Impact of Marital Dissolution on Men's and Women's Incomes: A Longitudinal Study

This study adopted a longitudinal framework in examining economic consequences of marital dissolution for men and women. Data collected in the Survey of Labor and Income Dynamics from 1998 to 2005 were used to compare men's and women's incomes for up to 5 years during and after marital dissolution. Marital dissolution was defined as divorce or separation from a spouse or a common-law partner. Results revealed a dramatic drop in women's income and a slight drop in men's income during the dissolution year. One year later, women's income was 80% that of men's; 4 years past dissolution, it reached 85% that of men's. Gender differences in adjusted incomes were statistically significant for up to 3 years postdissolution. These findings suggest that the level of deterioration in women's economic well-being after marital dissolution has not improved in the last 2 decades.     

Gender Differences in Poverty Rates After Marital Dissolution: A Longitudinal Study

ABSTRACT

Data from the Canadian Survey of Labor and Income Dynamics were used to examine rates of entering low income for divorced and separated men and women from 1999 to 2004. One in 5 women entered low income in the breakup year as compared with 1 in 13 men. About one quarter of women remained in low income for at least 1 year compared with 9.8% of men. Most divorced and separated women who entered low income did so during the breakup year and remained in low income for 1 year. However, women less than 40 years old were at higher risk of persistent poverty.     

Religious Dynamics and Marital Dissolution: A Latent Class Approach

Past research on religious homogamy has struggled to distinguish whether religiosity or homogamy has a stronger impact on preventing a marital dissolution. To rectify this problem, I use a latent class approach to compare couples with various forms of partner religiosity and similarity. Based on 707 newlywed couples from the Marriage Matters survey (1998–2004), I discovered four latent classes: “holy” couples (both partners are highly religious), “nonattending” couples (both partners identify as religious but don’t regularly attend services), “unbalanced” couples (the wife is religious but the husband is not), and “secular” couples (both partners are not religious). Findings indicate that holy, nonattending, and unbalanced couples experience less odds of divorce compared with secular couples, suggesting that religiosity in a variety of forms is more important than partner similarity in avoiding divorce.     

Modeling Repeatable Events Using Discrete‐Time Data: Predicting Marital Dissolution

I join two methodologies by illustrating the application of multilevel modeling principles to hazard‐rate models with an emphasis on procedures for discrete‐time data that contain repeatable events. I demonstrate this application using data taken from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) to ascertain the relationship between multiple covariates and risk of subsequent marital dissolution. I consider both fixed‐ and random‐effects versions of the multilevel model, as well as a Generalized Estimating Equation alternative to estimating random effects. I compare results obtained from the various estimators, noting why differences occur, and recommend when to choose the various alternatives. I also provide a set of SAS and STATA programs that can be used to analyze the NSFG data.     

A Diverging Trend in Marital Dissolution by Income Status

Was the divorce plateau of the 1980s experienced by people of all incomes? Using the 2001 and 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation, this study (N = 13,131) examined if there was a significant income class difference in marital dissolution within 10 years of first marriage and if this difference increased from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. The findings indicated that there was a significant income class difference in marital dissolution and that the difference was growing during the study period. Whereas the dissolution rates of higher income women had gone down, the rates for women with the lowest incomes had significantly increased, especially for Black women after the 1980s, indicating a diverging trend in marital dissolution by income status.     

Adolescent Sexuality and the Risk of Marital Dissolution

This research investigates whether first sexual intercourse during adolescence is associated with increased risk of first marriage dissolution and tests whether the results are consistent with causal or selection explanations. Drawing on a sample of 3,793 ever‐married women from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, this study estimated event‐history models of first‐marriage dissolution. Results indicate that wanted sexual debut in later adolescence does not directly increase the risk of marital dissolution but is linked indirectly as a result of subsequent premarital sexual outcomes. Sexual debut that is not completely wanted or that occurs before age 16 is associated with increased risk of marital dissolution. The results suggest that the timing and context of adolescent sexual debut have important implications for marital stability.     

Changing Patterns of Religious Affiliation,Religiosity, and Marital Dissolution: A 35-Year Study of Three-Generation Families

This article examines multiple aspects of religion and the risk of marital dissolution with a life course lens. Relying on the Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG), 1971 to 2005, we explore the effects of religion on the risk of first marital dissolution. Using discrete time-logit analysis, we find that the effect of religion and religiosity on divorce and separation were not significant, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, such as gender, ethnicity, marriage cohort, education, presence of children, household income, and employment status. Our findings support exchange theory that emphasizes educational and financial resources as key factors in divorce rather than religion or religiosity.     

Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution: An Examination of Recent Marriages

An ongoing question remains for family researchers: Why does a positive association between cohabitation and marital dissolution exist when one of the primary reasons to cohabit is to test relationship compatibility? Drawing on recently collected data from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth, the authors examined whether premarital cohabitation experiences were associated with marital instability among a recent contemporary (married since 1996) marriage cohort of men (N = 1,483) and women (N = 2,003). They found that a dichotomous indicator of premarital cohabitation was in fact not associated with marital instability among women and men. Furthermore, among cohabitors, marital commitment prior to cohabitation (engagement or definite plans for marriage) was tied to lower hazards of marital instability among women, but not men. This research contributes to our understanding of cohabitation, marital instability, and broader family change.     

Economic Consequences of Marital Dissolution for Blacks

This study analyzes Weitzman's suggestion that men and women lose economic well-being in the first year after divorce. Family incomes of divorced women and men are compared with their married counterparts for five SES categories. Using t-tests, it was found that, for most categories, for both genders, incomes of divorced persons were lower than incomes of married persons. Family incomes were regressed against a set of four control variables and a marital status variable. The marital status variable was statistically significant for four of the five SES categories for females. This was not true for males. Policy implications are considered.     

Spousal Dissimilarity,Race, and Marital Dissolution

I test the claims that spousal differences in ideational, behavioral, and other traits contribute to elevated rates of marital dissolution among African Americans. Using data from 3 waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 5,424), I find that African American spouses experience high levels of dissimilarity in traits that may produce incompatibility. That dissimilarity can account for part of the difference in marital dissolution risk between African Americans and other groups. African Americans’ higher levels of spousal dissimilarity in certain areas may result from less resolution of spousal differences during initial relationship stages rather than from differences in assortative mating. The results argue for increased focus on how couple‐level factors early in relationships influence racial variation in marital dissolution.     

Marital Discord and Subsequent Dissolution: Perceptions of Nepalese Wives and Husbands

The author examined the influence of marital discord on separation and divorce in a rural South Asian setting. Little is known about how marital discord influences marital outcomes in settings with low personal freedom and limited access to independence. Using a sample of 674 couples from the Chitwan Valley Family Study in Nepal, the author investigated the impact of marital discord on the rate of marital dissolution and the extent to which wives' and husbands' perceptions of discord influence dissolution. The results revealed that (a) spouses' perceptions of marital discord increase the rate of marital dissolution, (b) both husbands' and wives' perceptions of discord have an important influence, and (c) the influence of wives' perceptions of discord is independent of their husbands' perceptions. Overall, these findings suggest that both spouses' perceptions of discord are important for marital outcomes, even in settings where the costs of marital dissolution are relatively high.     

Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution in Postreform China

The author uses cohabitation data from the 2010 Chinese Family Panel Studies to analyze the association of premarital cohabitation with subsequent divorce of first marriage. After balancing selection factors that influence premarital cohabitation through propensity score matching, the author uses Cox proportional hazards models to examine the selection, causation, and diffusion perspectives on the relationship between premarital cohabitation and marital dissolution. The results show that premarital cohabitation is positively associated with divorce for those married in the early‐reform period (1980–1994) when cohabitation was uncommon. However, this relationship disappears for those married in the late‐reform period (1995–2010) when cohabitation became more prevalent. The findings suggest variation in the link between premarital cohabitation and divorce across different marriage cohorts and provide strong evidence for the diffusion perspective in postreform China. Supplemental sensitivity analyses support the robustness of the conclusion.     

Household Debt and Marital Instability: Evidence from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study

Korean society has recently experienced rapid increases in household debt and divorce rates. This study investigates whether household debt and debt ratios lower marital stability and increase the probability of divorce among Korean families. Six-year panels from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) household surveys were used for analysis. The effect of household debt upon the probability of divorce was estimated through pooled and population-averaged Logit models. The results suggest that household financial strain measured by the amount of household debt and the debt-to-income ratios does not significantly affect the probability of divorce. This finding contradicts the widespread notion that households’ excessive borrowing has been partially responsible for the recent increase in divorce rates in Korea.

Religious Influences on the Risk of Marital Dissolution

This study examined multiple dimensions of religious involvement and the risk of divorce among a nationwide sample of 2,979 first‐time married couples. Multivariate proportional hazards modeling was used to analyze two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. Results indicated that although each partner's religious attendance bore a modest relationship to marital dissolution, the risk of divorce was lower if husbands had conservative theological beliefs and when both partners belonged to mainline Protestant denominations. Conversely, the risk of divorce was elevated if husbands attended services more frequently than their wives and if wives were more theologically conservative than their husbands. These patterns withstood controls for sociodemographic covariates, marital duration, and marital quality. Directions for future research are discussed.