FLOYD COUNTY IS HOME OF THE GREAT DIVIDE: Floyd has sixth-highest amount of divorced residents in U.S.

By DANIEL SUDDEATH

On the surface, it seems Floyd County wouldn’t be a likely candidate to have one of the top divorce rates in the country.

Most people would agree the average-sized, Southern Indiana county is steeped in religious influence.

Its voters cast out a riverboat casino more than 10 years ago. The New Albany City Council — which stands and speaks the Lord’s Prayer before ordinances and resolutions are introduced at its meetings — implemented several restrictions on adult clubs at the request of the quasi-religious group Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana, or ROCK, just after the first strip club opened in Floyd County last year.

New Albany also remains in a legal dispute over the only adult book store to open in the city.

There are huge churches in the county in both attendance and building size — and there are historic places of worship as well such as St. John United Presbyterian Church. New Albany has seen its share of noted religious leaders including being the birthplace Cardinal Joseph Ritter — the only Roman Catholic Cardinal from Indiana.

But for all the county has kept out and fought to protect based on either religious or moral principles, or both, it ranks sixth among U.S. counties with 16.5 percent of its residents divorced.

By comparison, 10.7 percent of people more than 15 years old are divorced nationwide.

Floyd is not the only Indiana county in the top 10 — in fact its not even the home of the highest divorce rate in the state according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers.

Wayne County recorded a divorce rate of 19.2 percent — the highest county in the nation. Madison County ranked seventh with a divorce rate of 16.3 percent.

Daviess County, Ky., ranked third in the U.S. with a divorce rate of 17 percent.

Like Wayne and Madison counties, Floyd’s divorce rate is well more than the state average of 12.3 percent.

“That number really saddens me because the reality of a divorce is that it’s never just between the husband and the wife,” said Rev. George Wasson, pastor of the Faithpoint United Methodist Church in Floyds Knobs.

“When children come from divorced homes, their probability [of getting divorced] is automatically increased above the norm.”

Attorney Bruce Brightwell has practiced family law in New Albany and Louisville for 15 years, but was still surprised by Floyd County’s high divorce rate.

“I didn’t think Floyd was any more out of line than what I’ve seen anywhere else,” Brightwell said.

As a whole, there were some encouraging signs on the marriage front.

After 10 years of downturn, the number of married Americans rose by 6 million in 2008 while the number of divorced people increased only moderately.

So why is Floyd home to so many divorced residents?

From an attorney’s standpoint, Brightwell has advised past clients in a duel state residency situation to file for divorce in Indiana because the process is easier than Kentucky.

But Indiana doesn’t track divorce statistics so it’s difficult to decipher who — in terms of age, class and other socio-economic factors — is getting divorced and why.

Could the poor economy be a reason?

“Finances is one of the great leading causes, so to speak. It’s kind of the issue of communication in general,” Wasson said.

“Failure to communicate with a significant other affects finances, work, environment, children — everything. I think the greater issue is we have some pretty big breakdowns in communication.”

Couples struggling with finances might actually stay together longer than they would in times of economic prosperity, Brightwell said. That’s because a relationship split usually means no more splitting expenses.

“Most people have less disposable income after a divorce than they did before a divorce, even if you’re talking no kids or child support or anything,” Brightwell said.

When hearing the top counties on the list, Brightwell said many of the areas are small-to-mid--sized communities where a sudden spike of divorced residents would have a greater impact percentage wise than the same influx in a heavily populated county.

Michael Jackson, an associate professor of psychology at Earlham College in Richmond, say Wayne County’s top-ranked divorce rate doesn’t really make much sense.

“We find it really questionable. It just sounds funny,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story

SO YOU KNOW

• Six of the top 10 counties for divorced residents are in Indiana and Florida.

STATE DIVORCE RATE

• Indiana’s divorce rate per resident is 12.3 percent. The lowest rate is North Dakota at 8.1 percent. Nevada has the highest rate at 14.2 percent.