Imagine that you and your spouse have just returned from a summer beach vacation, kids in tow. The sunny glow is fading, the new school year is just days away, and reality is setting in: You’re not happy in your marriage. Maybe you’ve felt this way for a while (or maybe you’ve never been truly happy), but you’ve put off calling a lawyer, hoping that a relaxing getaway could be just what you need to help right the relationship and rekindle the romance. Or maybe you didn’t want to spoil the summer by breaking up the household. But now, with hopes of reconciliation dashed and the kids heading back to school, it’s time. You pick up the phone.
This, at least, is how two University of Washington sociologists explain why divorce-filing rates peak in August. In fact, the August peak is one of two seasonal spikes that associate sociology professor Julie Brines and doctoral candidate Brian Serafini have identified, based on an analysis of divorce filings in Washington state between 2001 and 2015. The peaks happen in March and August and, according to the researchers, it’s significant that those months follow winter and summer vacations.
“People tend to face the holidays with rising expectations, despite what disappointments they might have had in years past,” Brines said in the press release that accompanied the study. “They represent periods in the year when there’s the anticipation or the opportunity for a new beginning, a new start, something different, a transition into a new period of life.”
But vacations can also be stressful for couples, and the spike in divorce filings “reflects the disillusionment unhappy spouses feel when the holidays don’t live up to expectations,” the researchers say.
But why the monthslong delay in filing for divorce following the winter holidays? Researchers posit that “couples need time to get finances in order, find an attorney or simply summon the courage to file for divorce,” and while the “same considerations apply in summer, Brines thinks the start of the school year school may hasten the timing, at least for couples with children.”
Suicides also peak in the spring, and research has suggested that longer days and increased activity are enough to spur people to act on their suicidal thoughts. The University of Washington sociologists think the same may also be true for unhappy couples and divorce—people may feel more energized to take action to end their marriages in the spring than in the dead of winter.
The study found that the pattern was disrupted slightly during the recession, “showing a peak earlier in the year and one in the fall, and more volatility overall.” Brines and Serafini reasoned that this shift was not surprising “given uncertainty about financial considerations like housing values and employment,” though they also noted that the disruption was not statistically significant.
So does this finding hold true for the rest if the country as well? The researchers examined data for Ohio, Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona—which, according to the press release, “have similar divorce laws as Washington but differ in demographics and economic conditions”—and found the same pattern of seasonal peaks. Apparently, divorce season is a national event.
