Marriage Breakdown in Australia: Social Correlates, Gender and Initiator Status

Abstract

The report investigates gender differences in the social determinants of marriage breakdown in Australia. It also extends previous research and examines whether there are gender differences in the decision to separate based on social characteristics.Background:The analysis uses retrospective data from all persons who were currently or had been previously married at Wave 1 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (2001). The study is limited to first marriages and excludes the marriages of migrants in the sample that had ended prior to their migration to Australia. The final analytic sample consists of 8,993 first marriages: 4,110 men and 4,883 women.Aim of the paper:In this paper two different approaches are used to examine gender differences in the social determinants of marriage breakdown. 1) Gender differences in the associations between social characteristics and marriage breakdown. 2) Gender differences in the associations between social characteristics and which spouse initiated separation.Key findings:Social characteristics are important for understanding marriage breakdown.• Men and women in older birth cohorts (born before 1945) are less likely to divorce than those in younger cohorts.• Migrant women from non–English speaking backgrounds have a lower risk of marriage breakdown than Australian-born women. • Migrant men from English-speaking backgrounds have a lower risk of marriage breakdown than Australian-born men. • Migrant women from English-speaking backgrounds have a greater risk of marriage breakdown than migrant men from English-speaking backgrounds.• Having divorced parents, living together before marriage, having children before marriage or in the first year of marriage and marrying young (under 25 years) all increase the risk of marriage breakdown. • For women, young age at marriage was associated with a greater increase in the risk of marriage breakdown compared to men.• Higher levels of education increase the risk of marriage breakdown for women, while in contrast, higher levels of education decrease the risk of marriage breakdown for men.• Higher levels of attachment to religion and having children in marriage reduce the risk of marriage breakdown.Women are more likely to initiate separation than men:• Thirty per cent of separations were initiated jointly with 70 per cent of separations initiated unilaterally by either the husband or wife. Of these unilateral separations, 69 per cent were wife initiated and 31 per cent were husband initiated.Gender differences in the decision to separate or remain married• Women are more likely to initiate separation than comparable men when they migrate from English-speaking countries, when they marry young and when they have higher levels of education.• Men with higher levels of attachment to religion are less likely to initiate separation than comparable women.The main gender difference observed is that, according to women’s reports, very few women’s social characteristics are associated with husbands initiating separation. This patterning is not evident for men, whose characteristics are more evenly associated with their reports of both husbands and wives initiating separation.