Is Utah’s Divorce Rate Really High?

Published March 10, 1983. Residents of Utah seem to take it on the chin in certain statistical reports. A few days ago, a professor at BYU sent me a note in the campus mail with a Xerox copy of an article. Among other things, the article claimed that Utah has a higher than average divorce rate, suicide rate, illegitimate birth rate, and child abuse rate. He wrote at the bottom. “Is this all true?”

Are we really that bad in this state? Are the statistics and implication accurate? Are we “above average” in all these categories? I think not.

Look, for instance, at the divorce statistics. One report recently indicated that “Divorces (in Utah) continue to escalate, surpassing the national rate. In 1982, Utahan couples parted at a rate of 5.4 per thousand population for a total of 8.350, an increase of 3.4 percent over the previous year.” The same report also noted that “Nationally, the divorce rate declines by 1.98 to 5.2 per thousand population. The Utah rate is now 3.8% above the national rate.

Bottom line: Utah’s 1982 divorce rate was 5.4 compared to the national average of 5.2 per thousand. And for that one-fifth of one percent we seem to take a beating.

Comparatively, the divorce rate in Utah, as elsewhere, is increasing. The divorce rate in Utah for 1975 was 5.1 compared to a national average of 4.9 per thousand population. Again, a different of one-fifth of one percent. And during 1975, there were 5,638 divorces in our state.

A friend, Dr. Terry Olson of BYU, wrote an article titled “Divorce in the Mountain West.” It was published in the January 1979 issue of “Mountainwest Magazine.” Dr. Olson noted that Utah is usually below the majority of states in divorce rates (27^th in 1978) and has the lowest rate of divorces when compared to the mountain states of Montana, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, and Nevada. The BYU professor notes that certain individuals, particularly some associated with the news media, like to take shots at the various social statics in our state.

“Does it suggest,” Dr. Olson asks, “as some cynics would hope, that in a region where religious ties are strong, and where the emphasis on strong family ties is almost unparalleled, that even religious institutions are unable to offer strategies to stem the tide of divorce? . . . Examining divorce rates does not reveal much about the people not divorcing. Therefore, using divorce rates as a measure of relative martial strength is like examining one patch of dead grass and assuming that the rest of the lawn is sick.”

Dr. Olson raises an interesting point. Utah residents appear to be about average in all the reported social statistics. No worse, but no better, than the rest of the other areas reporting. But one does wonder, as we look out across the lawn, why one patch died while the rest survived. And why are some other areas of the lawn somewhere between bright green and dark brown in color? Not yet dead, but dying. What are the causes of dying grass, and are they spreading?

Even though we in Utah appear to be about average, it is, or should be a concern to many that the divorce rate is as high as it is. In an area where so much emphasis is given to strong marital and family ties, we seem to have our fair share of disruption.

Why is the divorce rate in Utah as high as it is? Some think of the Immigrant Import Theory which suggests that things weren’t that way until all of the out-of-staters stared moving in. Little do we realize that such attitudes are offensive to recent newcomers to Utah. And the theory is probably not true.