Marriages are never easy and whether we like it or not, stress will find its way into even the healthiest of relationships. Traumatic life events and even everyday challenges can often cause imbalances in a relationship, leading to marital issues and eventually divorce. Being aware of these factors and knowing how to spot any red flags when they arise can be essential when determining whether or not a problem exists.

While there are countless reasons why couples decide to separate, the following five are some of the most reported factors contributing to divorce:

#5 Living Apart

Being separated can take its toll on any relationship, and marriages are no exception. Studies show that living apart, be it due to careers or familial obligations, can leave couples doubting the strength of the relationship. When compared to their civilian counterparts, military couples especially tend to experience an increase in marital strife when separated by deployments, relocations, and the like. In these types of cases, there are often a lot of other contributing factors as well, such as stress, PTSD, and other issues that can arise both during deployments as well as after the homecoming.

It’s also important to note that not all couples who live apart will experience trouble. For some, distance is not an issue, and when both individuals have the same level of comfort with the arrangement, the result can be just fine. However, it’s not uncommon for living apart to raise questions of trust and fidelity, which can cause emotional separation as well as the obvious physical distance.

#4 Job Changes

Unemployment or changes in an individual’s job situation is yet another common reason why couples eventually call it quits. According to a recent study performed by Ohio State University, men and women are more likely to leave their spouses when the man is unemployed. However, job loss is certainly not the only “change” that can cause issues.

In reality, any alteration in a couple’s financial situation or schedule can cause a problem which may lead to irreconcilable differences in the future. With each new job comes new responsibilities, and it’s all too common for jobs to become priority one while the marriage falls to the back burner.

#3 Having a Baby

Kids can be a big point of contention for many couples. Even for those spouses who agree on whether or not to have kids and how many kids they wish to have, the challenges are certainly far from over. The stress of caring for a newborn and for young children can leave quite a mark on a marriage. In fact, according to the Journal of Family Psychology, approximately 67 percent of all couples admitted a decline in their marital bliss within the first few years of their child’s life. The birth of a child and the readjusting to a new routine and schedule can be especially difficult for those parents who’re already prone to stress, anxiety, or depression.

#2 Illness

Illness is yet another common cause for discord between spouses. When a spouse becomes sick, especially if the illness is a prolonged one, it’s often necessary for the other spouse to take on more responsibilities and ramp up their efforts in the relationship. From increased financial stress to the overall pain of it all, illness can have a wide and varied impact on the couple and their marriage.

There is some evidence that suggests that the sickness of a female spouse can have a more detrimental effect on the marriage. According to a study performed by Iowa State University, couples were six percent more likely to get divorced when the wife had a serious illness, such as heart disease or cancer.

#1 Infidelity

Infidelity can have an enormous impact on any relationship, be the affair physical or emotional. While some couples are able to work through an affair and even use the incident as a catalyst for seeking the help they need, acts of betrayal such as these are often seen by the offended party as the “straw that broke the camel’s back”, leading the couple to divorce. In particular, affairs that have gone on for extended periods are often the hardest for couples to work past.

New Trend Among Elderly

Young couples are not the only couples getting divorced these days. There are an increasing number of late-life divorces.   According to the National Center for Family and Marriage Research, just last year people 50 and over were twice as likely to seek a divorce than in 1990. The number of divorces were even greater at age 65 and older. This is an interesting phenomenon, because there was a noticeable decrease in divorce rates among other age groups.

Why are more elderly couples separating?

While this is an interesting trend, there are a number of possible explanations for this movement. Quite a number of elderly individuals are in second marriages. For people that have remarried, the divorce rate is nearly two and a half times greater. Second marriages create a wide variety of financial and familial challenges.

Another possible explanation is that people are living longer nowadays than in years past. When people’s life expectancy was not as long, it may have incentivized people to stick it out. But now, when people are in their 50s and 60s and have life expectancies into the 80s and 90s, it might make people question whether they want to remain in a stale marriage for 30 or 40 more years.

Societal attitudes towards divorce have also undergone tremendous change. It is no longer considered a stigma for a married couple to decide to go their separate ways after many years of marriage. Many prominent politicians have done just this. Presidential candidate Al Gore and Tipper Gore were married for 40 years and separated in 2010. Alabama governor Robert Bentley and Dianne were married for 50 years and filed for divorce just one month after their golden anniversary.

The Independent Woman

But the leading explanation for why divorce rates among the elderly are up is the changing status of women in society. AARP data reveals that 60 percent of women take the first step to initiate divorce proceedings. This represents a huge transformational shift that defies the traditional role of women.

As women become more financially independent and no longer rely on men for financial support, women have assumed a more liberated, empowered role in society. Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, 54, observes that,

“I think men don’t want to rock the boat, and they’ll put with a less-than ideal situation.”

Because women now have greater participation in civic and working life, they are less willing to settle for a mediocre situation. Instead, these women break from unsatisfying relationships and look for better or more fulfilling relationships in other people.

Empty Nest

There is ample support for the proposition that women are no longer willing to merely “settle.” Dr. Schwartz, a sociologist, has articulated that “Women have higher expectations for their emotional life.” Dr. Schwartz, age 70 herself, has attested to divorcing her husband of 23 years because “the marriage had run out of juice.”

By the time couples reach their golden years, the children are usually out of the picture. The oft-cited reason to keep together an unhappy marriage for the children’s sake is absent in the case where the children are grown up and living their own lives. Once the children are independent, many people feel that they no longer need to stay together “for the kids.”

Sometimes, after many years of marriage, couples simply grows apart. Celia Jeffries was married at the tender age of 20 and split with her husband after thirty-seven years of marriage. Ms. Jeffries explains that the reason for the break up was that “he went in one direction and I went in another.”

While some couples grow old and develop together, others experience that they begin to have less and less in common.  So, as other age demographics are sticking with marriage, it is a new pattern evidenced in America’s elderly population for finding hope even after society suggests they are ‘too old’ to find new love.

It’s already the fourth quarter of the calendar year.  How is the state of marriage doing this day in age? The following information provides a round-up of all statistics, studies and research regarding the current state of marriage and divorce in the United States during the year 2015.

Marriage in 2015

According to the Christian Science Monitor, single adults now outnumber those who are married in the United States. This may be due to the fact that the average age for a first marriage has been increasing in recent years. For men, the average age for marriage is now 29 and for women it’s 27. While these are the averages, it does vary from state to state. The average age for first time marriage is approximately 24 in Idaho while it rises substantially to 30 in Washington D.C.

Recent research conducted by the Pew Research Center found that of adults 25 years old and above, nearly 20% have never married. Data compiled in 1960 showed that just 10% of adults 25 and older had never been married. It may initially seem that changing cultural standards are behind the overall decline. However, more than one third of Americans between the ages of 25 and 29 cited economic reasons as the primary obstacle to marriage.

Current Divorce Rate

While most people have heard that the divorce rate is split down the middle at exactly 50%, the true numbers appear to be slightly lower. According to statistics cited on The Blog of the Institute for Family Studies, the more accurate percentage hovers at 42%. This may be because numbers put out by other sources fail to consider that some people will get divorced more than once, thus driving up the overall percentage rates. So while the number of overall “marriages” that end in divorce may be around 50 percent, the number of actual “people” who get divorced is a little bit lower.

Many people have long-believed that waiting until they’re older will lessen their chance for divorce. Nicholas

Wolfinger, a professor at the University of Utah, recently found that the divorce rate actually rises not only for those who marry in their teens but for couples that wait past age 32 to marry. Another interesting trend has found that while the divorce rate among those who are college-educated has leveled off or dropped; the divorce rate among those with less education is still relatively high. This may lead people to assume that since those with less education normally make less money, that finances are a prime reason for divorce. This view is further bolstered by the fact that young people putting off marriage cited economic concerns as a primary reason. While finances are still one of the top causes for divorce, changes in the culture are bringing other reasons for divorce to the top of the list.

A Changing Culture

Many top ten lists favor financial incompatibility and unfaithfulness as the top reasons for divorce.  But a lack of commitment and boredom are now rising as a primary reason as well. With extravagant weddings and unrealistic portrayals of marriage in movies and television, people simply have an unrealistic expectation of what day-to-day marriage actually involves. With the societal acceptance of divorce and higher numbers of unwed individuals living together, commitment to marriage as well as the ability to navigate rough times together appears to be on the decline.

So, while the overall idea of marriage may be struggling in our culture, it doesn’t mean individuals are marrying and divorcing more frequently.  Celebrities and high profile individuals marry often, and under extreme public scrutiny.  Remarriage, however, is even less popular than marriage.  According to a report issued in March 2015 titled “Remarriage in the United States” less than 9.2 percent of males and females of all races had married three times or more. Instead of marrying more often, many people are simply putting off marriage until later in life and millions of individuals are spending a greater amount of their adult lives being single.