Spain is the second country in the world where divorce is better accepted socially

Likewise, 79 per cent of the Spanish people think that, when a couple is not able to solve their marital problems, divorce is the best solution, which places our country far ahead of the countries of the north of Europe, traditionally considered to be more liberal in the social acceptation of divorce.

All these data belong to the study “Social perception of divorce in Spain”, published in the Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (Reis) by Professor Diego Becerril Ruiz, of the Department of Sociology of the University of Granada, which also reflects that the acceptation of divorce has increased in our country during the 90's.

This work, carried out from the data collected from a complete bibliographical review, reveals that the young, contrary to what could be expected, are not the sector of the population who is more in favour of divorce as a solution. “They are the sector which disagrees the most -says Becerril-, maybe because these generations have been brought up within situations of divorce and have experienced, to a greater or lesser extent, the breakup process”.

Differences depending on the marital status

Marital status also defines clear situations as regards the acceptation of divorce. Thus, as logical, the divorced and separated agree to a greater extent, whereas the widow/ers are the sector most in disagreement. In addition, as regards ideology, those who are closer to positions of extreme left are the group that agrees the most with divorce as a solution for a troubled marriage, whereas people closer to extreme right disagree with such idea.

In his work, Becerril has also analysed the data of the World Values Survey, according to which for Spanish people “divorce is the most justifiable behaviour” among a series of proposed social behaviours such as prostitution, abortion or euthanasia. With an average of 6.42 out of a possible 10, divorce is the most accepted, followed by homosexuality, with a 6.17.

On the other hand of the scales and against the high acceptation of divorce in Spain, the work of the researcher of the UGR has revealed that Japan is the country (of the 35 countries analysed) where divorce is worst accepted socially (with just about 30% of those polled in favour), followed by Filipinas and the United States of America.

Reference
Prof Diego Becerril Ruiz. Department of Sociology of the University of Granada
Phone number. +34 958244124 | +34 958246198
E-mail. becerril@ugr.es