In today's society, divorce has become a normal thing in our lives. Married couples today divorce for many different reasons. This essay will examine the cause and effect of divorce on children and couples over the past 25 years in America. Some of the causes could be marriage or wrong reasons, lack of equality, abuse, spouses having an affair, loss of romantic feelings, conflicts and other issues which will be discussed shortly. Divorce would affect children mentally and emotionally and have a negative effect on their health. They struggle with self-esteem, weaken the bond or relationship between a child and his or her parents, and use drugs and/or weapons. One of the biggest effects of divorce on both the children and the couple would be financial problems. Historically, divorces were only granted in very special circumstances. In early American history, couples found it very difficult to obtain a divorce. There were strict rules and regulations that often prohibited spouses from filing for divorce. (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com). When a marriage ends, divorce law provides legal solutions for issues that husband and wife are unable to resolve through mutual cooperation. . (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com). The most important issue in a divorce case was whether the court should grant the divorce. “When a divorce was granted, resolution of continuing obligations was simple: the wife was awarded custody of any children and the husband was required to support his wife and children.” (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com). To date, divorce has been very common and more than half of Americans get divorced. Modern divorce laws have other names in the middle of the paper, they imply pushing, shoving, slapping. The main cause of this could be stress. (http://www.extension.purdue.eduMany couples face the challenge of infidelity. (http://www.aamft.org) This is a common cause of divorce. (http://www.aamft.org) Infidelity is when one or both spouses have been sexually unfaithful to each other (http://www.aamft.org) It is also the leading cause of divorce (http://www.aamft.org) About the 4% of married men and 2% of married women anonymously report to researchers that they have been unfaithful to their spouse in 2011. (http://www.psychologytoday.com) The discovery of infidelity is very traumatic especially when you really love your spouse.” Two in three married Americans (63%) say they would not forgive their spouse (and would divorce) if they found out their spouse had a sexual affair.)