Do you promise to love, honor, and cherish until death do you part?" Every year, people of all social classes and racial and ethnic groups make this legally binding agreement. Yet an increasing number of these promises shatter in divorce. While rates may vary among states, divorce is a nationwide phenomenon, as Figure 13-5 shows. Divorce Just how common is divorce? Surprisingly, this is not a simple question; divorce statistics are difficult to interpret. The media frequently report that one out of every two marriages ends in divorce. But this figure is misleading, since many marriages last for decades. It is based on a