The new divorce freak-out: these days, it's not just married people who worry about a nuptial meltdown. Even singles are losing faith in the notion of happily ever after. Cosmo takes a closer look.(The State of (Love) Unions: PART 1)

Lately, it seems you can't pick up a magazine or even your phone without hearing about another married couple calling it quits. Whether it's celebrities like Nick and Jessica, Eminem and Kim Mathers (again!), or your best buds from high school, it feels like damn near everyone is getting divorced. If that's not enough of a downer, we're bombarded with statistics estimating that 50 percent of all marriages fail.

The result: Many chicks are freaking out, afraid that if they do choose to walk down the aisle eventually, it won't end happily ever after. "Young women have not only witnessed their parents or friends' parents getting divorced, but they're 'also seeing it among their peer group," says Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, PhD, codirector of the National Marriage Project. "The threat of divorce is very tangible and real, even if you haven't experienced it firsthand."

In fact, in a recent Cosmo poll, 81 percent of those surveyed admitted that they worry about getting divorced one day (compared with 10 percent who don't think it will happen to them and 9 percent who don't fret about it at all).

This fear has affected women's views on marriage and the way they approach their relationships. Cosmo looks at how the current preoccupation with divorce has changed our romantic attitudes and why smart, independent chicks like you actually don't have as much to worry about as you might think.

FREAK-OUT FALLOUT

Relationship Wariness

Even if marriage is the furthest thing from your mind, you still can be shaken by the fact that so many duos are biting the dust. In fact, the divorce-happy culture seems to be creating an entire generation of commitmentphobes.