Transcript Lesson 2 – Studying Marriages and Families

Lesson 14 - Divorce
Robert Wonser
DIVORCE IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Divorce is the legal dissolution of a
previously granted marriage.
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DIVORCE RATES
rend upward since 60-70s
Divorce rate
# of divorces/1000 married ♀
Predictive divorce rate
% of people who had married in a given year
who will divorce at some point before death
US 40-50%
 Russia 65%
 Sweden 64%
 Canada 45%
 Israel 26%
 Greece 18%
 Italy 12%
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MOST RECENT CENSUS.GOV DATA
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DIVORCE RATES, CONTINUED
20% of Americans have been divorced
And for second and third marriages?
Rate increases for subsequent
marriages
60-67% of second marriages
73-74% of third marriages
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MOST PEOPLE MAKE ONLY ONE TRIP DOWN THE
AISLE, BUT FIRST MARRIAGES SHORTER, CENSUS
BUREAU REPORTS
 On average, first marriages that end in divorce last about
eight years.
 The median time between divorce and a second marriage
was about three and a half years.
 In 2004, 12 percent of men and 13 percent of women
had married twice, and 3 percent each had married three
or more times.
 Among adults 25 and older who had ever divorced, 52
percent of men and 44 percent of women were currently
married.
 Just over half of currently married women in 2004 had
been married for at least 15 years, and 6 percent had
been married at least 50 years.
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CAUSES OF DIVORCE
SOCIETAL FACTORS
marriage not permanent
changing family functions
individualism
social integration
liberal divorce laws
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DIVORCE RATES HIGHEST IN THE SOUTH, LOWEST IN
THE NORTHEAST, CENSUS BUREAU REPORTS
 National rates of marriage in the past 12 months were
19.1 for men and 17.6 for women. There were 3.5
instances of widowhood for men and 7.8 for women,
per every 1,000 people.
 Children living with a parent who divorced in 2009
were more likely to live in a household headed by their
mother (75 percent) than in a household headed by
their father (25 percent). Additionally, children living
with a parent who divorced in 2009 were more likely to
be in a household below the poverty level (28 percent)
compared with other children (19 percent), and they
were more likely to live in a rented home (53 percent)
compared with other children (36 percent).
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 The economic well-being of those who experienced a recent
marital event dif fered.
 Women who divorced in the past 12 months were more likely
to receive public assistance than recently divorced men (23
percent and 15 percent).
 Women who divorced in the past 12 months reported less
household income than recently divorced men. For example,
27 percent of women who divorced in the past 12 months had
less than $25,000 in annual household income compared with
17 percent of recently divorced men.
 Similarly, women who divorced in the past 12 months were
more likely than recently divorced men to be in poverty (22
percent compared with 11 percent).
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 Women who divorced in the past 12 months were
more likely to be living in a multigenerational
household -- 11 percent of such women, compared
with 5 percent of men.
 Thirteen states had median durations for second
marriages for women below the U.S. median of 14.5
years. This included six states in the Northeast
(Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York,
Rhode Island and Vermont) ranging from 13.1 to
13.6 years.
 Among those widowed in the last year, 77 percent of
men and 73 percent of women were white alone,
non-Hispanic.
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CAUSES OF DIVORCE
DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS
employment status
income
education
race/ethnicity
religion
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CAUSES OF DIVORCE
LIFE COURSE FACTORS
age at marriage
premarital pregnancy
remarriage
parental divorce
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CAUSES OF DIVORCE
FAMILY PROCESS FACTORS
marital happiness and problems
children
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STAGES TO DIVORCE
emotional divorce
legal divorce
economic divorce
co-parental divorce
community divorce
psychic divorce
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NO-FAULT DIVORCE
 Traditional divorce:
Prove marital misconduct
Adversarial and expensive
Winner gets money and children
 No-fault divorce:
Acknowledge marriages may not work
No fault or blame attributed
Both spouses share finances and custody
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CONSEQUENCES OF DIVORCE
emotional and psychological
consequences
financial consequences
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T YPES OF EX-SPOUSE RELATIONSHIPS
Perfect Pals
Cooperative Colleagues
Angry Associates
Firey Foes
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KIN RELATIONSHIPS
How kin can help:
Listen, empathize, show love and
affection
Child care
Discuss decisions
Accept autonomy or dependence needs
Daughters get more help
Ex-kin contact involves children
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CHILD CUSTODY
Legal custody – decision-making
Sole or joint (parents cooperate)
Physical custody – residency
Sole or joint (parents cooperate)
4 x more custodial parents live under the
poverty line than married parents
Court’s decision – best for child
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EFFECTS OF DIVORCE ON CHILDREN
Major disruptive life event that causes:
Emotional insecurity
Confusion
Uncertainty and anxiety
Behavioral problems
Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal research
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SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES
 Fastest growing (not largest) family form today
 Most are headed by mothers
 Often tend to be at or near poverty line
 More common in blacks (about half today), and
Hispanics (about 1/3 today)
 Transitional family form (tend to be on the way
out of a relationship and or on the way into a
relationship)
 Remember the marriage-go-round?
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APPLYING THEORY
Structural Functionalism
Symbolic Interactionism
Conflict Theory
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