Marriage and Divorce in Sweden

bility of marriage. The intensity and direction of this influence are not, however, easily determined. Two conflicting influences are: (1) families with children enjoy some social benefits which must be assumed to have obviated fatal marriage discord resulting from economic difficulties entailed in the support of many children; and (2) through its social welfare program, society has taken over many of the functions formerly belonging to the family and has thereby diminished the common responsibility of husband and wife toward the family, thus facilitating and clearing the way for divorces. Such a development is not necessarily in conflict with a policy focused mainly on the physical and psychic health of the child. During the last two decades social legislation in Sweden has been to a large degree dictated by the changing population developments. The rapid decrease of the birth rate during the twenties attracted attention, was widely discussed following a study made by Alva and Gunnar Myrdal in 1934, and finally was an item on the agenda of the Riksdag. Parliamentary committees submitted legislative proposals which purposed to decrease the economic burden caused by children and to increase the security of children. Thus the law did not aim simply at a higher birth rate irrespective of the social environment in which the child would grow up. It was also concerned with the child's physical and psychic well-being. This is evident, for example, in the sterilization law of 1941 and in the abortion law of 1946

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