Facebook Linked to Divorce Rates in Recent Survey

By halliwellp4

Facebook has been linked to 66 percent of divorces in the U.S. according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML).

The survey found that 81 percent of the nation's top divorce lawyers said more clients have cited using social networks as evidence in the past five years. Married people are using Facebook to meet others, while spouses are finding out about it because the communication is freely available online.

Marlene Eskind Moses, the president of AAML, warns against using Facebook to reveal facts about your personal life.

"If you publicly post any contradictions to previously made statements and promises, an estranged spouse will certainly be one of the first people to notice and make use of that evidence," said Moses in a press release about the study.

A couples and marriage counselor says that social networks can lead to marital affairs whether intended or not.

"I don't think these people typically set out to have affairs," said Steven Kimmons, a clinical psychologist of Loyola University Medical Center in Illinois in an interview with Newswise. "A lot of it is curiosity. They see an old friend or someone they dated and decide to say 'hello' and catch up on where that person is and how they're doing.