Understanding the Divorce Cycle: The Children of Divorce in their Own Marriages PDF
Preview Understanding the Divorce Cycle: The Children of Divorce in their Own Marriages
P1:IRK/KFO-KAB P2:IRK/FQV-KFO QC:KOD 0521851155agg.xml CB862/Wolfinger 0521851165 April11,1904 9:34 This page intentionally left blank ii P1:IRK/KFO-KAB P2:IRK/FQV-KFO QC:KOD 0521851155agg.xml CB862/Wolfinger 0521851165 April11,1904 9:34 Understanding the Divorce Cycle Growing up in a divorced family leads to a variety of difficulties for adult offspring in their own partnerships. One of the best known and mostpowerfulisthedivorcecycle,thetransmissionofdivorcefromone generation to the next. This book draws on two national social survey data sets to examine how the divorce cycle has transformed family life in contemporary America. Compared to people from intact families, the children of divorce are more likely to marry as teenagers but less likely to wed overall. They are more likely to marry other people from divorced families, more likely to dissolve second and third marriages, and less likely to marry their live-in partners. Yet some of the adverse consequencesofparentaldivorcehaveabatedevenasdivorceitselfhas proliferated and become more socially accepted. Taken together, these findingsshowhowparentaldivorceisastrongforceinpeople’slivesand societyasawhole. Nicholas Wolfinger is an assistant professor at the University of Utah. Heistheco-editorofthebookFragileFamiliesandtheMarriageAgenda. He has published widely in journals such as Demography,SocialForces, andJournalofFamilyIssues.HeistherecipientoftheUniversityofUtah’s SuperiorResearchAward,2004. i P1:IRK/KFO-KAB P2:IRK/FQV-KFO QC:KOD 0521851155agg.xml CB862/Wolfinger 0521851165 April11,1904 9:34 ii P1:IRK/KFO-KAB P2:IRK/FQV-KFO QC:KOD 0521851155agg.xml CB862/Wolfinger 0521851165 April11,1904 9:34 UNDERSTANDING THE DIVORCE CYCLE The Children of Divorce in Their Own Marriages Nicholas H. Wolfinger UniversityofUtah iii cambridge university press Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,SãoPaulo Cambridge University Press TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb22ru,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationo nthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521851169 © Cambridge University Press 2005 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublishedinprintformat 2005 isbn-13 978-0-511-12909-4 eBook(EBL) isbn-10 0-511-12909-2 eBook(EBL) isbn-13 978-0-521-85116-9 hardback isbn-10 0-521-85116-5 hardback isbn-13 978-0-521-61660-7 paperback isbn-10 0-521-61660-3 paperback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls forexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnot guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. P1:IRK/KFO-KAB P2:IRK/FQV-KFO QC:KOD 0521851155agg.xml CB862/Wolfinger 0521851165 April11,1904 9:34 Contents Preface pageix Acknowledgments xi 1 Introduction 1 MarriageandDivorce:CoexistingAmericanInstitutions 2 DivorceandPublicPolicy 5 OutlineofBook 6 Data 8 TowardaBalancedPortraitoftheDivorceCycle 9 2 WhyDivorceBegetsDivorce 11 FatherAbsence 12 InstitutionalizedInequality:Racism,Poverty,and FamilyStructure 14 TowardaBetterExplanation 17 PredivorceDifferences 17 ContextandCommunity 19 SocioeconomicExplanations 21 GeneticDifferences 25 ParentalConflict 26 RoleModelingRedux 27 ParentalDivorceandOffspringMaritalProblems 30 FromFamilyofOrigintoMaritalDissolution 33 3 CouplingandUncoupling 35 TheDemographyofMarriage 36 WhyParentalDivorceAffectsOffspring MarriageTiming 38 HowParentalDivorceAffectsOffspring MarriageTiming 40 v P1:IRK/KFO-KAB P2:IRK/FQV-KFO QC:KOD 0521851155agg.xml CB862/Wolfinger 0521851165 April11,1904 9:34 contents WhytheChildrenofDivorceHaveHighRatesof TeenageMarriage 42 ExplainingLowOverallMarriageRatesfortheChildren ofDivorce 44 ParentalDivorceandPartnerSelection:Family StructureHomogamy 45 HowParentalDivorceAffectsPartnerSelection 47 Conclusion 51 4 HowStrongIstheDivorceCycle? 53 HowStrongIstheDivorceCycle? 55 DifferencesbyFamilyType 56 ParentalDivorce,SocialBackground,andRespondent Characteristics 60 HowSocialBackgroundandRespondentCharacteristics AffecttheDivorceCycle 63 CanUnwedMotherhoodExplaintheDivorceCycle? 67 RedHerrings 69 MultipleMarriagesandMultipleDivorces 71 Conclusion 73 5 HistoricalDevelopments 76 HowDivorceChangedintheTwentiethCentury 77 ExplainingTrendsinMarriageTimingfortheChildren ofDivorce 81 HowHastheMaritalBehaviorofPeoplefromDivorced FamiliesChangedoverTime? 82 WhyMarriageRatesHaveDeclined 83 ExplainingTrendsintheIntergenerationalTransmission ofDivorce 85 HowMuchHastheDivorceCycleAbated? 87 Conclusion 91 6 TheCohabitationRevolution 93 HowMarriageandCohabitationDiffer 94 HowParentalDivorceAffectsCohabitingRelationships 97 Conclusion 102 vi P1:IRK/KFO-KAB P2:IRK/FQV-KFO QC:KOD 0521851155agg.xml CB862/Wolfinger 0521851165 April11,1904 9:34 contents 7 Conclusion 105 ParentalDivorceandOffspringMaritalBehavior:A LifeSpanChronology 107 MarriageTiming 107 MateSelection 108 WhatMakestheDivorceCycleStronger?OrWeaker? 109 HistoricalTrends 112 ParentalDivorceandOffspringCohabiting Relationships 115 Limitations 116 TheDivorceReformMovementinAmerica 116 TheArgumentforNo-FaultLaws 120 MixedBlessings 124 AppendixA:DataandMethods 127 Data 127 SurveyWeightsandClustering 128 MeasuringFamilyofOrigin 129 SocioeconomicVariables 132 TemporalVariables 133 MiscellaneousVariables 135 MissingData 135 Analysis 135 Chapter3 135 Chapter4 137 Chapter5 139 Chapter6 141 AppendixB:EvaluatingtheRoleofMarriageDifferentials intheWeakeningDivorceCycle 142 Notes 145 Bibliography 159 Index 177 vii P1:IRK/KFO-KAB P2:IRK/FQV-KFO QC:KOD 0521851155agg.xml CB862/Wolfinger 0521851165 April11,1904 9:34 viii
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