The effects of the Chilean divorce law on women’s first birth decisions

In 2004 a new law in Chile allowed couples to divorce for the first time. The law also established compensation in case of divorce where one spouse sacrifices professional development or advancement for the good of the household. Using birth histories constructed from the Chilean Social Security Survey (Encuesta de Prevision Social–EPS) Panel 2002–2009, we investigate the effect of the divorce law on a woman’s decision of when to have a first child. We find that the divorce law increases the hazard rate of having the first child by 61 % for more educated women, controlling for socioeconomic characteristics, length of marriage and the negative trend in fertility rates observed in Chile since the mid-1960s. We also find that a given percentage increase in a woman’s potential income will increase the hazard rate by a greater percentage increase after the passage of the law.     

Divorce Comparative Style

This article examines the social conditions that bring about changes in divorce law and behavior. Modernization was found to have an important effect on divorce patterns, but depending on other social variables, it may make divorce easier or more difficult. The other variables that appear to influence patterns of divorce are: the kinship system, attitudes toward property, the status of women, religion and its political influence, social class, the social meaning of marriage, and the role of the state.     

A New Approach to Jewish Divorce

The traditional Jewish law of divorce, which permits a husband to divorce his wife, but does not sanction the wife's divorcing him, has created hardship for Jewish women for centuries. In view of the new attitudes toward the equality of women, the rabbis of the Reconstructionist Movement in Judaism have innovated an egalitarian "get" (divorce), a bold effort to prevent Jewish women from becoming agunot (abandoned wives.) By means of the new type of divorce, the Jewish woman takes the initiative and divorces the husband.     

A Longitudinal Study of the Long-Term Predictors of China’s Divorce Rate

Abstract

Based on data from the China Statistical Yearbook from 1996 to 2013, this study explores the long-term predictors of China’s divorce rate over recent decades with the longitudinal models incorporating the repeated measure models and long-term change models. The research findings suggest that among the factors researched, the economic development and the time factor are the two most essential predicators explaining the long-term variations in China’ divorce rate from 1996 to 2013. This result provides additional empirical evidence from China as a transitional economy to support the widely accepted assumption that the divorce rate rises with the advance of modernization. On the contrary, the positive effect of women’s empowerment disappeared with the presence of economic development, indicating that over a long period of time, the two factors do not work at the same time, and the economic development may affect the divorce rate independent of the influence of women’s empowerment. It can be implied that despite calls for the revival of Chinese tradition and culture under Xi Jinping’s rule since 2012, China’s divorce rate is expected to continue to rise with further economic development.     

Stigma in divorces and its deterrence effect

We develop a simple economic model of divorce by incorporating the labeling effect into rational choice theory. In our model, we provide an explanation of the process through which a divorced person is being stigmatized and explore theoretically the relationship between the experience of having divorced and the likelihood of divorce. Contrary to a widely held belief, our theoretical model predicts that a once-divorced person is not necessarily more likely to divorce, as is the case in Asian countries. This is because a divorced person may hesitate more to divorce one more time for fear of being labeled as pathological or abnormal.     

The Emergence of a Specific Kind of Individualization Habitus Among Divorced Women

Previous research has consistently found that divorce is associated with psychological distress. This study expands existing research by considering age, education, employment, income, length of divorce, number of children, and economic hardship as predictors of postdivorce psychological distress among divorced women in Iran. This study examines 800 divorced women in Iran 30 to 48 years old who had been divorced for no more than 2 years. Results demonstrated that education, number of children, and economic hardship together predict 63.6% of the variance in psychological distress among divorced women. Economic hardship was found to be the strongest contributor. Recommendations for researchers and implications for clinicians are discussed.     

Continued Pursuit of Happily Ever After: Low Barriers to Divorce and Happiness

Throughout the 1970s, a “no-fault revolution” swept through the United States, reducing the legal and economic barriers to divorce. Previous studies have found that these legal changes did at least temporarily increase divorces, and may have been, on average, detrimental to women’s economic well-being. It has also been suggested that reducing the barriers to divorce redistributed power to spouses with better predicted outcomes on the remarriage market. In keeping with this theory, the current study examined men and women ages 25–50 as they transitioned to low-barriers to divorce regimes. My data show that reductions in the barriers to divorce were associated with reductions in women’s happiness, particularly among older women and women with children. Conversely, older men and men with children (these women’s potential partners) reported on average higher happiness after low barriers to divorce. These relationships were found even for individuals who remained married, suggesting that this redistribution of happiness was in part the result of a change in bargaining power within marriages.     

Interactions Between Cultural and Economic Determinants of Divorce in The Netherlands

This study examines the relationship between gendered family roles and divorce in The Netherlands. Cultural and economic aspects of this relationship are distinguished. Economic hypotheses argue that the likelihood of divorce is increased if women work for pay and have attractive labor market resources. Cultural hypotheses argue that divorce chances are increased if women adhere to emancipatory norms, independent of their labor market positions. An event‐history analysis of a life‐history survey among 1,289 Dutch women reveals evidence for both hypotheses. Interaction effects are found as well: The protective effect of a traditional division of paid labor is only present among couples in which wives have traditional gender attitudes. Hence, the validity of economic explanations of divorce is conditional on cultural values.     

An Examination of Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Divorce

ABSTRACT

Using the General Social Survey, this article examines the gender difference in attitudes toward divorce. Although previous studies have found that women have more tolerant attitudes toward divorce compared to men, we find that this gender difference depends on the measure. Our analysis indicates that women are more likely than men to advocate making divorce more difficult to obtain. We find a significant link between the Protestant faith and conservative attitudes toward divorce; taking into account religious factors reduced the gender difference in attitudes. Consistent with prior literature, our results indicate that different factors affect men's and women's views of divorce.     

Single Asian American Women as a Result of Divorce

This article reveals findings of an exploratory study of the psychological and social experiences following divorce among Asian American women. In depth interviews were conducted with 50 women who were divorced within the last five years residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. The article focuses on neglecting dimensions of the adjustment problems among divorced Asian American women by mvestigating the perceptions, thoughts, and feelings over a broad range of questions. The study findings suggest that the newly divorced are significantly more depressed. This increased depression is affected by greater economic problems, lower perceived standard of living and lesser availability of close confiding relationships. Despite its increases, divorce remains an event that brings economic and emotional hardship to these women: The greater depressive effect reflects their worsened life conditions. These divorced Asian American women face complex problems of emotional, personal and social adjustment requiring further attention by researchers.     

“It Is Not a Big Deal,I Can Do It,Too”: Influence of Parental Divorce on Professional Women's Marital Experience in Turkey

This article reports on a study of how parental divorce affects the marriage and divorce experiences of professional women in Turkey. Drawing on the retrospective accounts of eight professional women in relation to their own divorce and those of their parents, this study highlights the role of parental divorce and cultural context in adult children's attitudes, beliefs, and experiences regarding their own union formation. Based on this small qualitative sample, results demonstrate that parental divorce affected women's entire lives, with considerable impact on their commitment to marriage and view of divorce in general. They learn from their parents that marriages can be broken when they do not function properly. As a result, instead of being more patient or self- sacrificing, as is frequently advised to women in Turkish society, the women in this study readily tended toward divorce as a viable solution to marital problems.     

Concepts of Fairness in Marriage and Divorce

Discourses of fairness are bound up with Western ideals of companionate marriage. They are also central to the ways people talk about their approaches to divorce, especially in relation to the division of property and finances. How fairness is understood within marriage, however, is gendered, with husbands more likely to take equity-based approaches and wives equality-based approaches. In this article I discuss previous research on how fairness is understood within marriage, and compare this with data from a study of people going through divorce proceedings in England and Wales. I suggest that some, but not all, understandings about fairness are carried over from marriage into divorce, and note that in many ways English and Welsh divorce law supports a particular conception of fairness that redresses objectively unfair divisions of labor within the marital relationship.     

Women's Education,Marital Violence,and Divorce: A Social Exchange Perspective

Drawing on social exchange theories, the authors hypothesized that educated women are more likely than uneducated women to leave violent marriages and suggested that this pattern offsets the negative education–divorce association commonly found in the United States. They tested these hypotheses using 2 waves of young adult data on 914 married women from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The evidence suggests that the negative relationship between women's education and divorce is weaker when marriages involve abuse than when they do not. The authors observed a similar pattern when they examined the association of women's proportional earnings and divorce, controlling for education. Supplementary analyses suggested that marital satisfaction explains some of the association among women's resources, victimization, and divorce but that marital violence continues to be a significant moderator of the education–divorce association. In sum, education appears to benefit women by both maintaining stable marriages and dissolving violent ones.     

The economic fallout from divorce: Issues for the 1990s

Economic consequences of divorce, especially for women, are negative and persistent according to a range of research studies. The question is whether, given changing social circumstances, this negative economic fallout from divorce is likely to diminish in the 1990s and beyond. Dramatic changes suggest both reasons for optimism and pessimism. On the positive side are the trends toward more continuous labor force participation among women and smaller contemporary family sizes. Negative influences include changes in the labor market for women, continuing problems with child support compliance, the persistence of the wage gap, and the difficulties of combining parenting and employment.The writing of this paper was supported in part by National Institute on Aging grants AG04895 and AG06591. We are grateful to Marina Adler, Sharon Price, Mara Skruch and Lynn White for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.(Ph.D., University of Southern California) conducts research on divorce, widowhood, older women's issues, and family support in later life families.(Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) focuses her research on divorce, bereavement, and the impact of life events on adjustment.(Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University) studies economic trends in U.S. society.     

The Extent and Rate of Divorce in Plateau State,Nigeria 1980 to 1988

The major issue for this research was to investigate the extent and rate of divorce, its causes and attitudes toward divorce laws. This study surveyed 3500 people from the selected local government areas. The findings show high divorce rate, and 71.2% of the husbands had their divorce in courts as opposed lo 76.6% of the wives who had their marriages annulled in courts. Adultery ranked the highest among the reasons for divorce, while the wives were more likely than their husbands to have negative attitudes toward divorce laws because they are always the victims of divorce not protected by the law.     

The Role of Coercion in Affecting Women's Inferior Outcomes in Divorce

An investigation was conducted by the author into concessions of rightful property, child support and maintenance awards from ex-spouses under pressures from emotional blackmail of coercion. Information was obtained from legal and sociological literature, divorce records in Hennepin County, Minnesota, along with informal interviews with one attorney and eight divorced women. Spousal attempts at coercion during divorce negotiations may influence some women to make stipulations, agreements honored by this court, to less child support, property and/or maintenance than suggesteed guidelines or if they were to litigate those matters through the court system. This has economic, theoretical, therapeutic and research implications.     

The economic consequences of the dissolution of cohabiting unions

Although the economic effects of divorce have been well studied, a similar exploration of cohabitation has not been conducted. For this analysis, we use a sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 2,372) documenting changes in economic well‐being at the end of a cohabiting relationship and comparing these results to a sample of divorced respondents. After dissolution, formerly cohabiting men's economic standing declines moderately, whereas formerly cohabiting women's declines much more precipitously, leaving a substantial proportion of women in poverty. This effect is particularly pronounced for African American and Hispanic women. Though the end of the relationship does reinforce gender stratification, it is also an “equalizer” between married and cohabiting women, leaving them in strikingly similar economic positions.     

Economic dependency and divorce: implications for the private sphere

"This paper asserts a connection between economic dependency and divorce. It argues that, because dependency deprives women of equal access to the public sphere and because it confines them, through normative definition, to the private sphere, it reduces their likelihood of seeking divorce. The paper also argues, contrary to recent findings, that socioeconomic development should be linearly and positively associated with divorce. Data from 51 nations are examined and multiple regression analysis [suggests] considerable support for these arguments."     

Parents’ Expectations About Childrearing After Divorce: Does Anticipating Difficulty Deter Divorce?

Divorce is costly for parents because of the challenges of meeting children’s economic and socioemotional needs after separation. Using the National Survey of Families and Households (N= 1,935), we investigate whether expected economic and parenting costs deter divorce. Mothers expect higher economic costs than fathers, whereas fathers expect more parenting difficulties. Most parents, however, expect high economic and parenting costs. In a large minority of families, mothers and fathers differ in their expected costs. Parenting costs deter divorce, but economic costs do not once other family characteristics are controlled. When parents disagree, mothers’ parenting concerns are a greater barrier to divorce than fathers’ concerns. Finally, parenting costs are a greater barrier to divorce for unhappy than happy couples.     

The Late-Divorce Phenmonon

The escalating divorce rate in Canada is mirrored by the Province of Quebec where divorce has increased 270% in the past 5 years. This study examined late divorce occurring after 20 years or more of marriage. Late divorce was found to result from the breakdown of the traditional type of marriage. which legally ended because of adultery. Multiple causes, including sexual dissatisfaction. were the primary "real" reasons. The liberalized Canadian federal divorce law of 1968 was reported not to have encouraged divorce. Divorce was rated the highest in stress for any major life event. Neither religion nor the family was reported to be a strong barrier against divorce. Even though divorce resulted in much social readjustment and stress, it also resulted in positive feelings, personal independence, and relief.