Brines and Serafini argue that vacations and holidays make people optimistic about the future and instill the belief that they can fix relationships. It’s like an optimism cycle, in a sense.
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“They’re very symbolically charged moments in time for the culture”, she added. FindLaw.com conducted an informal study of divorce filings between 2008 and 2011, and noted that divorce rates seem to pick up in January and then continue to rise until they peak in late March.
However, holidays can be stressful and emotionally charged for struggling couples and widen fissures in their marriage.
Most divorces come after the winter holidays and summer vacation, the researchers say in a study to be presented Sunday at the American Sociological Association conference in Seattle.
This seasonal pattern of divorce maybe driven by a tendency for couples to put off filing for a separation during times that are normally important to families. Suicides also tend to peak in spring, and some experts have said the longer days and increased activity elevates mood enough to motivate people to act. Prof. Brines and colleagues examined the reason for the divorce spike in March.
Anyone in Washington can file for divorce in Lincoln and Wahkiakum, and given the simpler divorce procedure, the researchers expected the results to be skewed by including these two counties. Sociology professor Julie Brines said.
Prof. Brines and Serafini were initially investigating the effects of the recession – observing rising unemployment rates and declining house values – on marital stability. The researchers found that, whether divorce clients lived in counties that permit divorce by mail or whether they live in districts that require formal court appearances, the trend held. The pattern persisted even after other seasonal factors were taken into account.
Other court actions tied to families also appear to show a similar seasonal pattern, with guardianship filings matching those of divorce filings. Winter and summer holidays are “culturally sacred” times, in their view – nobody wants to file for divorce on Christmas, or on the Fourth of July. And when they compared the timing of custody filings to property claims, that’s exactly what they discovered. They found similar patterns in Ohio, Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona, which “have similar divorce laws as Washington, but differ in demographics and economic conditions”.
But when looking at the divorce records, a very clear pattern emerged that they couldn’t ignore. If you’re really under relationship stress at that time, it’s going to hit you even harder that life could be better than this.
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The reasoning? According to doctoral candidate Brian Serafini, it’s the time of year when couples take stock of their relationship because the focus tends to be on holidays and family time.
