Media Advisory - Divorce: facts, causes and consequences

OTTAWA , Nov. 19 /CNW Telbec/ - The Vanier Institute of the Family today releases the 3rd Edition of Divorce: Facts, Causes and Consequences, by Dr. Anne-Marie Ambert of York University. This paper draws upon the latest statistics and research to answer the questions people most frequently ask about divorce trends, its causes and consequences both for adults and children. Dr. Ambert also discusses cohabitation and remarriage as they relate to divorce, and reviews new research findings pertaining to the effect of parental remarriage on children, fathers' contacts with their children, and the role of adolescents.

    
    Among the findings reported:

    -   The latest estimates by Statistics Canada (2008) put the risk of
        divorce by the 30th wedding anniversary for recently married couples
        at 38% for the country as a whole;
    -   Divorce rates have gone down substantially during the 1990s and have
        remained at a lower level since 1997, with minor yearly fluctuations;
    -   The average age at divorce is 44 for men and 41 for women and may
        soon rise to reflect the fact that men and women now marry later;
    -   Many couples who divorce either have no children or do not have many,
        in great part because a good proportion of divorces occur within the
        first few years of marriage.
    

Divorce: Facts, Causes and Consequences is the 27th of the Institute's Contemporary Family Trends papers written by Canadian experts on a wide range of challenges facing today's families.

For further information: For interviews and more information on this report, which is freely available for downloading at www.vifamily.ca, please contact one of the following media contacts: Anne-Marie Ambert, PhD., York University, [email protected]; Clarence Lochhead, Executive Director, The Vanier Institute of the Family, [phone] x214, [email protected]