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Longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics show that parental divorce sharply increases probabilities that children will move out of their neighborhoods and will move to poorer neighborhoods. These outcomes are especially pronounced for African Americans and children whose parents were previously homeowners. Remarriage also has child-mobility outcomes. Contains 68 references. (Author/SV)

Used vital statistics data and census data to examine impact of women's marriage opportunities on family formation and dissolution. Linked measures of quantity/quality of potential spouses specific for woman's age, race, education, and area of residence to marriage, divorce, and nonmarital fertility rates. Greater marriage opportunities appear to increase marriage and divorce rates and decrease illegitimacy ratios. (Author/NB)

Challenges the belief that the divorce rate rises during prosperity and falls during economic recessions. Time-series regression analysis of postwar United States reveals small but positive effects of unemployment on divorce rate. Stronger influences on divorce rates are changes in age structure and labor-force participation rate of women. (Author/NRB)

Data from a sample of 66 countries were analyzed to investigate 4 hypothesized societal-level correlates of the divorce rate: socioeconomic development, female labor participation, the sex ratio, and dominant religion. Regression analyses revealed that all factors except religion had a significant effect on the crude divorce rate. Theoretical interpretations for emergent associations from the study are discussed. (TE)

Data from over 3,000 married couples responding to the National Survey of Families and Households are used to examine the ex- tent of agreement between wives and husbands in their perceived likelihood of divorce, and the degree to which such perceptions are related to the actual likelihood of divorce and to changes in labor supply and fertility. While there is considerable agreement between spouses in the perceived likelihood that their marriage will end in divorce, for about 7-8% of couples these assessments vary widely. Although both wives' and husbands' perceived likelihood of divorce is significantly associated with subsequent marital disruption, wives' perceptions are significantly better predictors than husbands'. Married women who expect their marriages to dissolve are more likely than others to increase their hours worked per week and their weeks worked per year, but expecting their marriages to end in divorce has a much weaker effect on married men's economic behavior. Wives', but not husbands', anticipation of divorce is significantly associated with a lower likelihood of childbearing, even among couples who remain married. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis merges marital history data for respondents in the National Survey of Families and Households with census data describing the sex composition of their local marriage markets to examine the impact of the availability of spousal alternatives on subjective measures of marital relations. The authors find significant bivariate associations between the sex composition of the local marriage market and husbands' and wives' marital happiness, perceived likelihood of divorce, and anticipated change in happiness if divorced. However, the effects of the sex composition of the local marriage market on these measures of marital quality are not significant after adjusting for racial differences. Racial differences in these subjective measures of marital quality cannot be explained by racial differences in mate availability, socioeconomic status, and other dimensions of sociodemographic background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research on the relationship between wives' employment and divorce has focused on two types of explanations: those positing changed motives regarding divorce and those suggesting changed opportunities. Without discounting totally the path from income to opportunity, we focus here on a somewhat neglected alternative, that leading from time constraints to changed motives toward maintaining a marriage. We argue that time spent by the wife working outside the home impedes the completion of tasks necessary to the maintenance of the household and hence increases the probability of divorce. Using data from the Young and Mature Women samples of the National Longitudinal Survey, we find that among employed women, hours worked has a greater impact on marital dissolution than do various measures of wife's earnings. In partial support of our hypotheses, the relationship between wife's hours worked and the probability of divorce is strongest for middle income families and families in which the husband disapproves of his wife's employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]