PERCEIVED PROXIMATE AND UNDERLYING DIVORCE CAUSES IN HAZARA DIVISION, PAKISTAN

Divorce remains one of the most severe social issues in any society because divorce is an integral component of an elementary social institution of the family. Besides, divorce rates are drastically increasing worldwide, including in Pakistan. Therefore, this study is to identify perceived proximate and underlying causes of divorce in the Hazara Division, Pakistan. The pragmatic research approach and snowball sampling were employed to recruit 75 male and female divorcees. Moreover, data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire and analysed using IBM SPSS 25 through descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. The divorcees recognised prominent proximate causes of divorce, including personality traits of spouses, poverty, spending or handling money carelessly by the spouse, and infertility. In comparison, media addiction, relationship traits, the role of families and friends, infidelity, and domestic violence were identified as distinguished underlying drivers behind the divorce. The logistic regression analysis results indicate that the age and work status of the divorcee or his/her spouse and the number of children significantly impact distinct foundations for divorce. The study concluded that among numerous other causes, media addiction is prominently giving rise to many inconsistencies in married life, leading to divorce. Keywords: Proximate and underlying causes, Divorce, Gender, Hazara Pakistan, Socioeconomic factors, Pragmatic Approach