YOUNG FAMILIES CANNOT STAND THE TEST

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[02:00 pm] 12 September, 2008

"The first four months of the marriage passed away in a winkle of an
eye. Everything was wonderful. But a year later when the baby was born,
unbearable social problems emerged and we divorced," said 25-year-old
Vardan who divorced five months ago. "Surely, we loved each other,
but our feelings got devoured in daily problems which were already
getting on my nerves."

Vardan sees his 1.5-year-old daughter twice a week.

"I do not get in touch with my wife, we don’t even greet each other,"
he says.

20-year-old Sona is not divorced, but she is not living with her
husband already for a month. "My individuality didn’t let me get
on with some traits of his character. This resulted in frequent
quarrels. My husband couldn’t stand it and went away."

Sona’s husband, 28-year-old Arsen, is going to appeal to court. As
soon as the couple is divorced Arsen will move to Russia leaving
pregnant Sona alone. Their marriage lasted only 6 months.

Psychologist Anush Petrossian says couples usually get divorced in
the first two years of matrimony, "It is the time when the couple
gets adapted to each other both in everyday life and in bed and this
is a most difficult test. The psychologist advises young couples not
to hurry to have babies, as they fully focus on the new-born baby.

"They should first get used to each other then to a third person,"
adds Anush Pogossian. Parent’s interference in their children’s private
life also leads to divorces. "It is selfishness. Armenian mothers say
they are trying to help the young. In fact they are simply afraid of
staying alone," says the psychologist.

To avert divorces the psychologist advises newly-married couples to
examine each other better before the marriage. "It is important that
the couple live together before the marriage," says Anush Pogossian.

28-year-old Sona thinks she will never marry again, "because no one
will marry a divorced woman with a child. They say I can marry only a
divorced man but now I don’t want to think about anything else but my
child. I shall devote all my life to my baby," says the future mother.

Note, according to the Justice Ministry 2195 families divorced over
the past eight months.