[Krsqk]

First, "no-fault divorce" doesn't necessarily mean $99 and 2 days. In some states, it means divorce can be granted after 6 months of separation instead of a full year, and still requires lawyers and court dates. And, obviously, at least an order of magnitude more money (more like $1000 - $5000, not $99).

I realize that not all no-fault divorce is fast or cheap. I was trying to communicate that there is a vast difference in how marriage was entered then and now. Then, it was "till death do us part" and was entered with that mindset. Now, many see marriage as a convenient arrangement that can be disposed of when it becomes inconvenient.

And I don't think couples were THAT much more careful about who they married, but I do agree that couples were more likely to stay together when there was greater social stigma against divorce.

Anyone today who has a moral or religious conviction that marriage is permanent approaches marriage much more carefully, because divorce isn't an option. You make your bed, you lie in it. At the least, you'll spend more time finding out what a potential spouse is really like.

None of that means people were any happier in the "good old days" when divorce was bad, teenage pregnancies were hidden, alternate lifestyles were even more hidden, and hate Groups were more active than they are today...

First, those behaviors were much less common in past times. While social stigma could make people hide their behavior, it would also be a deterrent to adopting those behaviors. Second, quite apart from their rightness or wrongness, divorce and teenage pregnancy haven't exactly brought us happiness. Young girls lose their freedom (while young men get off pretty much free); parents and children (and step-parents and step-children and step-step-parents and step-step-children) are split up and doled out in complex "time-sharing" agreements that look like something by Enron. Not much happiness there.