reached by preparation for marriage courses and 15% to 20% in the school systems. It would appear that not more than 25% to 30% receive formal presentations preparing them for marriage in the county at the present time. From the evidence gathered in the study, this factor may weigh heavily among the reasons for the high divorce rate in Calhoun County. It can be anticipated that if an attempt is 208 made to broaden and deepen the scope of marriage preparation courses in the school systems, the argument will be urged that no proof exists as to whether such a course has alleviated the divorce rate where it has been given or that it will do so. Duvall (1965) refuted this argument when she pointed out that the same type of opposition had been used against driver training courses. She noted that though driver training is not expected to prevent highway accidents in every instance, insurance figures have illustrated the improvement in function— ing of the drivers (1965, p. 176). Improving of the functioning of the marriage partners can be possible with the teaching of better planned preparation for marriage courses by more competent personnel. Follow-up studies have demonstrated that those who took preparation for marriage courses appreciated greatly the instruction and information they had been given (Duvall, 1965, pp. 180-82). Frequently they evaluated this course most useful of all they had taken in high school. A small, vocal, and narrow-minded minority of persons should not be allowed to prohibit the teaching of very much needed and essential train- ing to assist them in functioning as responsible persons within marriage. Views of Clergymen on Preparation for Marriage Courses in Schools and Church Youth Groups. The only question which received unanimous consent was the one asked clergymen about their views concerning teaching a home and family living course or some other type of prepara- tion for marriage course in the high schools. Every minister 209 questioned in the study favored such a course but they divided evenly on the question of offering it on a compulsory basis in junior or senior high grades. Answers given to the question about the year at which it should be given in school varied widely. The largest number, seven, stated that they thought the course should be given at the junior or 11th grade level. Four favored the tenth grade level and three each favored the ninth and 12th grade levels. Only one thought that it should be given during the eighth grade. There were several men who believed that the course should be of a longer duration than one year. Here, two preferred to give the course at the seventh and eighth grade level over a two-year period; three favored a two—year course during grades nine and ten. One clergyman thought that the course should last over a six—year period. Two favored a three-year duration. It would seem that since the clergymen were unanimous in their endorsement of a home and family living or prepara- tion for marriage course in the public school systems, they would also seek to do much the same type of educational work in their youth groups in their own churches. Such was not the case since only 69.3% of the clergymen stated that they offered special preparation for marriage courses—-18 of 26 clergymen. Six of those responding affirmatively had three sessions, two had four-session courses, and four had a five-session course with three offering the course for six sessions. One each had a one—session and a seven-session course respectively. 210 Examination of the content of these courses indicated an attempt to cover the important aspects of marriage and preparation for marriage. Subjects included such topics as premarital sex, readiness for marriage, mixed marriages, the meaning of marriage, dating and marriage, financial management, problems leading to divorce, how to know when it's love, inter- faith marriages, dangers of going steady, premarital experi- mentation, and what constitutes a Christian home. Answers to the questionnaire indicated that a number of outside resources were drawn upon to strengthen the courses including filmstrips, movies, the books by Dr. Evelyn Duvall, the questionnaire "101 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Marry". Lawyers, doctors, and other persons who could contri- bute to the understanding of the young people concerning problems of marriage and the principles of selection were brought in to speak. Very popular among the local resource persons has been JUdge Mary Coleman, Judge of Probate Court in Calhoun County. She has spoken to many of the youth groups about the estab— lishing of an ideal home and the principles for bringing up children. Judge Coleman has been interested in this study in addition to seeking to foster a study of the secret marriages ordered by the Probate Court to learn of their duration and prospects. Members of the Friend of the Court office have spoken to a number of youth groups about some of the results of divorce. Social workers have been used, according to the answers in the questionnaire, to discuss some of the social 211 problems which are brought into marriage arising from strife— torn homes and those where marriages have terminated in divorce. In this area, as in the area of preparing the couples for marriage, the minister appears to have sought to do his task in the best manner possible. According to the reports in the questionnaires, the clergymen who have offered this course for their young people have made use of a number of the newly developed resources to give as much preparation for marriage as possible in their youth programs. Those who reported that they did not give a formal course (eight or 30.7%) frequently stated that, while they did not offer courses for their youth group, they sought to cover the principles of sound marriage and other aspects in church school discussions. On the basis of the answers given in the survey, it is apparent that neither the public school programs in prepara- tion for marriage as presently constituted nor the offerings in church youth groups reach a significant number of young people to assist them for marriage. Since approximately 97% of American youth will get married (Jacobson, 1956), this must be contrasted with approximately 25% to 30% of the youth being reached by premarital educational programs. The number of Roman Catholic youth reached with their church training would not significantly alter the percentage nor the conclusions to be drawn. 212 Summary of Finding§ and Other Observations Reference was made at the beginning of the chapter to the refusal rate of 30% for this study in contrast with 19% for Goode. One of the factors which caused the refusal rate in this study to be higher than that of Goode, it would appear, was the almost complete refusal of Negroes to cooperate in the study. As a result, a Negro interviewer was enlisted to assist with the belief that he would be accorded a better reception on the part of most Negroes who had secured divorces. That he was able to secure only one interview of the seven assigned to him did not bear out the expectations that he would be able to be more successful than a non-Negro interviewer. In con- trast, the highest percentage of success with Negroes was found in the interviews conducted by white persons. For reasons which could not be ascertained at this time, the defensiveness and refusal to cooperate by Negroes with a fellow Negro created a problem in securing the necessary information to give balance to the study. In the four instances where Roman Catholics were encoun- tered and interviewed to the point of discussion of the reli- gious background of the marriage, these Catholic respondents expressed willingness to take part in the study. It was pointed out in the preliminary discussion that Roman Catholic cases could not be studied at this time because the means of gathering all of the essential information concerning divorce counseling were not open to Protestant interviewers as the study was undertaken. However, the Roman Catholics encountered showed willingness to be interviewed with one exception and 213 this woman, when she learned that the study had the endorse— ment of Judge Mary Coleman, then became willing to give infor— mation had it been desired. In four cases, refusal to answer questions was encoun- tered because no minister had been involved in the divorce counseling or post-divorce period. It was not possible to persuade these individuals to answer questions about the premarital counseling or other details or to give a profile of the marriage (Section I) because they considered the matter closed. In one instance the use of the endorsement letter from Judge Mary Coleman acted in an adverse manner when the respondent refused to discuss the divorce situation because of a personality clash with her. The balance of the refusals could be classified in two categories, the first being those who would not answer because of the presence of the second spouse and secondly, those who were not interested in answering questions of this nature. In contrast, a number who were on the point of refusing changed their mind and answered in the hope that their answers might be helpful at some time in the future for someone else under— going the same experience. ‘The high mobility of persons who had secured a divorce has been demonstrated in the opening part of this chapter. Finding the divorced person was a problem not unique to the persons assisting in this study. Friend of the Court personnel have been forced to use every method available in trying to trace one or both members granted a divorce decree. Mobility and unknown addresses are increased by the necessity to vacate 214 the house in order that it be sold as a part of the division of property. The inability to pay the rent or payments, the inability to maintain the same standard of living that had been enjoyed during the marriage, the desire to leave the scene of painful memories and associations, the hope that new places and new faces would produce happier experiences, the need to go where work may be available, and a host of other reasons produce this high degree of mobility among persons whose marriages have been terminated by divorce. Although the sample showed that the majority of those interviewed had been married in Michigan and Calhoun County (61%), a much higher degree of mobility has been shown to be true after they have secured a divorce in Calhoun County. A review of the instruments at this point in the study indicates that the design has been satisfactory in most respects. Section I of the divorcee questionnaire assisted in establishing a profile of the divorce family although some mention might have been made here of the religious background of the couple prior to marriage rather than having it listed in Sections III and IV by indirection. It would seem that if the individual were willing to answer questions concerning a divorce action, he would not refuse to reply to specific questions concerning his religious preference. Yet local hospital personnel when asking religious preference questions upon admission of the patient were resisted with hostility on many occasions. This resentment caused the direct approach to be avoided in the present study. 215 Section II might have been more effective had there been several questions about the presence of psychological or psychiatric counseling. Once again, it was the assumption that because this is a sensitive area, the information should be allowed to come out spontaneously at the point where the question was asked about going to other agencies for counsel- ing. While the second section did give a good picture of the feelings of the individual in regard to ministerial counseling, where it did exist, the weakest point was in the attempt to learn whether the individual had refused to be counseled by a minister or another agency. The third section aided in gaining the necessary informa- tion about the post-divorce period where ministerial counseling existed. Since there was so little of it, responses in this section were very infrequent. Any of the questions in Section IV on the premarital period were quite easy to answer by the individual and the response here was helpful. The wisdom of having the respondent fill in blank lines with other reasons than listed on the card for the causes of divorce is open to question. Most of the reasons written in could have been assigned to the major categories listed without a great deal of difficulty. Answers did not, on the whole, indicate any great degree of insight gained during the divorce experience. The second problem involved with the cards was that some individuals did not take seriously the interviewer's request that the first three main causes be checked off. Apparently seeing this as an opportunity to justify the failure of the marriage, some individuals sought to check 216 off from six to nine causes ranked in order of importance in their minds. Most respondents were reassured by the fact that the blanks were numbered with no provision made to put a name on them. They did not object to the numbers when they saw them on the cards or the blanks. On some occasions, it was helpful to be able to check back through the list of names and numbers to identify the individual interviewed on the blank because of the need of some clarification from the interviewer. Had the names been put on the blanks, it is conceivable that in some instances a respondent would have refused to participate. The instrument used with the clergymen gained the infor— mation desired in a manner which allowed comparison at a number of points with the answers given by the divorced respondent. At one point it might have been well to have given the ministers more latitude in answering the question about why the minister felt that he had not been successful in his attempts to prevent a divorce through his counseling. The reasons at this point were quite tightly structured. It might have been profitable to have allowed more individual expression although such an idea is tempered by the fact that, where they were given latitude on the reasons for divorce card (the same one used by the divorced respondents), the filling in of the blank lines did not contribute materially to this area of inquiry. As with the divorced respondents, the answers tended to be quite individual with the possibility of combining them under the general headings being about the same as those of the divorced respondents. The instruments 217 on the whole performed the tasks for which they were designed when used by the interviewers in the structured interview technique. CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary The increase of the incidence of divorce in the years following World War II which did not diminish during the decade of the fifties has been a cause of concern to many professional groups including clergymen. Although marriages have increased in number as the population level has increased, the number of divorces has also kept pace. The ratio of marriages to divorces has decreased, reaching a ratio of four marriages to every divorce by 1959. In Calhoun County, Michigan the ratio is even closer, varying from 2.6:1 to 3:1 in the 1960—64 period. Ministers have found themselves involved with the problem proportion- ately as the number of divorces has grown. They have found themselves burdened with a heavier counseling load and have seen the effects of broken homes in the lives of the adults and children in their congregations as well as in the community at large. As the minister has been concerned with the increase in divorce, he has found that he, like other persons in related professions, cannot find adequate answers to the reasons for the greater number of divorces. Nor does he know enough about the relationship to him of the person with a severe marital 218 219 problem leading to divorce. The minister has been aware that he has needed a greater understanding of the attitudes held by those with whom he counsels on divorce matters. Interviews were conducted with a sample of persons divorced in Calhoun County in the 1963—64 period to ascertain their attitudes toward counseling by a minister. A 17% random sample was drawn from the list of divorces granted by the Circuit Court. Approximately 10% of the sample were located to interview. Because of the problems present in Protestant- Catholic relationships, particularly with the Catholic clergy, members of that faith were not interviewed. Results of the interviews were reported by descriptive statistics as well as by using the evaluative material gained in the interviews. To learn of the clergyman's attitudes toward divorce counseling problems, a cross section of ministers who held pastorates in Calhoun County in the same 1963—64 period was selected. These ministers were full time pastors of churches located principally in downtown and suburban_parishes with some ministers chosen from small town churches whose con— gregations also served rural members. These men were inter- viewed by means of a structured interview in which they were asked to recall the cases they had counseled, the number that had resulted in divorce, and the reasons they assigned for the failure of counseling to prevent dissolution of the marriage. 220 Findings Analysis of the results of the questionnaires given to the divorced persons and ministers yielded the following important results: 1. In the relatively short period of time since the divorces of the 1963—64 period, it was found that 44.9% of the persons could not be located, indicating a high mobility among divorced persons. Addresses were found for an additional 16.6%.who had also moved during this period. 2. Divorced persons in 63.6% of the sample indicated an engagement period of less than one year, with 45.4% indicating that the engagement was of one—half year or less in duration. In approximately 25% of the cases, the bride was pregnant at the time of marriage. 3. Although 57% of the respondents indicated they came from a home where church activity had been present, 77.2% had attended church regularly (two or more times a month), and 18.l%'had attended occasionally, only 18.1% attended as a couple after marriage with a like percentage attending occasionally. 4. It was found that 79.5% of the respondents had been married by a clergyman. When severe marital problems arose, 43.2% went to a minister for counseling. Of the partners, only 29.5% went. Approximately one-half of those counseled did not receive more than two sessions. Two were in counseling for a year (4.4%). 5. Evaluative answers showed that those who went to a minister did so with a low expectation of success. There was evidence 221 that many went to talk to a minister as a last resort or because they believed it to be the thing to do. 6. Ministers reported that 32% of the reasons for failure to prevent divorce resulted from his involvement too late in the process. The second reason for failure was the refusal of one party to counsel in 29% of the instances. They believed that they had healed the marital breach in 33.5% of their cases. 7. Of the ministers interviewed, it was found that 26.9% had received special training in severe marital problem counseling with four (15.3%) of these having had clinical training in addition. They reported that 47% of their cases came from their own parish. 8. Of the divorces, 32.5% indicated that they had received premarital counseling by the minister at the time of marriage. They reported that the premarital interview lasted about an hour.3 Premarital training or counseling by the minister was not received by 67.5%. Divorcees also reported that 21.6% of them had received preparation for marriage edu- cation of a limited nature in the public schools. Although the study did not seek directly to ascertain the influence of a number of demographic, sociological, and economic factors upon the marriage of the divorced individuals, examination of the profile of data on the 3. Dr. James Peterson, Department of Sociology, Univer— sity of California at Los Angeles noted in a personal communication that the average premarital interview in the Los Angeles area was found to be 45 minutes in duration. 222 divorced persons as revealed in the questionnaires indicates that these variables were operating. Conclusions: Methodology The high refusal rate encountered in this study demon- strates that a more satisfactory method of gaining the desired information must be devised. When the mobility factor is added to the refusal rate, it then becomes apparent that the best source of information in a study of this kind will be the Circuit Court where the divorce takes place. The Oakland County Friend of the Court study over a three-year period also has a number of limitations. This study, while it gains the information from individuals who are directed by the court to supply it, does not reach a number Of people who, for a number of reasons, are not subject to the supervision of the Friend of the Court. It would appear that the place for the questionnaire to be used would be in the Circuit Court prior to the granting of the divorce rather than in the office of the Friend of the Court. The questionnaire would need some modification to give the individual filling it out a more simple form than that which was used in the structured interview. Preliminary conversations with the two Circuit Court Judges, Coleman and Ryan, has evoked some interest in this type of procedure in the Calhoun County Circuit Court for a follow-up study. The interview technique used with the ministers might be improved by asking a selected group of ministers to keep a record of their counseling for a year's time on a form 223 supplied to them with provisions made for check-offs of certain information. To ask that each minister write up each case counseled by him would be an imposition on his limited time and energy although he might make a tape which could be tran- scribed at a central Office. This might provide some exceed- ingly valuable information if the needed funds could be secured to pay the costs involved. Conclusions This study has demonstrated the fact that the individual who has been divorced in Calhoun County does not have the benefit, in the majority of instances, of the kind of severe marital problem counseling which might aid him. If the involvement of the clergymen in divorce situations is at a low level, the involvement of the Family and Children's Service agency isequally as low. The traditional position of the clergyman as a moralist, in addition to the complications of- time and limited training, cause him to be consulted less by those experiencing severe marital difficulties than would be expected. The limitations of time and the increasingly crowded schedule make the availability of the Family and Children's Service agency quite limited as a referral agency for him. The teachings of the church concerning divorce where it opposes it, the desire on the part of the minister to prevent divorce, and the interest on the part of the individual to take remedial measures to heal the marriage all appear to be decreasing in effectiveness each year. In all too many 224 instances an unwilling or disinterested person finds himself in the presence of a harried, inadequately trained but well- meaning clergyman for a brief attempt which both know will be an unsuccessful try at healing a marital rift which has rendered the marriage all but dead. Mindful of this situation, the minister will seek within his youth group to inculcate the principles of sound marriage. To the couple coming to him for marriage, though he is acting as an officer of the state rather than as their minister, he will try to give some semblance of premarital guidance knowing that in the majority of the instances the decisions of importance have all been made. Should his efforts at heading off a divorce be un— successful, the minister will know that only in rare in— stances will he see the divorced person for counseling after the marriage has been dissolved. Someone has once described a committee as "a group of the incompetent appointed by the unwilling to do the impossible.” Ministerial counseling in divorce situations in Calhoun County, premarital education in the school systems, and post—divorce follow—up all come perilously close to this definition in the light of the results of this study. Implications for the Divorced Person The results of the study have shown that the average minister believes that in many instances the involvement of himself as a counselor has come too late to be of value. The implications for the person who finds himself in severe 225 marital difficulties is that counseling agencies be sought as soon as the dimension and seriousness of the difficulty is comprehended. To wait, to delay, or to seek to gain some temporary advantage in the struggle before going to a counselor is to doom the marriage to failure. It has been a motto of church groups for quite a number of years that ”families who pray together stay to— gether." While religious activity is no ironclad guarantee or insurance against a divorce occurring, it is significant that only 18% of those who were divorced had attended church with any degree of regularity. On the basis of the findings of this study, church attendance and religious activity can be a factor helping to preserve the marriage. From the evaluations of the minister's counseling given by the persons who have secured a divorce, it is evident that most persons with severe marital difficulties went to the minister with a sense of resignation rather than a determination to use whatever resources the minister might provide to assist in saving the marriage. Too many of those who talked to a minister, if only briefly, did so, on the basis of their own statements, because they thought that it was the thing to do. Nor were they willing to devote the time necessary to healing marital breaches. One or two sessions or even three are not sufficient, yet the vast majority of those who went to a minister for counseling did not receive even this amount of counseling. On the basis of the evidence produced by the study, longer courtship, better acquaintanceship with the individual 226 with whom marriage is contemplated, and a marriage not con— tracted with pregnancy present will give the marriage a much better chance of survival. Too early marriage is also a factor in divorce which has been demonstrated by this and other studies. Implications for Clergymen Clergymen facing a heavy load of severe marital problem counseling must make one of two decisions. If he is to continue seeking to help people involved in severe marital strife, it is essential that he equip himself with the degree of training which will render him effective. He cannot rely solely upon a course in pastoral counseling and the reading of a few articles in order to do competent work in this type of counseling. To become involved in severe marital problem counseling with any hope of success, the minister must be provided opportunities by his congregation for advanced training. He, himself, must be willing to take advanced couses in counseling as well as clinical training periods at such schools as the Merrill—Palmer Institute in Detroit or at graduate schools in the state or elsewhere which will give him the necessary training. If the minister does not desire to become this deeply involved in severe marital problem counseling, he should then refer such cases to persons adequately trained for this type of work. For him to try to deal with such a serious type of counseling with inadequate training will do him 227 no good nor will it benefit the work of the ministry and its reputation in the community. Implications for Seminaries and Churches The most important implication for seminaries revealed in the results of the study is that seminary training should place greater emphasis in counseling upon equipping the minister for severe marital problem situations. The general course in pastoral counseling may give some ground- work for this kind of training but more specialized training is very clearly called for by the results of the study. An additional impetus for more intensive training in this area is the increase of divorces in the United States caused by greater mobility of individuals, a loosening of the moral standards and a wider acceptance of divorce as a part of American life. If the church is to meet the responsibility of pre- serving the institution of marriage, it will have to work through its voluntary associations such as councils of churches and urban church organizations to provide counseling centers in communities. Here persons with severe marital problems can go or be referred by ministers to get the highly specialized assistance which is necessary. The reports of several attempts to do this in New Jersey and elsewhere indicate that the need is great and the prospects of success good. Response to such centers is great enough to indicate that the effort to establish such centers will be met with acceptance on the part of both 228 ministers and communicants. The still prevalent feeling on the part of many that divorce or severe marital strife is an acknowledgment of failure 1J1 marriage must be dealt with by the church. If such a feeling by the individual produces reluctance to go to his oWn minister and admit failure, the church has a responsibility to provide a counseling resource outside of the individual's congregation where help may be gained within the context of Christian belief and philo— sophy. If the church is concerned with the wellébeing of the family and the desire to preserve the family as an institution, as it claims, it must then implement this belief with actions which will serve the purpose of aiding and healing marital strife. The church cannot continue to proclaim its concern over the decline of family life, the growth of divorce, and the attendant tragic results for those involved without following such pronouncements with concrete action. Where churches have sought to do this, the evidence is that a far greater degree of success is possible than has been seen in communities where nothing has been done. Implications for Public Schools and the Community Sociologists, social workers, and teachers are ex— pressing a growing concern over the results of severe marital strife and divorce as seen in increasing juvenile delin- quency, serious crimes, and antisocial behavior on the part of adults who are involved in severe marital strife and divorce. The increased cost of divorce may be seen in the 229 constantly rising number of dollars needed for programs such as Aid to Dependent Children, direct relief, and remedial services for disturbed children. To continue to allow these costly elements in modern society to go unchecked is to invite higher delinquency, greater fragmentation of families, and wider antisocial consequences. It has been demonstrated by this study and others that the church reaches an increasingly small segment of the population with its teachings about marriage, the family, and divorce. Although many ministers are seeking constantly to improve the instruction for youth to prepare them for marriage, the fact remains that these efforts reach only a small fraction of the populace; the voluntary courses offered in the schools, when they are given, reach only a small proportion of the students and then only in a superficial manner. They should serve as a rebuke to the society which allows these conditions to continue. In Calhoun County, the study has demonstrated that only a fraction of the youth in its seven high schools are re- ceiving any semblance of premarital instruction to assist them in making wise choices for marriage, to give them sound principles for establishing a home, and for obtaining a serious understanding of the nature of marriage. With the age of marriage decreasing to a point where teen age mar— riages are growing in number each year, the need for sound, adequate, and competent instruction is evident. 230 Implied also in the results of this study is the need for these courses to be carefully designed, well taught, and required for all students at an early level in high school. At the time of the meeting of the group which sought to explore the causes of increasing divorce in Calhoun County, the attitude of the school men who attended in Battle Creek was not indicative of either a high degree of concern or a willingness to undertake the kind of instruction that was needed. The lame excuse that there might be some parental objection to the administration of this type of a course in the school system indicated a far too great fear on the part of the administration of any adverse comments about such an undertaking. Lost in this fear was the under— standing of the need, the desperate need, for educational 'steps to be taken to help those who would be marrying within a year or two to understand the nature of marriage, the problems of interpersonal relationships in marriage, and the expectations which should be dealt with in the premarital period. Of questionable validity also is the claim that such courses are difficult to design or that personnel competent to teach them is hard to find. Educators in other states, as well as in Michigan, have shown that a strong program of preparation for marriage training will, in the long run, gain the acceptance of parents, teachers, and members of the community if a sincere attempt is made to meet the problems head-on which are confronting young people preparing for marriage. Neither the smug, self-satisfied claims that the 231 school system has no indebtedness and that the millage requests each year cannot be jeopardized by the possibility of some criticism of attempts to meet the problem with adequate courses nor the pride in fine buildings and first-class equipment obtained at considerable sacrifice on the part of the school electorate will suffice to hide the fact that the school systems are not meeting one Of the great public and social needs of the present day. The education of young people to prepare them for marriage is not the only program which the study reveals as being needed; the need for education of the public,and in particular the parents of the youth in school, is demon— strated by the fact that the divorce rate in Calhoun County has consistently been at the top of all of the Michigan counties or close to it for the past five years. Both national and state crime, delinquency, and ADC figures show conclusively that the problems of broken homes, marital strife, and divorce demand the most dedicated, courageous, and competent attention of those in charge of the educational system as well as those residing in the community. To fail to meet this pressing need is to continue to undermine the social fabric of the county, state, and nation. Recommendations for Continued Study Mention has been made of the fact that interest has been expressed by the judges of the Circuit Court of Calhoun County in a study which would be carried on as a part of 232 the divorce decree procedure to gain information about the individuals for whom the divorce is to be granted. A much more comprehensive view of the whole problem of divorce, severe marital counseling, and the experience of those who are involved in the divorce can be obtained if the study is done in this manner. Many of the obstacles encountered in undertaking the study with the random sample interview method could be overcome by this method of study. A second study also mentioned earlier, the study of the results of the secret marriages ordered by the Probate Court where premarital pregnancy existed would shed light on the validity of such a marriage procedure. In order to insure success at this point, it would be necessary for the Judges of the Probate Court to give full support to those undertaking the study. From a continued study of the profile of the divorces granted, the part played by counseling and the attitudes of the individuals involved in the divorces, may come not only better understanding of the interpersonal dynamics involved in divorce but also some knowledge as to what preventive steps may be taken either in the period of premarital preparation or during the time of severe marital strife. Divorce may often be prevented by adequate preparation for marriage. In marital strife, the cause frequently is the fact that human beings are just that——human beings. This breach in the marriage must be healed in order that the family may continue to fulfill its function in society. 233 The causes of divorce are complex. The interpersonal factors involved, the social forces present, and the changing cultural patterns all make a simple solution a mere chimera for those involved. Yet the growing rate of divorce and the social and personal consequences which follow demand that steps be taken to alleviate the situation as far as possible. REFERENCES 234 REFERENCES Axelson, L. J. The marital adjustment and marital role, de— finitions of husbands of working and non-working wives. Marriage and Family Living, Vol. 25, No. 2, May 1963. p. 189. Bartlett, G. A. Men, women and conflict. New York: Putnam & Sons. 1931. Benda, C. E. Divorce from a psychiatrist's point of View, Pastoral Psychology, Vol. 9, No. 86, Oct. 1958. pp. 25- 38. Bergler, E., M. D. Divorce won't help. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948. Blake, N. M. The road pg Reno, g_history pf divorce ;p_the United States. New York: Macmillan Co., 1962. Bonnell, J. S. Counseling with divorced persons. 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APPENDIX A MICHIGAN DIVORCE STATUTES EXCERPTED FROM MICHIGAN ANNOTATED STATUTES 24:1. ' I Summary pf_Michigan Divorce Statutes Rice, 1957 Section 25.86 — Divorce from Bonds of Matrimony; Jurisdiction to grant, grounds. Section 6 - A divorce from the bonds of matrimony may be de— creed by the circuit court of the county where the parties or one (1) of them, reside, or by the court of the chancery, the application of petition or bill of the aggrieved party, in either of the following cases: 1. Whenever adultery has been committed by any husband or wife; 2. When one (1) of the parties was physically incompet- ent at the time of marriage; 3. When one (1) of the parties has been sentenced to im— prisonment in any prison, jail or house of correction, for three (3) years or more; and no pardon granted to the party so sentenced, after a divorce for that cause, shall restore such party to his or conjugal rights; 4. When either party shall desert the other for the term of two (2) years; 5. When husband of wife shall have become a habitual drunkard; 6. And the circuit court may, in their discretion, upon application, as in other cases, divorce from the bonds of matrimony any party who is a resident of this state, and whose husband or wife shall have obtained a di— vorce in any other state. History: The earliest Michigan Legislation of 1795 provided for di— vorces in cases of impotency, previous subsisting marriage, or adultery. These were absolute disolutions. But in 1820 (l Terr. laws 494) the grounds were reduced to adult— ery alone, and no other cause was mentioned. The procedure was outlined in detail and the Supreme Court of the Terri- tory was designated as the tribunal before which a bill was to be exhibited. Like language followed 1827. (2 Terr. laws 363) Impotency and adultery were the grounds next mentioned in 1832 and 1833. (3 Terr. laws 931, 1005) The 1827 and 1833 acts were repealed in 1833 (3 Terr. laws 1256, 1259 Section 12, 55) later in Public Acts 1836, p. 38, Section 10, which established the court of chancery, that court was empowered to grant divorces and-decree the custody Of minor children, and practices of the courts 0f chancery- 242 243 Section 31 - In order to justify a divorce on the ground of desertion it must be ”utter" and continue for two years, and on a bill for divorce for extreme cruelty for deser- tion for a period of less than two years cannot be a ground of divorce on the claim that such desertion was an act of extreme cruelty. (Vercade v. Vercade, 147 Mich. 398). So long as husband and wife, living apart, are mutually consulting upon a basis for living together again, there is no basis for a suit by the husband for a divorce on the grounds of desertion. (Rudd v. Rudd, 33 Mich. 101). Section 38 - Habitual Drunkenness: Drunkenness as constituting or aggravating cruelty or cruel acts, so as to constitute grounds for divorce or separation, see note to the next following section, infra. Section 39 - What constitutes habitual drunkenness. One who has a drinking habit so firmly fixed that he gets drunk as often as he goes where liquors are sold is a "habitual drunkard” within the meaning of the divorce law which permits divorces for habitual drunkenness. (Magahay v. Magahay, 35 Mich. 210). Section 41 - Antenuptial knowledge. A divorce will not be granted for habitual drunkenness or where it appears that the habits of the defendent were the same at the time of the marriage, and the complainant was aware of the fact. Whether complainant's ignorance of such habits at the time of the marriage would authorize a divorce quaere. (Porritt v. Porritt, l6 Mich. 140). Section 25.87 - Divorce from bed and board; Grounds. Section 7 - A divorce from bed and board forever, or for a limited time, may be decreed for the cause of extreme cruelty, whether practiced by using personal violence, or by any other means; or for utter desertion by either of the parties for the term of two (2) years; and a like di— vorce may be decreed on the complaint of the wife, when the husband, being of sufficient ability to provide a suitable maintenance for her, shall grossly or wantonly and cruelly refuse or neglect to do so. History: The divorce from bed and board — A mensa et thoro - was the only judicial divorce (apart from dissolution of unions void ab initio) known to the ecclesiastical law (which however was not part of American law) prior to legislative enactments providing for absolute severance. This was the ”divorce" of the English ecclesiastical court and its primary effect was to destroy the right of cohabitation; its chief characteristic, that it did not destroy the marriage. 244 Uncertainty, and the danger of being regarded as married for some purposes and unmarried for others, resulted in many sharp criticisms of this method as an instrument for the judicial solution of marriage problems. (2 Kent Comm. 128; 1 Bishop, Marriage and Divorce, section 68). The earliest Michigan enactment of 1795 provided that a divorce from bed and board could be granted where there was extreme cruelty on the part of either of the parties. This provision was elaborated and improved upon in 1820 by the adoption in Michigan of the then existing divorce laws of New York, so far as they were applicable. (1 Terr. Laws 494, section l4)° Section 3 - What constitutes extreme cruelty. The statutes do not confine the definition of extreme cruelty to physical violence, but the grievance, whether mental or physical, must be of the most aggravated nature in order to justify a divorce. (Cooper v. Cooper, 17 Mich. 205). Extreme cruelty as a ground for divorce is an exceedingly elastic term and those acts, or that conduct and language which in some walks of life would pass as the ordinary incidents of the marital relation, might constitute in other social phases the very refinement of cruelty. (Hall v. Hall, 172 Mich. 210). Cruelty is defined in this section in several manners in- cluding Section 4 — Cruelty by personal violence, Section 5, Single instance of violence and Section 6, Other forms of cruelty. Section 7, denoted accusations and reproaches of improper conduct, which also can be considered as other form of cruelty. Other Causes (Since the headings are self-explanatory, the other material is not included here): Section 11 - Threats and duress. Section 12 — Humiliation and indignities. Section 13 Neglect of Society. Section 14 - Quarreling and wrangling. Section 16 — Slovenliness and household difficulties. A divorce should not be granted a woman on the ground of ex- treme cruelty, where the principal cause of complaint was the conduct of her husband of tracking mud and dirt into their house, and casting about ashes from his pipe. (Cunningham v. Cunningham, 187 Mich. 68). 245 Section 17 — Gambling Section 18 - Drunkenness Section 19 - Non-intercourse. A divorce, granted to a husband on the ground of extreme cruelty consisting of the refusal of cohabitation, was af— firmed.on the findings in the record. (Whitaker v. Whitaker 111 Mich. 202). Section 20 Communication of venereal disease. Section 21 Excessive intercourse. Section 22 Compelling wife to procure abortion. Section 23 Insanity. Because of the incapacity to form an intent, an insane person cannot be guilty of conduct constituting a cause for divorce. (Gardner v. Gardner, 239 Mich. 306). A divorce may be granted after a person has become insane for causes before the insanity. (Gardner v. Gardner, 239 Mich. 306). Section 24 Interference by or for relatives. Section 25 Provoked or invited acts. Section 26 Instituting legal proceedings against spouse. Section 27 — Cultural standard of parties as factor. Profane, obscene and insulting language habitually indulged towards a person of a senitive nature and refined feeling, may in some cases result in extreme cruelty. (Briggs v. Briggs, 20 Mich. 34; Bennett v. Bennett, 24 Mich. 482). Section 28 - Miscellaneous: Includes collusion and a number of other causes. Section 25.88 - Divorce from bonds of Matrimony; Addition of grounds in discretion of court, bill of complaint. Section 8 - A divorce from the bonds of Matrimony may be de- creed for either of the causes mentioned in the preceeding section whenever, in the opinion of the court, the circum- . stances of the case shall be SuCh that it will be discreet and proper so to do; but no divorce from the bond of mat— rimony for either of the causes mentioned in the preceeding section shall be entered in any case where the same is not asked for by the complainant in the bill of the complaint 246 filed therein, by the defendant by a cross-bill unless the court hearing the evidence shall deem it for the best in— terests of the parties to grant a divorce from the bonds of matrimony and in that event the court may grant such a divorce. History: The earliest law of 1795 contained no such discretionary pro— vision. But in 1820 the court was authorized to "make such other decree in the premises as the nature and circumstances of the case may require", and the section having previously dealt with divorces from bed and board. However, this clause applied, probably, only to variations in the decree a mensa et thoro, and this because of the limited grounds than obtain— ing for an absolute dissolution. Section 25.89 — Jurisdictional requirements; residence; place of marriage; service of process, proof of service outside state; desertion; cause of divorce occuring state; time of hearing; postponement of hearing in certain cases; conditional taking of testimony for perpetuation; defend- ant domiciled outside state. Section 9 - No decree of divorce shall be granted by this court in any state in any case unless: First, the party applying therefor shall have resided in this state for 1 year immediately preceeding the time of filing the bill or petition therefor; or, Second, The marriage which it is sought to dissolve was solemnized in this state, and the party applying for such divorce shall have resided in this state from the time of such marriage until the time of bringing such suit for divorce. No decree of divorce shall be granted by any court in this state unless the complainant or defendant, or both of them, shall have resided in the county in which the bill or peti— tion for divorce is filed for 10 days immediately preceed— ing the filing of the bill or petition therefor. NO decree of divorce shall be granted in any case except when l of the following facts exist: First, When the defendant is domiciled in this state at the time when the bill or petition for divorce is filed; or Second, When the defendant shall have been domiciled in this state when the cause for divorce alledged in the bill or petition arose; or 247 Third, When the defendant shall have been brought in by publication, or shall have been personally served with the process in this state, or shall have been personally served with the copy of the order for appearance and pub- lication within this state or elsewhere, or has voluntarily appeared in such action or proceeding.... In all cases where a divorce is asked on the gound of de— sertion, such desertion shall have been deemed to have occured and taken place in this state, for the purpose of this act, when the parties, complaintant and defendant, shall have been actually and in good faith domiciled in this state at the time the defendant actually abandoned the compaintant, without the proof of his or her actual intent at the time of the abandon— ment. Whenever the cause or causes for divorce charged in the bill or petition and shall have occurred out of this state, no decree of divorce shall be granted unless the complaintant or defendant, 1 or both of them, shall have resided in this state for 1 year immediately preceding the filing of the bill or petition for such divorce; Provided, however, that absence from this state not to exceed 90 days shall not be construed as to interfere with the fulfillment of the 1 year residence requirement hereinbefore or hereinafter provided in the case of causes for divorce occuring without the state. Other stipulation concerning evidence, children under 18 years of age and the time limits of taking testimony after filing. Section 10 - Legitimacy of child Children conceived during wedlock and during period of time prior to decree of divorce becoming-final, are presumed to be legitimate. (OP. Atty. Gen., April 16, 1951, No. 1221.) Section 25.191 - Alienation of affections, criminal conversa- tions, seduction and breach of contract to marry; abolition of civil causes of action. Section 1 - All civil causes of action for alienation of affections, criminal conversation, and seduction of any person of the age of eighteen (18) years or more, and in all cases of action for breach of contract to marry are hereby abolished. (C. L. '48, 551.301). CALHOUN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT PROCEDURES (1964) Rules for the Circuit Court of the County of Calhoun, State of Michigan. Effective Jan. 1, 1964. Source: Manual Calhoun County Circuit Court 248 Section 4.8 — All payments of child support money temporary or permanent, shall be made payable to, and shall be paid to the Friend of the Court, who is hereby authorized to pay such support money to the person or agency having actual custody of each child. It should be noted that the summary of the material from Calhoun County Court follows the present Michigan Statutes identically. APPENDIX B INSTRUMENTS USED IN THE STUDY 249 25C) ADDRESS CARDS USED IN THE STUDY Divorce Study Case Decree Year Man ' Case # cu- Interviewer Divorce Study Case Interviewer: Clergyman Denomination 251 CAUSE OF DIVORCE CHECK-OFF CARD David S. Evans Code Respondent M or Clergyman Code MARITAL PROBLEMS WHICH CAUSED THE DIVORCE ACTION (Please list in the order of importance to you at the time. 1,2,3,4) assault family interference children too soon jealousy money too many children desertion religious difference pre-marital sex non-support infidelity pre-marital pregnancy alcohol too early marriage sex problems too short courtship job jumping gambling David S. Evans 252 Ed.D. 1964-65 (1)‘* Code Respondent M F Rel. - P C O 'NO CLIENT INTERVIEW FORM (In cases where answer is not known - write "Doesn't know") I. GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Age at time of marriage . Age of spouse 2. Were you previously married? . ‘More than once 3. Was your Spouse previously married . More than once 4. How long did you know your spouse 5. How soon after first date were you engaged 6. How soon after engagement were you married If no formal engagement, how soon after first date married? 7. Married in Michigan . Calhoun County 8. Duration of marriage 9. Married by Minister Priest Rabbi Justice 10. Number Of children 11. Number of children by previous marriage . Spouse 12. Average income at time of divorce 13. Both work 14. Parents divorced? Yes . NO 15. Parents Of spouse divorced? Yes . NO 16. Highest grade in school completed . Spouse . (If college, list degree .) 17. Married secretly (Probate court order) check if indication Of premarital pregnancy. (DO not ask) II. BREAK-UP PERIOD 1. For about how long did the period of break-up last (First serious trouble or separation to divorce). 2. During the period Of break-up, did you go to a minister for counseling? . Spouse . 3. Why did you go to a minister David S. Evans CI P. 2 253 Ed.D. 1964-65 (1)* 4. 5. 10. ll. 12. l3. 14. 15. 16. l7. l8. 19. 20. 21. 22. Was it done at suggestion of lawyer Court Friend Other Was the clergyman of your church . Other Did your spouse go to the same clergyman? . Other . None Did you go to Family and Children's Service _____, Voluntarily _____,Referred ___ Did you refuse counseling? . Spouse If counseled by a clergyman - how long: Respondent . (Time period or number Of sessions) Spouse . (Time period or number of sessions) How do you evaluate or consider the counseling Of the clergyman: Effective Helpful Of no value A hindrance Did his counseling support or agree with your position? Yes . NO Did he tell you what you should do: Yes NO Did he scold or rebuke you because Of your action? Yes NO Did he help you decide for yourself what to do? Yes NO Did your clergyman recommend divorce? Yes No Did he advise against it? Yes No Did he take no position? Yes No Did you feel satisfied that he had done all that he could? Yes No If answer is ”Yes" - why If answer is ”No” - why Did he use any special materials such as "Alternative to Divorce"? Yes NO . Recall name? Were they helpful? If the minister's counseling was not helpful, give the reasons you believe this. t Did the minister attempt any sessions with you and your spouse together? Yes . No David s. Evans CI P. 3 254 Ed.D. 1964-65 (1)4 111. POST DIVORCE PERIOD 1. After the granting of the divorce decree, were you counseled by a minister? Yes . NO 2. Was he the same one as before? Yes . NO 3. For how long a period were you counseled? Time Span ; No. of Sessions 4. Would you characterise this counseling as: Supporting your action Helping you rebuild your life Non-committal Critical of your action 5. If you should be involved again in a situation where marital problems arose and became serious, would you avail yourself of the services of a minister? Yes No . Why 6. Would you advise a friend to do so? Yes . NO . Why (if 5 needs amplification) IV. PRE-MARITAL PERIOD 1. Were you brought up in a church home? Yes NO (1 parent active or 2) 2. As a child did you attend church regularly (2-4 times per month) Yes No Occasionally Not at all 3. Did your spouse attend church regularly (2-4 times per month) Yes NO Occasionally Not at all 4. Were you baptised? Church member 5. Was your spouse baptised . Church member . Same church 6. Before you were married, were you counseled by a minister? Yes No 7. Aside from the wedding arrangements, did the minister talk to you about marriage? Yes NO NO. Of Sessions 8. Were any special materials, manuals, etc. used? Yes No DO you remember the names? 9. Did you take a course in school such as Home and Family Living that dealt with preparation for marriage? Yes NO . Spouse - Yes No 10. Did you take a class in preparation for marriage at: YMCA YWCA College Elsewhere. State 11. Did your spouse take any of above courses? 12. Did you attend church during courtship as a couple? Yes . NO Alone: Yes No ; Spouse - Yes NO 2 5 David S. Evans CI P. 4 5 Ed.D. 1964-65 (1)* 13. Did you attend church after marriage as a couple? Yes Regularly (2-4 times per month) Occasionally 14. After marriage did you attend church alone? Yes No ADDITIONAL COMMENTS NO Not at all Spouse: Yes__NO David S. Evans CLI 256 Code Ed.D. 1964-65 (2)* CLERGYMAN INTERVIEW FORM 1. GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Length of time in present parish . Age 2. Training: College . Seminary . Grad School 3. Did you receive special training for this type of work (severe marital problems and divorce) Yes . No . College . Seminary . Grad School. . Other If other, please explain II. SEVERE MARITAL PROBLEMS AND DIVORCE COUNSELING. 1. What is the average number of severe marital problem cases you counseled? 1963 . 1964 2. How many severe marital problems leading to divorce did you counsel? 1963 . 1964 3. Of these, how many were: members of parish (at least 1 partner) (Cumulative or %) ._____ referred by parishoners (Cumulative or %) ._____ referred by other clergy (Cumulative or %) walk-ins (Cumulative or Z) referred by court other (describe) . 4. Of these, how many did you refer to other agencies? 5. On referrals, rank reasons in frequency: time factor non-member problem too deep for training other 6. In your Counseling Cases, did you use any such materials as ”Alternative to Divorce?" Yes . NO 7. What, in your Opinion, was the reason counseling did not arrest marital break-up: (rank as to the number of cases where the item was the primary reason.) David SH Evans CLI (Z) 257 Ed.D. .1964-65 (2): 7. .III. (continued) too late involvement ______ no real desire to find solution refusal of 1 party to counsel too deep personality problems to be worked through advised divorce because of above Other In the periodl963-645 how many severe marital problem cases do you feel did not result in divorce because you were able to assist? Rank on card the general importance of cause of severe marital divorce cases you counseled 1963-64. PRE-MARITAL INFORMATION 1. Do you require pre-marital counseling with couples you marry? Yes No _. No. of hours _. and/or sessions 2. Do you use Special tools in this counseling? Yes . No Number of sessions_ . 3. Do you give a special preparation for marriage course in your youth group? Yes . No . 4. Please list areas covered: O 5. Are you in favor of such courses as Home and Family Living in the schools directed to preparation for marriage? Yes ’ . No . Compulsory . Voluntary . Grade of year given 258 OAKLAND COUNTY FRIEND OF THE COURT REPORT Dare .................................. Telephone ............................ File No. .............................. Plaintiff . . . .. Address.. . ._ . ., .. Nr. Cr. Sr. ......... .. ............................... . ....................................... Anomey. .. . . ,. ... ... ._ , . H .. Address ................................................................... Defendant _ ,. .. .. . ,. , ,. ..... ...Address ..................... .. ................ Nr. Cr. 5:. .......................................................................................... Attorney ....................................... . ......................................... Address ........... . .............. , ................................................................ Cusrody In Issue ................ .................. Temp. Order; Dare judge ............................................................................................... Amount .. Other ......................................................................................................... . .............. , .......................... . . PERSONAL HISTORY OF WOMAN D MAN E] Age... -...Born.. ..Place..... ........................................ Race ..... . ._ . ...;NIrionalin. ................................. Religion P RC GO Church ................................................. . ......... Minister ................. . ........................... . ........ Attends: Reg. Inf. Dare Married Place ....................................... By: M. Pr. jP. CL 1. Length of Courtship .............................................................................. Put-Marital Pregnancy..... .. Previous Marriages ........................ . To Whom ........................................................................ . Dare .................................... Child ................ ........................................................................ Darem Child................ Marriage Dissolved By: Div. Sep Drh. Annual ........................... Dare ( l ) ................................... Dare (2) ......... . .......................... Health.. ...Disabilirym .. Docror ........................................................ Criminal Convrcuons ........................................................... . ............. Time Served or ”Sr-Irus Service Record: Branch ................................. . .............................. Entered (dare) Dilth Nature of Separation PensIon ................................ Amounr! EMPLOYMENT HISTORY Employer ................................................. Address ................................................................................................. Occupation .............................. . .. Social Security No. .................Bducarion .................................................... , ..................................... Steady .. . ...................................... Seniority .................................................. Seasonal . Working Hrs. ......................... Part-time ....... ...................................... Salary .......................................................... hsrTax Report 3 . [25: two employers . Length of Employment .............. . ........... Employment of Spouse ................................ Salary ........................................ $5 No ................................................. Address ........................................................... Length of Employment ................................................................... EXPENSES BY MONTH ASSETS Rent, Ld. CL, Mtge. R&B .................................................................................................... Food .................................................................................................. Utilities (elec. hear. «1., water) ........................................................................................................................... Medical —- Dental ................................................................................................... Hospitalization a Life Ins. ............................................... Baby Sitter Fees ...................................................................................................................... Clorhing ................................ Education ................................ TOTAL ........................ Transporrarron ................................ LIABILITIES Recrearron ...... . ......................... lncidenraJs .......................................................................................................................... TOTAL ................................ Property Settlement ............................................. _ .............. ........................ over ‘ 259 DEPENDENTS TO THIS ACTION (Children under 18 years) Name Birth Date Grade School Health Residence Boarding Home or Housekeeper .. . . , ..Telepbone ...................................... . RELATIVES OF WOMAN [:l MAN [:3 Father ..................... . ............................... . ...................... . ................... Residence .............. Morher ........................................................................................ Residence .. Brothers . . .. ..Rcsidenc: .............. . . ... . . ........................................ . .. ., Sisters iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Residence ................... on, .................................................. . ....... ...................... . .................. ............... .Residence _ . CHARACTERISTICS OF SPOUSE Extravagant ...................................... Frugal...... ._ , ..Patient ....................................... Ill Tempered... . .. Stable .. . . ..... Unstable. , . .. Alcohol. .Drugs ............................................ , Profane ..... .. . .. .................................... Gambling .................. _ .................................. Housekeeping... .. . Care of Children ............................................................. . .......................................... . ..... Social Diseases ................................ REASONS FOR SEPARATION — Stated by Woman [3 Man U Assault Mental Cruelty jealousy Desertion Non-support Alcohol Sex Problem ln-Laws Money Religion Madam X Other Primary Cause DDDDDDDDDDDD STATEMENT OF INTERVIEW/ER: Desire Reconciliation. ... . PUBLIC ASSISTANCE (1) Agency ........ . ,. ...... I2) Agency . . . ..... , ................................. . From......... .. .. ...To..... ........... From.... .. . . .. . . ............ To ................... . Where .......................................................... . . ............... Where . Reason ................................................................................ Reason... ......................................... Michigan Resident . . . lnvesrigators Estimate ....Oaltland County Resident APPENDIX C CORRESPONDENCE USED IN THE STUDY 260 First Methodist Church DAVID STANLEY EVANS, M 0 N U M E N T S Q U A R E Telephone: wo 3-5567 Minister ERNEST J. MacDONALD, Minister of Education Battle Creek, Michigan Area Code: 616 Zip Code “901“ Dear Colleague: As part of my doctoral work at Michigan State University in counseling, I am doing a study of the part played by ministers in divorce and severe marital problem situations in Calhoun County. I shall be interviewing persons granted divorces in the county in 1963-64 as well as clergymen. Naturally all information will be carefully handled, largely on a statistical basis. In the next several weeks I shall be calling you for an appointment for an interview concerning the divorce and severe marital problem counseling you did in 1963-64. Would you be willing to review your statistics to give me some figures and also to give me some of your impressions? I think the Calhoun County statistics speak for themselves. In 1963 the ratio of divorces to marriages in the county was 1—2.91; in 1964 it jumped to l—2.8l. If the trend continues we could soon see a 1-2 ratio. This is a matter of grave concern to the church and I hope that it will be possible to come to some helpful con— clusions from this study. I will appreciate your assistance. Sincerely, ‘éa;zfik$//// David S. Evans, Jr. DSE/bjs 261 262 MARY COLEMAN JUDGE OF PROBATE CALHOUN COUNTY BUILDING MARSHALL, MICHIGAN March 1, 1965 T0 WHOM.IT MAY CONCERN: This will introduce the Reverend David S. Evans of First Methodist Church who is doing a study of the part played by ministers in divorce situations. He has assured me that no information will be identifed as to source. The main use of the material gathered will be statistical. Your cooperation will aid the study being done for a doctoral program at Michigan State University. Yours very truly, Mar Col an Judge of Probate MCzh 263 fibril} aluhicial Circuit of michigan County of @aklanh OFFICE OF THE FRIEND OF THE COURT OAKLAND COUNTY COURT HOUSE 1200 NORTH TELEGRAPH ROAD PONTIAC. MICHIGAN TELEPHONE 338-4751 CIRCUIT JUDGES . w. CADMAN PROUT. Arrow“ HON CLARK J ADAMS FRIEND OF THE COURT ' ' HOMER G. GERUE, Anonnev HON. WILLIAM JOHN BEER CHIEr Aaa'r. FRIEND or THE COURT HON. STANTON G. DONDERO DONALD A. TEWS. ATTORNEY HON. FREDERICK C. 2"" A537. FRIIND OF TH; COURT MAHLON J. FRANCE HON. JAMES S. THORBURN A ril 6 196 6 COURT SERVICE OFFICER HON. PHILIP PRATT p ' FRANCES C. BOWMAN CHIEF CLERK CATHERINE NILES CHIEF CASHIER Mr. David Stanley Evans 375 Garrison Road Battle Creek, Michigan Dear Mr. Evans: This will acknowledge your correspondence and herewith enclosed find six COpies of our FC-S form, which is presently in use at the interview stage of our divorce investigation. We believe this to be one of the finest forms in use in the State of Michigan and we are privileged to share this with you and your Friend of the Court. Yours very truly, W CADMAN PROUT, IEND OF THE COURT. WCP/dh Encls. 264- U. S. NAVAL AIR STATION SOUTH WEYMOUTH. MASS. 02190 m no“ man to. March 16, 1966 Rev. David S. Evans 375 Garrison Rd. Battle Creek, Michigan h9017 Dear Mr. Evans: Your letter requesting documentation arrived today. The 1 in S7 and l in 500 figure came from an article by Billy Graham in Link Magazine some time ago. I still have the page I tore out but there is no date on it. The 750,000 figure came from.an article in LOOK magazine several years ago. And the 95% figure came from an article in CHRISTIANITY TODAY. These are figures which I either filed or jotted down at the time without considering the possibility of specific documentation at some time in the future. However, the figures are as reliable as any professional survey can be. ' Chaplain Phil Jerauld, a friend of mine, has written an article on marriage in the current issue of NAVAL INSTITUTE PROCEEDINGS. I haven't read it yet but I suspect it is an excellent piece of work and possibly of interest to you. Sincerely K21} Mazu- M»; ’q-(«x (2!!ka w. Norman MacFarlane Chaplain 265 Telephone 465-5131 (Area 2I3) THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF FAMILY RELATIONS 5287 SUNSET BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES 27, CALIFORNIA May 19, 1966 The Rev. David S. Evans 11 Fuller, 8.3. Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506 Dear Dr. Evans: I am sorry for the delay in answering your inquiry. I have just returned from a short lecture tour. Since Dr. Peterson referred to me, I assume that he is quoting a report that I published, but actually this was many years ago, and I have no recent information on the subject. Write to the Superintendent of Schools in Pittsburg, and ask him for the latest news. After one year, they showed a remarkable dr0p in high school pregnancies, but we all should know what has happened since. Separately I am sending a few things that will give a picture of some of our current activities. Cordiall ours, ”u i it?) I pp .. Paul Pepenoe, Sc.D. / President PPIs APPENDIX D RULES OF THE FRIEND OF THE COURT 266 267 Rule 727 Powers and Duties of the Friend of the Court. 1. Investigation and Report. In all action in which an ap- plication is made for alimony, for the support and maintenance of a wife or minor children, or for the custody of minor child— ren, the Friend of the Court shall: (1) Investigate the financial ability, occupation and earn- ing capacity of the parties; and (2) If there are minor children, investigate the home con— ditions, environment and surroundings of the parties and of any other person in whose home the children are being kept, or are proposed to be kept at any time; and (3) Include in a final report a finding as to home condi— tions and finances of the parties and the moral sur- roundings and care given the child or children, to- gether with a recommendation as to custody, visitation rights, amount of support, and amount Of alimony. A copy of the final report shall be filed and notice of filing given to counsel for each party in the manner provided for in Rule 107. All motions may be referred to the Friend of the Court for investigation and recommendation. 2. Continuing Investigation. (1) The friend of the Court shall exercise general super— vision over all children whose custody, control and support is fixed and determined by an order of judg— ment of the court. (2) The Friend of the Court shall, from time to time, visit the children to determine whether or not they are being properly cared for, and are living under proper influences. If in his judgment they are not, he shall call the matter to the attention of the court with such recommendations as he may think best for the welfare of the child or children involved. (3) If the child is moved from the county to another county in Michigan the Friend of the Court shall notify the Friend of the Court of the county to which the child has been removed. The Friend of the Court of the County to which the child has been re— moved shall perform the duties specified in (2), ex— cept that the report shall be made through the Friend of the Court of the original jurisdiction. (4) If the child is removed outside the State,of Michigan, the Friend of the Court shall attempt to make arrange- ments with sister state agencies for continuing sup— ervision, or other arrangements. If a satisfactory arrangement cannot be made, the Friend of the Court shall notify_the court, and may move to discontinue or suspend support payments until proper supervision can be established. (5) 268 If the court has ordered payments for the support of minor children, the Friend of the Court shall regularly check the record of the payment thereof. If pay- ments are not made as ordered, the Friend of the Court shall report the matter to the court, and shall prompt- ly commence the necessary proceedings to investigate the cause of any failure to make such payment. 3. Enforcement. The Friend of the Court shall assume respons- ibility for initiating and carrying on proceedings to enforce all support and custody orders and judgments. 4. Procedure in Support Payment Delinquencies: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) If any person who has been ordered to make payments for the support of minor children has become delin- quent in his payments, the Friend of the Court shall advise the delinquent by ordinary mail of such delin— quency and demand payment therefor. If no response is received within 10 days after the date of mailing such letter, the Friend of the Court may present to the court a petition for an order to show cause returnable within not less than (4) days why the delinquent should not be held in contempt. The order to show cause shall be served on the delin- quent by ordinary mail. If delinquent fails to appear in response to the order to show cause, an order for arrest may be issued. Relief under this rule is in addition to other relief presently available. At any time the Friend of the Court may petition for an order for arrest if immed- iate action is necessary. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII +— mIIHmlwlmmwunylulflafluwymmn