Statewide Divorce Rates and Wives' Participation in the Labor Market

An ecological analysis of the relationship between the participation of married women in the labor market and divorce rates was carried out on the continental states of the U.S. for 1980. It was found that the higher the proportion of married women working full-time and the lower proportion of married women working part-time the higher the divorce rate of the state. Reasons for this result were discussed.