Factors that Increase the Likelihood of Divorce: A survey of Married People in Qatar

Abstract

In this study we provided married participants (n= 379) 18-50 with 17 possible reasons (e.g., physical violence) for divorce and asked them to rate the likelihood of obtaining divorce using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1= extremely likely to 5 = extremely unlikely. The lower the scores the more likely that participants would choose to end their marriage. Half of the participants were men (51.1%), the mean age was 27.98 (SD = 7.29), the majority were employed (72.9%) and had an income of 40,000 or higher (57.5%). Slightly more than half of the participants had less than a college degree (52%). An exploratory factor analysis on the 17 items produced a scale of 11 items that explained 45% of the variance in the data (α = .77). A one-way ANOVA using the weighted data showed that women were more likely than men to consider unfaithfulness, alcohol/drug related problems, physical violence, and demeaning, and insulating as important grounds for seeking a divorce. Men, on the other hand, stated that they were more likely to pursue divorce when there were issues related to financial problems, intimate relationship, disagreements about spending money, spending time with friends outside the home, frequent arguments, and fighting and personality differences. Both men and women, however, did not differ on agreeing that lack of respect and appreciation is a potential cause for divorce. Finally, a one-way ANOVA using the weighted data showed that women (M= 2.53, SD= 64) scored lower on the Likelihood Scale, compared to men (M =2.56, SD =73), (F = 27.19, p = .00). Similarly, highly educated people scored lower (M= 2.47, SD= 70) compared to those with lower level of education (M= 2.61, SD= 68) (F = 667, p = .00). The results of this study are important for future research on divorce in Qatar and developing marriage educational programs that targets these issues with a focus on gender differences.