In this Sept. 9, 2009, file photo Kian Lee, right, and his bride Maya Ong, both from Queens, pose for a photo after their wedding ceremony at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau in New York. A broad array of U.S. census data, for release on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009, indicates that the recession is profoundly disrupting American life. Unlike the Ongs nearly one in three Americans 15 and over, or 31.2 percent, reported they had never been married, the highest level in a decade. The share had previously hovered for years around 27 percent, before beginning to climb during the housing downturn in 2006. The never-married included three-quarters of men in their 20s and two-thirds of women in that age range. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, Fille)
A mostly rural county in eastern Indiana tops the nation in the percentage of people who are divorced, but just why that’s so — the economy? an exodus of never-marrieds? a statistical anomaly? — has residents and experts perplexed.
More than 19 percent of Wayne County residents over age 15 are divorced, according to new 2008 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s the highest percentage for any county with a population over 65,000 in the nation, and two other Indiana counties — Floyd and Madison — also made the top 10.
“It just doesn’t make all that much sense,” said Michael Jackson, an associate professor of psychology at Earlham College, a small, private university in Richmond that was founded by Quakers who settled the area in the 1800s. “We find it really questionable.”
Wayne County, which includes the small city of Richmond, several rural towns and many cornfields, is hardly obvious as a divorce hub. Richmond, which sits along the historic National Road, features a quaint downtown with brick sidewalks where local shops sit next to boarded-up businesses.
“We always wanted to be first in something,” joked Richmond Mayor Sally Hutton, though she adds that this wasn’t what she had in mind. “If anybody knows why it is, I’ll be glad to work on it.”
Indiana is one of a handful of states that doesn’t track divorce statistics. So it’s hard to tell if the ranking is caused by a large number of divorces, a lot of young single people moving out of the county to attend college elsewhere or if it’s just a statistical anomaly, Jackson said.
The clerk’s office in Wayne County, on the second floor of the historic limestone courthouse, doesn’t track divorce filings, but does keep tabs on the number of “domestic relations” filings, which includes divorce, child custody and other family issues. In 2008 there were 523 such filings, up from 477 in 2007. That’s down since the 1990s, said Jo Ann Stewart, who chalks up the recent rise to the recession.
“During poor economic times, your divorce rate always increases,” she said.
Indiana has been hit hard by the collapse of the auto and manufacturing industries. Wayne County had an average unemployment rate of 6.8 percent in 2008, higher than the state’s 5.9 percent average in that time. But the recession has affected many areas of Indiana and the U.S. far worse than Wayne County.
Alice Lafuze, one of the leaders of a DivorceCare support program that meets Thursdays at the Fountain City Wesleyan Church, said she hasn’t noticed a spike of divorces in recent years.
“That is surprising to me,” she said of the new rankings. “Any time you have a bad economy, that is a stress on marriage.”
Bad financial times shouldn’t be an excuse, said Tom Amyx, who owns a deli along Richmond’s main street. He celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary Sunday with his wife, Sherry, and says couples should tough out hard times together. He thinks attitudes have changed about marriage.
“It’s not ever about the other person any more, it’s about me, me, me,” he said. “People need to make a commitment and stick to the commitment. It’s not just a promise — it’s a covenant. That’s a very serious thing.”
Regardless of the cause, having nearly 20 percent of the population divorced is cause for concern, said Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia.
“It’s basically a social and environmental toxin,” Wilcox said of divorce. “Wayne County is taking a big hit emotionally, financially and socially.”
It’s hard to measure the exact effects divorce can have on a community, said Brian Powell, a sociology professor at Indiana University.
“Divorce by itself doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing,” he said. “Some people divorced are leading happier lives because they are away from family situations that were absolutely untenable.”
Some Indiana lawmakers would like to see the state track its divorce rate, saying more data could help officials better understand what’s happening and why. Statistics on actual divorces filed per year could be more useful in charting a trend than a simple percentage of the population that’s currently divorced, said Ryan McCann, director of operations and public policy for the Indiana Family Institute.
“It would be really helpful,” McCann said. “You can take a look over time rather than just one snapshot.”
A look at the 50 counties with the highest divorce rates in the country, according to census figures released this week.
County State Percent divorced
Wayne Ind. 19.2
Monroe Fla. 18.3
Daviess Ky. 17.0
Mohave Ariz. 16.8
Roanoke City (x) Va. 16.7
Floyd Ind. 16.5
Madison Ind. 16.3
Putnam Fla. 16.3
Pinellas Fla. 16.3
Potter Texas 16.3
Marion Ohio 16.0
Lake Calif. 16.0
Kaufman Texas 15.9
Santa Fe N.M. 15.5
Umatilla Ore. 15.2
Matanuska-Susitna Borough Alaska 15.2
Lewis Wash. 15.1
Rockingham N.C. 15.0
Washoe Nev. 15.0
Vigo Ind. 14.9
Madison Ky. 14.9
Jefferson Parish La. 14.9
Cowlitz Wash. 14.9
Garland Ark. 14.8
Jasper Mo. 14.8
Davidson Tenn. 14.8
Grays Harbor Wash. 14.7
St. Clair Ala. 14.6
Yellowstone Mont. 14.6
Vanderburgh Ind. 14.6
Kennebec Maine 14.6
Pulaski Ark. 14.6
Mendocino Calif. 14.6
Cumberland Maine 14.6
Shawnee Kan. 14.5
Laramie Wyo. 14.5
Lane Ore. 14.4
Jackson Ore. 14.4
Penobscot Maine 14.4
Ross Ohio 14.4
Grand Traverse Mich. 14.3
Marion Ind. 14.3
Clark Ind. 14.3
Pottawatomie Okla. 14.3
Muskingum Ohio 14.3
Bay Fla. 14.3
Trumbull Ohio 14.2
Clayton Ga. 14.1
Columbia Fla. 14.1
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
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