A review of the antecedents of union dissolution

Abstract

Abstract The question of what factors contribute to the stability of coresidential partnerships has attracted the attention of many social scientists. This study summarizes recent research on the determinants of union dissolution within a set of substantive themes. Special emphasis is placed on the past two decades of research. European as well as American contributions are considered. 1. Introduction In this paper, we offer a brief review of research into the social, demographic, and economic factors that contribute to the dissolution of coresidential relationships. In contemporary industrialized societies, the break-up of a coresidential relationship is an increasingly common life course event (Andersson and Philipov 2002), and it is consequential both for adults and children (Amato 2000). Our focus is chiefly on demographic research on antecedents of separation (moving apart) and divorce. While many of the studies to date have concentrated on the dissolution of marriages rather than of cohabiting unions-mainly because there is less data on unmarried couples who live together-a larger body of literature on cohabiting unions is emerging. A related line of research focusing on more subjective and psychological factors, such as union quality and marital interactions, will not be summarized in this paper. Very good reviews of these research areas are available (Bradbury, Fincham, and Beach 2000; Gottman and Notarius 2000). Moreover, the present summary is, for the most part, restricted to studies published in international peer-reviewed journals. The most recent article that provided a broad summary of dissolution determinants covered the period up to the year 1990, and focused on American contributions (White 1990). Indeed, much of what we then knew about factors that influence the propensity to divorce was based on American research. In recent decades, research on the antecedents of union dissolution has expanded significantly, especially in Europe. We exclude studies that primarily relate to less developed countries. Most of this research is, either explicitly or implicitly, based on a micro-level theory of individual choice and couple-level bargaining. The early work by Gary Becker and colleagues (Becker, Landes, and Michael 1977) assumed a unitary household utility function, while later economic theory has more explicitly acknowledged that men and women may have differing incentives/disincentives (Lundberg and Pollak 1996). Meanwhile, sociologists have formulated theories explicitly including structural and cultural constraints (Levinger 1976, Brines and Joyner 1999, South, Trent, and Shen 2001). Whether it is completely tacit or it is formulated in terms of either microeconomics or rational actor-based sociology, there seems to be an agreement that the dissolution process involves some variant of utility maximization. This has been called the utilitarian synthesis by Brines and Joyner (1999). To augment the idea of utility maximization, various additional theoretical ideas have been invoked by researchers. These ideas connect the partners with, for example, their childhood experiences, their own union and childbearing histories, the resources brought into the partnership, their integration into labour markets, the organization of domestic life, and the social surroundings. The paper is organized in sections, with each covering one strand of research on factors related to union dissolution. In some subfields, there is plenty of research; whereas in others, our knowledge is rather sparse. A brief conclusion also comments on trends in union dissolution research. 2. Age, period, and cohort The basic time dimensions of union dissolution-namely, the spouses' ages, the duration of their union, the period, and the union cohort (the time the partners moved in together or married)-were given more attention in the 1980s than they are now. The increase in divorce risk over (historical) time can be a cohort-driven phenomenon: different cohorts may bring, for example, different experiences, resources, and expectations to their unions, and these differences may translate into higher divorce risks for younger cohorts. …