The divorce rate in America is extremely high and a serious cause for concern. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, divorce will affect nearly half of those who marry. Hence, a divorce rate of 3.4 per 1,000 population will affect the 6.8 per 1,000 population who get married (CDC 2009). This high divorce rate can be attributed to financial, emotional, and/or physical problems of consenting partners. However, socioeconomic factors such as income, education, and social status seem to contribute greatly to the rates of divorce. Therefore, In order to formulate the problems of divorce we must address the institution of marriage. Marriage is a sacred institution that has been around for many centuries and the reasons for marriage are all but clear and concise. Pre-industrial revolution, people married for reasons such as financial, political, or social gains (Coontz 2005). Traditional gender roles were emplaced whereas, women were in charge of the domestic and emotional duties of the household and men were in charge of the financial duties of the relationship. Women did not have many options pre-industrial revolution and were forced to marry to gain economical support. External gains and non-emotional reasons were a major component in the selection of a marriage partner in this era, not much emphasis was placed on love and emotions. Today however, people marry for a variety of reasons including emotional and non-emotional reasons. In a study conducted by Eekalaar (2007), 39 respondents who were married or had been married in the 1980’s were interviewed with questions pertaining to marriage and reasons for. His research concluded that people base their reasons for marrying on 5 different categories. The most applicable and most chosen reason for marriage by the respondents was “compliance with convention”. Compliance with