Gender Differences in Satisfaction with Divorce Settlements

Abstract

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SATISFACTION WITH DIVORCE SETTLEMENTS* Virgil L. Sheets and Sanford L. Braver** Based on previous research, it was expected that women would be less satisfied with their divorce settlements than men. A survey of over 400 divorced persons contradicts this hypothesis: Women indicate greater satisfaction with custody, visitation, financial (excepting child support), and property settlements. Three explanations for these results are explored. The findings suggest that it is a perceived inequitable process, rather than a perceived inequitable outcome, that most contributes to dissatisfaction with a final divorce decree. Over one half of all first marriages now end in divorce (Martin & Bumpass, 1989). Although divorce obviously occurs to as many women as men, the experience is remarkably gender based: Many of the sequelae of divorce are consistently reported to differ for men and women. Women, for instance, show better emotional adjustment after divorce (Chiriboga & Cutler, 1977; Zeiss, Zeiss, & Johnson, 1980), perhaps because they are more likely to see themselves as the initiator (Braver, Whitley, & Ng, 1993; Diedrick, 1991). Men, on the other hand, are more often overcome by the divorce, showing poorer adjustment and greater morbidity (Bloom, White, & Asher, 1979; Friedman et al., 1995; Riessman & Gerstel, 1985). Further, because women typically reside with the children (Glick, 1988), they may experience an accentuation of their parental self after divorce (Kohen, Brown, & Feldberg, 1979). Men, in contrast, may sense a devaluation of the father role due to part-time parenthood (Kruk, 1992). Still, the most striking difference between men and women concerns economics: Women (and the children who live with them) appear to suffer a significant decline in standard of living after divorce (Braver, Gonzalez, Wolchik, & Sandler, 1989; Weitzman, 1985), whereas men experience an increase (Duncan & Hoffman, 1985), although the exact degree of this difference is in dispute (Faludi, 1991). Although gender differences in the psychological consequences of divorce should not be ignored, economic inequities in postdivorce families are especially disconcerting because of their negative implications for the children, who typically live with their mothers (Weitzman, 1985). Children of divorce may be at higher risk for many of the ill effects of poverty than children from intact homes. As a result, numerous theorists (e.g., Okin, 1989; Seltzer & Garfinkel, 1990; Walters & Abshire, 1995; Weitzman, 1985) have pointed to the need for policy changes to insure greater equity and fairness in divorce outcomes for men and women. In the following, we implicate gender inequities in divorce settlements as the possible origin of gender differences in postdivorce economic well-being. We then describe the settlement processes that might produce inequities and the implications of such processes on satisfaction with the divorce decree. Finally, we utilize data from a longitudinal study of divorcing couples to test our predictions regarding decree satisfaction and to indirectly assess attributes of the settlement process. Gender and the Settlement Process Several researchers (Buehler, 1989; Mason, 1988; Okin, 1989; Weitzman, 1985) have identified the divorce settlement as one source of the different economic situations of divorced men and women; they posit that gender differences in postdivorce standards of living may originate in gender inequities in divorce decrees. For instance, Weitzman (1985) concluded that child support awards are often insufficient to cover the costs of raising children, leaving women to make up the difference. Further, many women lose earning power by staying at home with young children, but only a small number (15%; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1986) receive spousal support to supplement their lower postdivorce incomes (Clark-Stewart & Bailey, 1989; Okin, 1989). …