Divorce can spread like a virus, researchers say

TORONTO – If the popular saying holds true, love is a drug but it can’t cure divorce. At least not the contagious kind.

Evidence suggests the heated emotions stirred up by a marital split can spread like a virus through a quarreling couple’s inner circle.

Researchers call it “divorce clustering,” a phenomenon that increases the chances of divorce by 147 per cent for members of a social group after one couple’s split.

The occurrence of the infectious break up bug dates back to a 1948 Brown University study involving 12,000 people in the New England area.

Researchers concluded divorce has a ripple effect on the community, increasing the likelihood of separation for friends of divorcees.

While close friends and relatives are at greater risk of catching a contagious divorce, work colleagues are also susceptible-risk of separation increased 55 per cent for those who knew a colleague involved in a divorce.

Having a sibling involved in a marital split increased the risk by 22 per cent.

While it’s unclear why one couple’s discord can lead to another’s, experts speculate the instance of a divorce helps break down the negative stigma of separation for everyone in the group.

“If someone has become divorced and we’re having relationship problems of our own, we might not be even thinking of divorce. But once we see someone else has done it, we’re now aware this is an option to solve some of our problems,” explains Kimberly Moffit, a Toronto-based psychotherapist, counsellor and relationship expert.

Though the latest statistics seem stacked against us-as many as half of all marriages end in separation with over 71,000 splits in Canada in 2005-the best cure to beat the odds and ward off the contagious divorce isn’t ditching your divorcee friends.

Moffit says a healthy relationship can endure if the couple plans for both the highs and lows that go along with any realistic modern-day union.

"If you have the expectation that a marriage lasts a long time and can be really bad sometimes and really good at other times, that’s the really healthy view of what a marriage can be," she says.