Divorce, domestic abuse on the rise in Thailand

[Bristolian]

The Nation

Divorce, Domestic Abuse On The Rise

The rate of divorce in Thailand has tripled from 10.8 per cent in 2009 to 33 per cent in 2012, while domestic violence has been recorded in at least a third of Thai families.
At a Chulabhorn Research Institute seminar Thursday, Wimontip Musikaphan, a lecturer at Mahidol University's National Institute for Child and Family Development, presented family-happiness indicator studies between 2009-2012. The survey involving 4,000 respondents focused on the importance of family, economic status and family members' vices.

The 2012 survey found that 61 per cent of the families had at least one member with a drinking problem, Wimontip said, adding that gambling was also a growing issue among families. More were found waging money on lottery (58.6 per cent) or betting on other things (40 per cent) compared to the 2010 figures of 52.6 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. While over 80 per cent of the respondents said their families earned enough to take care of themselves and have some savings, families with children under the age of 22 or senior citizens were seeing a 10-per-cent rise in debts.

Although the survey found that family members communicated more, domestic violence continued to rise, with 30.8 per cent of the households reporting abuse in 2012, she said. Many of the families reporting domestic violence had at least one member addicted to gambling, she said. Spousal cheating has also increased, hence the rate of divorce had risen from 10.8 per cent in 2009 to 12.8 per cent in 2010, 12.6 per cent in 2011 and 33 per cent in 2012.

"The family situation in Thailand is fragile due to risky behaviour related to vices, like alcoholism and gambling. Plus, more elderly people are being left home alone," she said.

33% divorce rate?? This must include unregistered Buddhist marriages also. Even so that is a staggering percentage

[usual suspect]

It saddens me when the wife brings me up-to-date with what's going on in her 'home' village...
Yes, just as Bristolian says above..lots of gambling, that then leads to borrowing, that then triggers crime.
This is all before we bring drink into the picture!
I've also learnt that in many villages the men-folk are encouraging their sons to go out theiving stuff every night from surrounding villages..the youths in the next village do this armed with machettes, so robbery with violence is on the rise! (Our village has it's own patrol-officers now).
(One bar-owner in HH has moved her whole family down here for safety..leaving behind the nice house that her Swedish husband has built for her.)
And by now you can guess who the 'secondary' victims of all this are..? Yes, the poor women, the real workers of the family that dare not challenge their husband's actions (or lack of them).
And all this is before the men don their red shirts!