"This is really a large amount of money," said Bill Duncan, director of the Center for Family and Society. The center was launched Tuesday in conjunction with the study and is part of the conservative think tank Sutherland Institute in Salt Lake City.

The study, which counted households headed by single women, found that "family fragmentation" costs the nation $112 billion a year.

Because people in these households are more likely to be impoverished, they are also more likely to rely on assistance programs, according to the study.

"These costs arise from increased taxpayer expenditures for antipoverty, criminal justice and education programs, and through lower levels of taxes paid by individuals who, as adults, earn less because of reduced opportunities as a result of having been more likely to grow up in poverty," the study states.

Duncan and others were cautious to say that the study wasn't advocating an end to all divorces. There are valid reasons for divorce, though they didn't mention them specifically.

"It's not a moral judgment. We can actually measure the cost of social breakdown," said Paul Mero, president of the Sutherland Institute. "We hope all children can get the advantage of a mother and father in the home."

Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, hadn't seen the study Tuesday but is a staunch proponent of keeping marriages together, which is why she is the sponsor of a 2007 bill for a divorce orientation class. The rate of divorce in Utah is slightly above the national average, though the rate of marriage is also above average.

Fowlke, an attorney who has handled many divorces, said part of the problem is the "impulse society" in which people get exactly what they want or just walk away. Utah has a 90-day waiting period for divorces but just about anyone can get an exception, she said, having handled divorce cases in as little as two weeks.

"Most people just think they'll get a divorce and get away from this jerk or witch or whatever," she said. "What it really does is make their lives more difficult and impoverished."

Fowlke and Duncan say the solution isn't necessarily found in government regulation but that government shouldn't be making divorces easier, either. Pre-divorce or pre-marriage classes could improve the relationships of couples in the state.

"We learn much more about reading, writing and arithmetic than resolving communication problems," she said.

But government intervention isn't likely to change the situation, says Ron Hammond, a sociology professor at Utah Valley State College. That's because government at any level is unlikely to be able to change culture.

"The reason it won't work is because people are very aware that smoking causes cancer and they still suck those things all day long," he said.

Instead, the answer is probably lies closer to home: "If they're more devoted in their religion their odds of divorce and being unhappily married go down," Hammond said.

For example, he said the LDS Church released numbers showing members who are married in a temple or maintain a temple recommend only get divorced 8 percent of the time. Getting a recommend requires a higher level of adherence to church beliefs.

He does agree that the media has contributed greatly to attitudes toward marriage, saying that primetime TV tends to undermine the realities of marriage and divorce. He said with the advent of no-fault divorces, women continue to get custody in the majority of cases but the financial split has become more equal toward men. That often leaves women to re-educate themselves while taking care of children, both at a cost they likely can't afford.

"They just have to take it on the chin until they can get out of college and start making it on their own."

The study was sponsored by the Institute for American Values, the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, the Georgia Family Council and Families Northwest.